A Garden Carved Out of the Pine Forests Of Tofta
Visited on June 11, 2014 with the Lakeland Horticulture Society
On this trip I observed that 'retirement' and 'empty nest' can become an opportunity for part-time gardeners to expand and become full-time gardeners. While visiting a private garden in the small village of Tofta (where pine forests dominate the land), our group was introduced to Gun Wallier and her husband Bosse. As a couple they did not discover gardening until retirement. Bosse will say that the gardening was her idea. With Gun's interest in form and design it came to her naturally and they worked on the garden together. From the appearance of their property the partnership has been successful.
Gun Wallier, who grew up in Stockholm, worked as a professional graphic designer. Bosse grew up on the family farm on Gotland until he went to school in Stockhom at the age of 14, for better opportunities than he would have had on the Island. Stockholm became his permanent home with employment, marriage and family. A sail boat was their summer home and his interest was cars. Retirement became time with a new passion in their lives though. With Bosse's return to Gotland Island they found themselves working together long days together to clear out a plot of pines in the woods of Tofta to build their contemporary retirement home. With the soil too hard and dry to spade, they cleared by hand the rocky, shallow soil to prepare the ground for a garden.
Outbuildings include an artist studio, with Gun's delicate paintings of flowers displayed, and a glass house in the garden to further exhibit her artwork.
A Swedish Whitebeam tree will be the dominant tree in the front yard once it has matured. As I walked through the garden the white blossoms of the mock orange bushes planted in combinations with purple asters and pale pink beauty bushes (Kolwitzia amabilis), exuded a perfume that permeated the garden.
White was the predominate June color in the garden used in combinations with pastel hues. The mock orange bushes along a border with its white blossoms contrasted subtlety with pale yellow iris. Bright accents of yellow day lily with white cerastium were used as a stark contrast against the evergreen bushes. Popular spiky lupines were at the edge of the garden. Bold splashes of color were provided by pots of annuals spaced throughout the garden.
Plants in the garden were often given to them by friends. In several places bushes of a beautiful cold hardy rugosa white rambler rose ('White Rose of Finland,' or descriptively 'Polestar') with semi-double blooms, contributed to the fragrance in the garden.
Barbara, Vivien and Shelia enjoyed the day of beautiful of weather seated on one of the benches in the garden.
Raised beds in wooden boxes provided a small vegetable garden. Kitchen waste is composted and rain barrels are used to collect water.
Gun and Bosse had recently attended a talk on birds in the garden at the Visby Botanical Garden. For the future they intend to build nesting boxes and bird houses. Gun said that they are “day by day gardeners,” which is a description that many of us can relate to.
Travel Reflections
HISTORICAL CITY OF VISBY
Our lunch on Wednesday afternoon was at the Restaurant Rosengård on the main square in the medieval walled town of Visby, capital of Gotland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were seated outside for our meal in the shadow of one of Visby's preserved ruined stone churches from the middle ages.
We had a short time to walk around the town of Visby where a small hidden garden was found off the crowded tourist path.
The Botanical Garden Of Visby was created in 1855. It is unique in its location by the Baltic Sea with medieval stone walls that shelter the garden from sea winds and storms which create a maritime climate. Trees that thrive in this micro climate (but not in other areas of Sweden) are fig, tulip, handkerchief and magnolia trees. Ginkgo, giant and dawn redwood and cedar of Lebanon are also rare mature trees in the garden. Ruins from the 11th century can be found in the garden with the remains of the medieval church, St. Olof, covered in ivy. The herb garden has been restored with herbs from medieval gardens. George had a short “meet and greet” with a Linnaeus “head” sculptured from a block of 200 year old elm by the contemporary Swedish sculptor from Fårö, Kaj Engström, put in place in the garden in 2007. The garden with its mature trees create a shaded oasis from the crowded tourist center of Visby in the summertime.
The purpose of the three month summer journey that Carl Linnaeus and his companions took to the Islands in 1741 was to seek out or observe what might be useful natural resources of economic value that could be used in Sweden. Even though he did not find clay for making china (an expensive import), he wrote that his “mission was well accomplished.” More important than the search for clay was his discovery of over 100 species of plants that had been unknown to Sweden. This included a subspecies of lucerne (alfalfa) which could be used for fodder rather than the species which they had to import. He observed different methods of farming and encountered local cures for illnesses. Linnaeus recorded the economy, culture and heritage of the islands as well as local dialects. Landscape, geography and geology were also meticulously noted. Important for the botanist, zoologist and biologist were his written words descriptive of the plant and animal life he encountered.
Carl Linnaeus did not like sea voyages. Leaving Gotland they had a rough passage back to the mainland with the North winds blowing and prayers to God as their vessel was being thrown between the waves. We had 21st century comforts on our three hour ferry ride very early the next morning. We would conclude the day in the vibrant city of Stockholm, a sharp contrast to the rural landscape and slow pace of living that we encountered on our week visit on Gotland Island.
The Lakeland Horticulture Tour “Gardens and Wildflowers of Sweden – Once Again in the Footsteps of Linnaeus,” was arranged by Brightwater Holidays http://www.brightwaterholidays.com.
Several of the private gardens we visited were contacts that our LHS tour guide, George Feather, arranged through his friendships and contacts in Sweden. He worked with Brightwater Holidays to include them in our tour exclusively for this group.
Photo of George Feather at Visby Botanic Garden by Dorothy Feather.
All other photos by Deborah McMillin.