Documentation of yet another amazing day during last week’s Perennialen III in Hardanger!! Pictures taken on a fantastic 6-7 hour round trip from Eirik Lillebøe Wiken and Hege Iren Aasdal Wiken’s house to their shieling (støl or seter in Norwegian). We took our time botanising on the way up, passing through different types of forest on the way up, from alder (or), ash (ask), planted spruce (gran), lime (lind), elm (alm), hazel (hassel), aspen (osp) and birch (bjørk) at the highest levels. Lower down, old apple trees witnessed that these steep slopes had at one time been worked for fruit production, no easy matter….
Eirik and Hege are planning to rejuvenate and replant some of this area and have planted a multispecies forest garden above and below the house, probably one of the most dramatic forest gardens in the world (more later).
A picture of Alvastien Telste taken last year showing the house at the bottom centre and the walk to the ridge at the top and beyond!
Starting our walk up the mountain, I took this picture of a farm on the other side of the fjord and, next picture, a shieling (seter / støl) is visible on the ridge at the top!
Shieling (seter / støl)
The house at Alvastien Telste
Ostrich fern (strutseving)
Eirik and Hege’s tree house (I stayed there on my first visit – Perennialen I)
Under the spruce, a ground cover of young ash seedlings…the future of which is uncertain as Ash dieback has arrived here…
Impaties noli-tangere (Touch me not balsam / springfrø) was common on damper soils
Ostrich fern (strutseving) with enchanters nightshade (trollurt)
Cirsium arvense on a small open field halfway up the hill
Campanula
Late flowering Silene dioica (red campion /rød jonsokblom)
Ostrich fern (strutseving)
Alder tongue gall (Taphrina alni)
Mycelis muralis
Galium odoratum (woodruff / myske)
Rock to which an old cable lift was attached
Fox dung with beetle cases?
Old apple tree half way up
We saw one small population of hedge garlic (løkurt)
Wood vetch (skogsvikke)
Clambering wood vetch (skogsvikke)
Hazel (hassel)
More ostrich fern (strutseving)
There were many amazing trees, many of which were pollarded (for animal feed in the past)
Old barn
Pyrola spp.
Woodruff (myske)
The Troll Elm!
Eirik showed us an old cross on the rock marking the edge of his property
This ostrich fern had over 30 fertile fronds in the centre!!
I was surpised to find an area of Geranium lucidum
Woodruff (myske)
Steep slopes
Galium spp.
…the rain came down near the top
Fantastic views of the fjord on the way up!
Frosted bracken?
Rut pool used by red deer stags!
There weren’t many edible fungi apart from one good patch of chantarelles in the birch zone
Picking chantarelles
…and, finally, after 4 hours we reached the hut!
Foxglove (revebjelle) within the protection of this old wall
A great day in the company of some wonderful people in Åfjord yesterday!
Thanks to Astrid Mathilde Petterson and husband Gunnar for arranging the course and for the hospitality at their farm, Rotnes Gård, in an amazing location at the mouth of not one but two salmon rivers, Stordals og Nordalselva! The couple are restoring the farm buildings and rent out rooms to fishermen and tourists: http://www.afjord.no/opplevelser/rotnes-gard/
The day started with my Around the World talk in the morning followed by a great lunch at the farm (spinach soup, sourdough bread, wild salmon wraps etc.). We then wandered along the shore and in the woods looking for wild edibles. Here are a few pictures! Thanks to Bjørn and wife for the lift home afterwards (and quick garden tour!)
View from the course room
Introduction to Rotnes by Gunnar and Astrid before lunch
Talking about lady’s mantle / marikåpe at the beginning of the walk after lunch! Picture: Astrid
A wonderful floriferous Angelica archangelica (ssp. littoralis) (strandkvann) growing on the shoreline
Cetonia aurata (rose chafer / gullbasse) on Angelica
Scutellaria galericulata, common skullcap (skjoldbærer), not edible, sometimes used medicinally
Ligusticum scoticum is edible
Plantago maritima, an important source of vitamin C when preserved for long sea journeys in the past
May lily / bittekonvall flowering in July!
Lupins were the star attraction, although invasive and black-listed in Norway! We talked about other species of lupin used for food..but some folks are allergic!
We had a taste of Japanese knotweed (japanslirekne) growing on a tip at the farm
Presenting an album of pictures from BG Vienna showing edible plants I found in the collections and talked about during my walk and talk arranged by Arche Noah!
The entrance to the garden
Hosta kikutii var pygmaea
Hosta siebodiana “Elegans”
Scorzonera austriaca in the wild garden
Water leaf or Indian salad (Hydrophyllum)
Osmorhiza occidentalis
Cryptotaenia japonica “Atropurpurea”
Apium (Helioscadium) repens is presumably edible (sometimes classified as a subspecies of Apium nodiflorum)
Bunium bulbocastaneum
Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely)
Trachystemon orientalis
Peucedanum officinale is the source of a gum!
Elaeagnus angustifolia
Kalimeris incana
Gunnera tinctoria is one of the 80 in my book!
Labelled as Allium oreophilum , which it isn’t, looks like a good form of Allium senescens or hybrid!
Not this either, looks like the great Allium imposter Allium cyathophorum var farreri
Hemerocallis
Senecio cannabifolius…used as a vegetable in the Far East. I’ve lost mine, any chance of a new starter Trond Høy?
Sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), a plant with a multitude of uses…many food uses, medicinal and the leaves have also been used as plates!
Chenopodium bonus-henricus, Albania’s most popular wild foraged edible!
Lilium pomponium, a lily from southern France and north Italy – the bulbs have been used for food!
Allium victorialis grows in the Alps
Meum athamaticum
Syneleisis aconitifolia is in my Japanese foraging book!
Syneleisis aconitifolia is in my Japanese foraging book!
Serratula coronata – I sowed this one for the first time…used for food in Korea..
Crithmum maritimum, death samphire, but perfectly edible!
There was a bed of 6-7 different Angelica species including this one, Angelica purpurascens
Angelica anomala
Angelica gigas
The smallest species I’ve seen, Angelica polymorpha from East Asia
Angelica amurensis
Angelica acutiloba
Angelica anomala
Aster ageratoides
Aster (Eurybia) macrophylla, a Native Americam food plant!
Aster glehnii is used in the Far East
It’s not often I see Aster scaber (see my book) in botanical gardens!
Basella alba and cousin Anredera cordifolia (Madeira vine)
Talinum paniculatum
Viola alba
Siberian pea tree (Caragana) growing an producing masses of small beans in the warmth of Vienna
Ostrich fern growing well in damp soil by a stream
Xanthorrhoea (grass tree or black boy) from Australia was considered as a future crop for sugar in the 19th century
Cornus kousa, an edimental!!
Sedum
Parietaria, edible non-stinging nettle
Laportea canadensis, Canadian wood nettle
Urtica cannabina
Althaea officinalis, Marshmallow
Callirhoe is a great edimental in the Mallow family from North America
Cornus kousa, an edimental!!
Hibiscus trionum
There’s a good collection of edible Sanguisorba species (edible young shoots), most better than overrated S. officinalis (salad burnet). This is Sanguisorba albiflora
Sanguisorba tenuifolia var purpurea
Sanguisorba hakusanensis
Sanguisorba obtusa
Entrance to the administration building where I met the garden’s director!
Next to the entrance to the entrance to the administration building…Host’s Hostas of course!
I was given a tour of the greenhouses by Frank who was also a member of Arche Noah! This included a collection of vanilla species…
The participants of the walk and talk. Thanks to Arche Noah’s Ursula (in front) for organising my visit!
In stark contrast to the diversity of the botanical garden, this is the next door neighbour!
My last gig in Austria was a tour in the young botanical garden in Saltzburg. Despite its youth (from 1986), it had one of the best collection of unusual edibles I’ve seen in a dedicated garden to the world’s cultural plants! Of course the ornamental beds also had a lot of food…
The garden entrance
Right next to the gate was a bed full of edibles like Allium moly, various Lilium species, Dahlia and Camassia
Allium giganteum
The following pictures are from the cultural garden collection
Peltaria alliaceae
Orychophragmus violaceus
Sea kale, Cramb meyeniie maritima
Perennial buckwheat, Fagopyrum cymosum
Hibiscus acetosella (with a pleasant sour taste)
Zingiber mioga, Japanese ginger
Maca, Lepidium meyenii
Canna indica
Gynura crepioides
Plantago coronopus
Altananthera sissoo
And now some other edibles in the garden, Gunnera (probably manicata)…we talked about Nalca, the slighty smaller Chilean Gunnera chilensis
Aralia elata
Polygonum hydropiper, marked poisonous! Really?
Horseradish….apfelkren!
Begonia flowers are edible, this was a demonstration of Begonia breeding
Tom Strubreiter is my host up here in St. Koloman (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=11483). He picked me up at the station on Thursday and took me up to his mountain farm where he’s doing important work conserving rare breeds of farm animals that are much better adapted to local conditions and that rarely need visits by the vet! He showed me around his amazing ecostructure that he calls his Noah’s Ark that he is constructing … I spent the day botanising in the species rich alpine meadows and swam in the Seewardsee! Couldn’t be better
Tom Strubreiter has worked for preserving traditional old races of farm animals for some 15 years, and is building his very own “Arche” out of local materials including larch and Pinus cembra and using local craftsmen, an impressive ecostructure at around 1,000m! I will send him some Norwegian roof onions, the only part missing!
Seewardsee…..23C in the water, there’s nothing like swimming with yellow water lily maidens in an alpine lake! :)
My second unsuccessful attempt to find ramsons (ramsløk) at its northernmost natural site at Ramslia in Nord Trøndelag (on the other side of Trondheimsfjord from my place). Neverthless, it was a great day out with one of my ex-OCEANOR work colleagues Jarle Tronstad who owns an old mountain farm in the area!
Starting from an old farm by the road
Walking up from the road there were masses of ostrich fern (strutseving), here with Alpine sow thistle / turt (Cicerbita alpina)
Alpine sow thistle / turt (Cicerbita alpina)
Insectivorous Butterbur / Tettegras (Pinguicula), traditionally used to curdle milk
Wood anemone (hvitveis)
Rumex acetosa (sorrel / engsyre) with ostrich fern (strutseving)
Wood sorrel / gjøksyre
Valeriana sambucifolia
Ostrich fern stands could be spotted from afar on unstable openings in the woods
Distant view of Storvatnet
Bilberry
Bog myrtle / pors in flower
Cloudberry / molte
Viola
Stachys sylvatica
Fjellgeit Jarle Tronstad with roseroot (Rhodiola rosea)
Another magical walk along the Homla Canyon in Malvik in the company of wwoofer of the week :) First, a parade of Ostrich Ferns along the bank of the Homla river
A dipper (fossekall), Norway’s national bird flew past us singing as it flew and landed conveniently on some rocks 50m upstream:
A curly whirly dandelion
Although popular in the past, Gyromitra esculenta (sandmorkel) is no longer recommended as edible due to toxic compounds that may not even be neutralised by cooking…
Alternate leaved golden saxifrage /maigull in seed already
Fomitopsis pinicola (Red belt CONK or rødrandkjuke)
Bracken fern / einstape
Violets are blue….not only..here yellow-flowered Viola biflora
I’ve never before met a bear in the woods…well spotted by my companion wwoofer!
Lathyrus vernus (Spring pea / vårerteknapp) is a rare plant in Malvik
The path crosses the site of an old charcoal burning site
Charcoal in the path
Our goal was the ostrich fern site (strutseving) where I’d been with Berit Børte Ane Mari Aakernes and Marit By only two weeks ago (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=11108), the plants had grown a lot in the meantime and only a few young fiddleheads were to be found!
Ostrich fern with meadowsweet (mjødurt) and rosebay willowherb (geitrams)
Ostrich fern with an understory of nettles
Tasty Cardamine flexuosa, Wavy Bittercress / skogkarse in the path
We took a new path used by salmon fishermen down to the river and discovered new large stands of ostrich fern
Homla river
Large stands of ostrich fern also on the other bank!
…and then magic happened as I noticed the moon rising from the forest high up on the ridge on the other side of the river! WOW!
Caltha palustris
The first flowers of Cornus suecica
The first flowers of Cornus suecica
A song thrush (måltrost) was alarming as we passed near his nest sire, a shy forest bird here!
Spruce tree grasping the earth…
Alpine sow thistle (turt) hanging on in an area that had once upon a time been a luxuriant meadow..
Large leaved raspberry in deep shade
Masses of Campanula rapunculoides in alder wood on the edge of Hommelvik
