The Allium garden at the Ringve Botanical Garden (Chicago) in Trondheim contains a collection of old Norwegian onions used for food from all over Norway including Allium fistulosum (Welsh onion), A. x proliferum (Egyptian and Catawissa onions), A. oleraceum, A. vineale, A. ursinum, A. scorodoprasum and A.victorialis (the last four are wild or naturalised species that have been moved into gardens in the past for food and, in the case of ursinum and victorialis are currently being domesticated in a big way!
In addition, a collection of wild species and ornamental cultivars have been planted to demonstrate the diversity of the Allium family!
I’ll be adding pictures to the album below on a regular basis.
See more pictures on my FB album here: https://tinyurl.com/y489yldy
Norsk:
Allium hagen ved Ringve Botaniske Hagen (NTNU) i Trondheim inneholder en samling av gamle norske matløk samlet fra hele Norge i perioden 2008-2019. Dette inkluderte Allium fistulosum (pipeløk), A. x proliferum (luftløk), A. oleraceum, A. vineale, A. ursinum, A. scorodoprasum og A.victorialis (de fem siste er vill- eller naturaliserte arter som har blitt flyttet til hager som matplante før i tiden, og dette er fortsatt gjort når det gjelder ursinum (ramsløk) og victorialis (seiersløk) i økende grad!
I tillegg kan man her se en samling av ville arter og pryvarianter plantet for å demonstrere mangfoldet av Allium-slekten!
Hagen er støttet finansielt av Landbruksdirektoratet, og Genressurssenteret.
The garden outline can be seen in this recent aerial picture (centre towards the right)
Concerning the Norwegian onions, we received 118 tips from the public, 92 were received and 57 of these have been planted (13 species and hybrids). About 90-100 species can be seen here. The garden was cultivated during Autumn 2016, 260 accessions were planted in 2017 and a further 76 in 2018!
23rd July 2018
The first Allium to flower in 2019 was this species from mountains in China, Allium humile.
270519: Allium chinense planted in the garden!
210519: With the director of the Ringve Botanical Garden, Vibekke Vange in the Allium garden!
210519: With the director of the Ringve Botanical Garden, Vibekke Vange in the Allium garden!
11th June 2019
11th June 2019
11th June 2019: There’s been the biggest invasion of Painted Lady (Tistelsommerfugl) butterflies in Norway ever seen with an estimated 100 million and they are everywhere including mayn in the Ringve Botanical Gardens and they love Alliums to feed on, here on a chive (Allium schoenoprasum)
11th June 2019: Allium schoenoprasum “Pink”
11th June 2019: Allium schoenoprasum
11th June 2019: I’ve started making an accurate map of the Allium garden, plotting in the coordinates of each plant
11th June 2019: I’ve started making an accurate map of the Allium garden, plotting in the coordinates of each plant
200619
200619: Stephen Barstow 2 hrs · Edited · 200619: One of the tall chives gressløk) had collapsed in the recent heavy rains!
200619: Stephen Barstow 2 hrs · Edited · 200619: One of the tall chives gressløk) had collapsed in the recent heavy rains!
200619
200619
200619
200619
200619: One of the Allium cernuum (nodding onion / prærieløk) accessions in bud
200619: Allium moly
200619: One of the Norwegian roof onions (Knut Bryn) in bud (Allium fistulosum) – see my book
200619
200619
200619: Allium decipiens
200619: Allium karataviense
200619: Dwarf white chives (gressløk)
200619: Pink chives (gressløk)
200619: The earliest Allium cernuum (nodding onion / prærieløk)
200619: Red-tailed bumblebee (steinhumle) were common on several Alliums.
200619: Allium douglasii
200619: Allium brevistylum (there are two accessions of this in the garden from Utah and Wyoming)
200619
200619: This Japanese Allum victorialis has dark flowers
200619: Allium pskemense x cepa
200619: Pink chives (gressløk)
200619: Allium crenulatum
200619: Red-tailed bumblebee (steinhumle) on chives (gressløk)
200619: Allium fistulosum (welsh onion / pipeløk)
200619: Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) on chives (gressløk)
200619: Egyptian / Catawissa onions (luftløk)
200619: Allium pskemense x cepa
200619: Allium fistulosum (welsh onion / pipeløk)
190619: Setting off cycling for the Ringve Botanical Garden this week with more onions for the Allium garden!
200619: Setting off cycling for the Ringve Botanical Garden this week with more onions for the Allium garden!
Nothing on these chaps, so-called Onion Johnnies, from Brittany in France, who sold onions from door to door in England up to about the 1960s (I remember them!!) Read more here: http://blog.holidayfrancedirect.co.uk/2013/02/last-of-the-onion-johnnies/
300719: Allium cyaneum
300719: Allium sphaerocephalon (it’s not often I’ve managed to overwinter this one, the round-headed leek); donated by Eirik Lillebøe Wiken
300719: Allium sphaerocephalon (it’s not often I’ve managed to overwinter this one, the round-headed leek); donated by Eirik Lillebøe Wiken
300719: Allium macranthum
300719: Allium macranthum
300719: First flowering of not hardy Tulbaghia violacea (Society garlic), indigenous to southern Africa (KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Province). I’m including a few plants within the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allioideae in the Chicago Garden!
300719: I’m a bit late dead-heading Allium fistulosum…now done!
300719: I’m a bit late dead-heading Allium fistulosum…now done!
300719: Allium flavum “Blue Leaf”
300719
300719: Allium flavum
300719: Allium cyaneum
080819: Allium nutans from IPK Gatersleben
080819: Allium denudatum (syn. Allium albidum) from IPK Gatersleben
080819: Allium nutans “Isabelle”
080819: Allium flavum “Minus” and Allium cyaneum
080819: This is a spectacular Allium which I received from my friend Hristo in Bulgaria. He was sent it from Kazakhstan. It is maybe a hybrid between Allium flavescens and nutans. It has white flowers and masses of satellite (secondary) flowers
080819: This is a spectacular Allium which I received from my friend Hristo in Bulgaria. He was sent it from Kazakhstan. It is maybe a hybrid between Allium flavescens and nutans. It has white flowers and masses of satellite (secondary) flowers
230819: Allium tuncelianum (Tunceli garlic or Ovacik garlic) is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic. It is more closely related to leek than garlic, but is hardier than leek.
230819: Allium tuncelianum (Tunceli garlic or Ovacik garlic) is endemic to the Munzur Valley in Tunceli, in eastern Turkey. It has a garlic odor and taste and is used locally like garlic. It is more closely related to leek than garlic, but is hardier than leek.
230819: Allium montanostepposum
230819: Allium tuberosum
060919: Allium carinatum pulchellum (rosenløk) flowers for a long time. There are still a few open flowers at the bottom of the inflorescense
060919: Allium ericetorum is one of the last Alliums to come into flower, often in October in my garden; see alsohttp://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2584
060919: Allium ericetorum is one of the last Alliums to come into flower, often in October in my garden; see alsohttp://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2584
Garlic bulbils maturing…this is a variety with masses of small bulbils that I call Cledor from Ingrid, who was a forum friend from Sweden, which she gor from Törnvik Frö (http://tornvik.se). I’m not sure if this really is 060919: Cledor as the description on the website (they still sell it) states that it produces many cloves, but mine only produce a few, sometimes only two.
060919: Eristalis rupium (Blank droneflue)?
060919: Allium tuberosum
060919: Allium macranthum in fruit
060919: For completeness, I planted a few Allium cepa, common bulb onion! A white skinned variety called Snowball at the front.
060919: Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)
060919: Spring onions / Allium cepa and Allium fistulosum.
060919: A Japanese Allium fistulosum
060919: Allium cepa? “Apache”
060919: Allium “Red Toga”
300819: A brown hawker, brunlibelle (Aeshna grandis) landed in the garden while I was working!
060919: Hoverfly on Allium spirale
300819: Red admiral on late flowering Allium spirale from Nordgen (Alnarp)
300819: Collecting and documenting topset onions on 15 or so accessions of Allium x proliferum (luftløk)
300819: Collecting and documenting topset onions on 15 or so accessions of Allium x proliferum (luftløk)
300819: Collecting and documenting topset onions on 15 or so accessions of Allium x proliferum (luftløk)
300819: There’s a big difference in the resprouting of the Allium x proliferum (luftløk) accession
130919: Seed heads (frøstander) of Allium macranthum
130919: Stephen Barstow 3 mins · 300919: Allium pskemense is a close relation of Allium cepa (bulb onion / kepaløk)…this accession has been grown at Ringve for some years (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=1940 and http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=22827)
130919: Stephen Barstow 3 mins · 300919: Allium pskemense topset onions (right) compared with Allium x proliferum (Egyptian or Walking onions / luftløk)
101019: Allium “Millenium” still going strong
101019: Allium “Millenium” still going strong
101019: Allium sacculiferum, still in bud and unlikely to open in time before winter!
101019: Allium sacculiferum, still in bud and unlikely to open in time before winter!
101019: Allium fistulosum having another go!
101019: Allium tuberosum “Sibbo”, a Swedish heirloom from Erik de Vahl
101019: Allium tuberosum “Sibbo”, a Swedish heirloom from Erik de Vahl
101019: Allium schoenoprasum and Allium fistulosum
101019: Allium tuberosum with flat-leaved shoots from bulbils!
061219
061219
061219
3 videos of Painted Ladies (Tistelsommerfugl) on Allium schoenoprasum on 11th June 2017
I thought I’d lost this unusual onion, Allium atrosanguineum, but one flower head appeared again this week and there are two other plants, one of which is being moved to the Ringve (Trondheim) Botanical Garden Allium garden!
A multispecies barlemmotto for dinner last night. Barlemmotto? Think risotto made instead with wholegrain BARley and EMMer wheat grains :) The ingredients are shown with the pictures!
Perennial kales, chicories, onions, leeks, turnip shoots, parsnip (root and shoots), swiss chard, lesser celandine, forced dandelion and ostrich fern, forced perennial onion (Allium senescens x nutans), tuberous pea (Lathyrus tuberosus), chorogi (Stachys affinis), Oca (2 varieties), parsley, yacon, skirret, forced and blanched horseradish shoots, garlic, winter chantarelles, chinese yam, chinese wapato (Sagittaria) and Hablitzia
The cooked grain is simply mixed with cooked vegetables and chili and served with a strong cheese like parmesan! Delicious and easy (if you have all the ingredients that is!)
After 3-4 weeks of snow cover, the weather this week changed dramatically and we had the second warmest February day over the last 100 years with over 10C! Together with rain and wind, almost all of what was close to 50 cm of snow has disappeared. For plants, this has been a very mild winter and the ground has hardly been frozen. As soon as the snow had disappeared I could dig the soil. Some edibles such as nettles and chickweed haven’t been killed by frost. Here are some pictures of (apart from the snowdrops) edibles in the garden today.
Nettles (nesle)
Dandelion (løvetann)
Chickweed (vassarve)
Allium cernuum (Chicago onion / Prærieløk)
It looks like it would be a good year for overwintering of my perennial kales (flerårige kål/ staudekål)
A perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum) will not normally overwinter here
Lesser celandine (vårkål)
Allium scorodoprasum (bendelløk)
Rumex patientia
Sideritis syriaca (Greek mountain tea /Gresk fjellte emerging from one of the last snow patches
Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde); my oldest 17 year old plant
Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
Alliaria petiolata (hedge garlic / løkurt)
Norwegian accession of Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) from Hadsel vicarage
Toasted diverse Alliums, Hablitzia and dandelion for lunch
Toasted diverse Alliums, Hablitzia and dandelion for lunch
Snowdrops should be open in the open garden in a few days!
In 2015, I blogged on “A Year in the life of the Persian Shallot” (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=893) and dried a few onions for future use. Persian shallot can be one of several onion species with large bulbs, both wild collected and cultivated, apparently, mainly around the Iranian city of Hamadan, which is in the midwest part of Iran at about 1,850m asl. A couple of the species such as Allium stipitatum which I also grow now are easily obtainable as ornamental onion bulbs in garden centres in autumn (but I wouldn’t eat them as they may have been sprayed or otherwise treated badly!).
Well, I kind of forgot about them until a few days ago someone called Peyman left the following message on my blog: “I don’t know this still be useful for you or not but here you go ;) This video shows how to make Yogurt and Persian shallot dip (Mast-o Mooseer) with dried persian shallots but you can make it with fresh persian shallots with the same instructions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgn0-V57Eh0”
I made this dish and tried it tonight. Instead of boiling I soaked for several hours. The onions were very mild tasting with only a hint of strength. Perhaps this is a combination of storing the dried “mooseer” for 3 years and then soaking for too long, but the taste of the final dip was very good and the “onion juice” was delicious, sweet rather than oniony. So, my question is whether the commercial Persian shallots are strong tasting (I read somewhere else that they were soaked overnight first to reduce the strength). It was served together with a traditional sicilian 100% wholegrain sourdough pizza! I must try again!
Allium altissimum is one of the species available in autumn as ornamental onions
Jeg har tidligere skrevet om Norrlandsløk i min bok Around the World in 80 plants. Dette er en spennende storvokst flerårige løk som er funnet i hager i Nord Sverige og en fantastisk matløk, spesielt for kalde strøk (planten kan dyrkes overalt i Norge)! Dette var den første løk som kom på plass i Ringve Botaniske Hagens ny Allium-hage i Trondheim (se http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=13525). Takket være et grundig arbeid av en ung svensk student Erik de Vahl vet vi mye mer idag om hvordan denne løken sannsynligvis ble til og fant veien til min hage i Malvik i 2004 via Harstad og Burträsk i Nord Sverige! Dette ble en spennende reise for de Vahl ikke bare nord i Sverige, men også til et «soldattorp» i Västmanland, en benidiktinarkloster og til den store svenske genetikeren Albert Levans som jobbet fra 1929 til 1950-tallet med hybridisering av løk. Derfor har jeg oppdatert historien fra Around the World in 80 plants med ny viten i vedlagt artikkel:
English summary: I have previously written about Norrland Onion in my book Around the World in 80 plants, an exciting productive perennial onion found in gardens in northern Sweden! This was the first onion that was planted in the new Allium garden at Ringve Botanical Garden in Trondheim (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=13525). Thanks to the thorough work by a young Swedish student Erik de Vahl, we know much more today about how this onion found its way to my garden in Malvik in 2004 via Harstad and Burträsk in northern Sweden! It was an exciting journey that de Vahl enravelled taking him not only to the north of Sweden, but also to a “soldier’s croft” in Västmanland, a benedictine monastery and to the great Swedish geneticist Albert Levans who it turns out worked from 1929 to the 1950s with the hybridization of onion species. Therefore, I have updated the story from Around the World in 80 plants with new knowledge in the attached article! I will hopefully later translate this to English.
