I visited Bo “Bosse” Blomquist last year outside of Gothenburg and despite it being a bit late in the day and almost dark at the end, I was really impressed by his collection of edible trees, shrubs and bushes! He works in Gothenburg and is a regular visitor to the gardens! We agreed to meet before my talk and a group of friends also joined us!! It was great to walk in the garden with Bosse as he knew all the interesting edible woody plants! Thanks!! Here are a selection of pictures!
A walnut I’ve never seen before, Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut)…this tree was surpisingly old, almost 90 if I remember right!
Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut
Another surprise, Sorbus devonensis, which I first saw in Martin Crawford’s forest garden about 11 years ago :)
Another surprise, Dystaenia takesimana, a plant in the carrot family that I haven’t succeeded with…sometimes called Korean celery due to the taste of the leaves
…and then Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!!
Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!
Rubus peltatus from Japan (is in my Japanese foraging book)
Another thing I’d missed earlier in the day (looking down too much) was the hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta I think) which has climbed right to the top of this conifer…
Bosse pointed out this bamboo with relatively thick shoots: Phyllostachys atrovaginata…
Large clump of Hosta (Sum and substance?)
Another patch of yellow flowered Allium hookeri var muliense; Yellow Hooker’s Onion
I hadn’t noticed this large Toona sinensis either….extensively cultivated in China for the young shoots, often served as a onion-like flavouring with omelettes!
Bosse shows us Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper), one of several species for which the spicy seeds and leaves are used
Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper)
Matteuccia orientalis is as far as I know not used like Ostrich Fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris
Sinofranchetia chinensis, an unusual fruit from China
Giant lily, Cardiocrinum…the bulbs have been foraged in Japan!
Japanese ginger, Zingiber mioga
Cephalotaxus harringtonia, yew plum
Hardy kiwi..
Torreya nucifera from Japan is a popular edible seed!
It was a great honour to finally get to talk at the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens last night….not just once but twice as the first talk (picture) was sold out…and as I told them Gothenburg is my favourite edible garden anywhere there was a big cheer (second talk). The garden has around 30,000 accessions and with an estimated 1/3 of all plants edible, that makes for a huge diversity of food plants all in one place…. I just hope the garden doesn’t have problems with “grazing” after my visit ;)
Thanks to Johan Nilson, Mats Havstrøm and the staff for making me feel welcome, to Johan for the tour around the greenhouse collections of Alliums and much more and the garden “forage”. Finally, it was great to meet Bosse Blomquist and friends who guided us around the more unusual collections of edible nut and fruit trees, many of which I hadn’t seen before!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
