Trees for Tough Urban Sites

A short speech before the ceremony. Roland von Bothmer and Henrik Sjöman

 
Today was the day of nailing at SLU in Alnarp. Henrik Sjöman nailed his Doctoral Thesis on a plank standing in our coffee room for this very purpose. His supervisors Anders Busse Nielsen and Roland von Bothmer offered him four different hammers and even four kinds of nails to choose from. Henrik took the safest hammer but had brought a beautiful home-forged and family-made nail in his pocket.

Henrik’s Doctoral Thesis is named Trees for Tough Urban Sites – Learning from Nature. He has been studying forestry systems, taxa and plant communities in both China's mountain forests and the Steppe woodlands of Romania. The essay will be searchable on the Epsilon.

Nailing the Doctoral Thesis, 19 January 2012, 10.00 am

Henrik's Choice infront of the feet of Anders Busse Nielsen

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae Doctoral Thesis No. 2012:7

Boosting the Prairie

Echinacea pallida and Heliopsis helianthoides at the prairie in Alnarp

The Prairie at the Campus in Alnarp was planted in the end of October 2007. It has developed very well and just now the Pale Coneflower, Echinacea pallida flowers together with the oxeye, Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Summer Nights’, and some few still remaining flower heads of the Blanket flower, Gaillardia aristata. The real peak at the prairie is in late July and during August when thousands of Prairie Blazingstars are in bloom.

However we wanted to improve the flower display during early summer and last week we therefore arranged a planting day at the prairie. Helena Karlén, lecturer at the University in Alnarp, had planned the day and invited both some students and staff from the park to participate in the planting.

The following plants were planted last week: Echinacea pallida, Pale Coneflower, Liatris graminifolia, Grassleaf Blazingstar, Monarda fistulosa, Wild Bergamot, Silene regia, Royal Catchfly, Tradescantia ohiensis, Ohio Spiderwort and Bouteloua curtipendula, Sideoats Grama. The Baptisia australis, Blue Wild Indigo, didn´t germinate properly so we had only five plants to put into the ground.

The seeds were sown during the winter 

Seedlings of Monarda fistulosa

The plants growing at the Trädgårdslabbet in Alnarp

Time for planting

Planting the prairie - again

The day of planting, June 29th 2011

It is hard to find all pots in the tall grass

It was a hot day in late June just like a true Prairie Summer Day

Echinacera pallida at the prairie in Alnarp

The prairie in the beginning of July 2011

Echinacea, Heliopsis and Gaillardia

The Prairie in Alnarp

The prairie in Alnarp was created during 2007 and planted in late fall in cooperation with the students at the University (SLU). It is a plot of 1000 square meters (0.25 acres) with solely native prairie plants from the true prairie in Mideast US, apart from one exception, the Common Camas, Camassia quamash from the northern Pacific states.

In late spring the prairie is tinted blue by 10 000 Camassia. In late summer instead the gayfeathers (Liatris) are predominating together with scattered groups of Rattlesnake Masters (Eryngium yuccifolium), False Sunflowers (Heliopsis helianthoides), the Upland White Asters (Aster ptarmacoides) and some others.

All shoots are from August 2009