It looks like I’ve finally managed to overwinter a monkey puzzle tree (apeskrekk) here in Malvik probably thanks to stable but not very cold winter weather! It only needs a partner and a wait until my 108th birthday to harvest the first Malvik monkey puzzle piñones I’ve sowed more seed this winter!
Thanks to my friend Geir Flatabø from Hardanger, I could finally add monkey puzzle nuts (piñones) to my life list of plants eaten (Araucaria araucana; also known as Mapuche nuts or Chilean pine nuts; apeskrekk in Norwegian). Like large pine nuts, they were delicious! Can’t wait 40 years for my first home grown nuts ;) I also sowed a few as the single young tree in my garden needs company and I’d also like to plant some in the community garden (Væres Venner). I don’t know of any trees that have survived on this side of the fjord, but on the slightly milder northern shores of Trondheimsfjord there are a least two sizeable trees. I reckon climate change has come far enough now for us now to be part of the Norwegian coastal zone north to Tromsø where this tree should grow! I’ve tried a couple of times before without success! The very sharp end to the nut is clearly designed to penetrate the soil after falling! I planted a small tree in the garden last summer, grown from seed and overwintered a couple of winters in my cellar, and it seems to be doing well so far! Here¨’s a couple of pictures taken today:
In December 2004, I went to a remote sensing conference in Concepcion in Chile in my other life as an ocean wave climatologist!
I took some holiday to experience some of the native edibles. One of the main objectives was to experience the ancient old growth Monkey Puzzle forest (Araucaria araucana) and I hoped also to see nuts (piñones) for sale on Mapuche (the indigenous people) markets. It was probably the wrong time of the year (spring) and I didn’t see any nuts. However, after a failed attempt to get up into the main part of the Conguillío National Park due to late laying snow, I did a long hike into the Huerquehue National Park where I walked amongst the old growth monkey puzzle trees that are sometimes known as Umbrella or Toilet Brush trees as old trees (they can reach 1,000 years old!) only have a few branches at the top. Nowadays, it is an endangered species and logging is no longer allowed. It is also the national tree of Chile. A significant part of the diet of the native Pehuenche people (one of the Mapuche peoples) were the nutritious nuts and their name means simply people of the monkey puzzle seeds (Pewen).
Huerquehue National Park
Old growth trees on a distant ridge
The largest tree I saw, covered with lichens of various species
Lichens on Araucaria araucana
Anemone multifida? was growing in association with the largest monkey puzzle.
Osmorhiza chilensis is an umbellifer with a good aniseed taste (also found in North America) and growing well in forest shade
Gunnera chilensis/tinctoria (one of the 80 in my book) seen here clinging to rocks next to a high waterfall
I did see one group of Araucaria in the Conguillio national park, here on islands spared by the lava flows!
Andrew McMillion kindly picked me up early on Friday morning from the night train at Oslo airport and we drove together to the location of the KVANN / Norwegian Seed Savers annual meeting in Leikanger on the Sognefjord. As we were to arrive earlier than the other board members, I suggested going to Balestrand, about an hour further on as I’d heard that Norway’s largest Monkey Puzzle tree (apeskrekk) could be seen there! Andrew didn’t hesitate as he wanted also to go to Balestrand as he actually had family roots just a kilometer away from the tree!! There was much more than that though! It was an amazing day, first the wonderful trip over the mountains in perfect weather…to see what else we experienced, see the album!!
On the way over Hemsedalsfjellet to Sogn
On the way over Hemsedalsfjellet to Sogn
On the way over Hemsedalsfjellet to Sogn
On the way over Hemsedalsfjellet to Sogn
On the way over Hemsedalsfjellet to Sogn
Rock man
Just before this point, Andrew tells me that the last time he passed thjis place there were birdwatchers looking up at an eagle…I looked out of the window and there WAS an eagle high above us ;)
Ferry crossing from one tunnel to the next
Ferry across to Balestrand….Andrew coming home ;)
Approaching Balestrand
Above Balestrand
Kviknes Hotel was the largest wooden building in Norway when it was built…in Swiss style. Balestrand was a popular destination for Brits in the late 19th century and English climbing pioneer Margaret Sophia Green married one of the Kvikne family who owned the hotel and an English church was built in her memory after her death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Olaf%27s_Church,_Balestrand)
To our surprise there was a little botanical garden in the grounds around the hotel!
Frame dedicated to an artist colony from Balestrand
We had a taste of the young shoots of these giant stonecrops (bergknapp), Hylotelephium spectabile
Andrew inspecting a lovage plant emerging next to a grape..
Cornus kousa
The Golden House is an art gallery with an observation dome and meditation spot on the roof
Looking towards Andrew’s ancestral farm
Andrew with his ancestral farm in the background
Looking towards Andrew’s ancestral farm
Looking towards Andrew’s ancestral farm
Driving up to Andrew’s ancestral farm was a carpet of emerging ramsons (ramsløk)…he took a couple of plants for his own farm in Nes!
View from the ancestral farm!
View from the ancestral farm with a carpet of crocus
Above the farm
Day lilies (dagliljer) on the farm
A new roof on the old farm house!
Andrew taking cuttings from one of the oldest fruit trees
Lunde Arboretum was established in 1973 with the help of Professor Oddvin Reisæter from Oslo University due to the threat of developing the area for housing! However, some of the trees go back to the time of the first rector Harald Ulrik Sverdrup and his son HUS jr. who began to plant foreign trees in 1849 and fruit. By the end of the 19th century there was a collection of 46 pears here! The collections here were described by Professor Schubeler in the 1880s. Schubeler is well known for getting the help of local priests to test out plants throughout Norway. Both Reisæter and Schubeler figure in the Hablitzia tamnoides story in Norway!
Norway’s champion monkey puzzle came from England in 1873! It was long alone but several more trees were planted in 1984!
I’ve sowed more seed this winter!
