1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7
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Peter Joy
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OF ROSE TRADITIONS AND TRADITIONAL ROSES IN FINLAND
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| A cold, northern country like Finland may
not immediately spring to mind in connection with roses, but
a little delving into the literature and exploration on the ground
reveal a surprisingly rich historical tapestry and an outstanding
living heritage. Our location, sandwiched between Russia and
Sweden, has been the source of much hardship, but the influences
from both east and west have enriched our traditions and, in
the case of roses, the gene pool as well. |
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| The Mediaeval Period: Mainly utilitarian
cultivation but renaissance awakenings in the seventeenth century |
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| As elsewhere in Europe, wild and near-wild
roses adapted to the local climate - ours is considered sub-boreal
- have been cultivated since time immemorial for medicinal or
nutritional purposes. We find very few written records prior
to the eighteenth century, but we may safely surmise that, following
the spread of Christianity into the country from the twelfth
century onwards, forms of the coastally distributed glaucous
northern dog-rose known in Scandinavia as Rosa dumalis
(syn. R. caesia subsp. glauca) would have
been cultivated in southern Finnish monastery gardens for its
medicinally used petals and bark, and for its hips rich in Vitamin
C. Bedeguar galls, furry growths induced on wild rose leaves
and stems by the gall wasp Diplolepis rosae, were also
gathered and extracted for their curative properties. Other native
roses almost certainly introduced to monasteries are the widespread
cinnamon rose, R. majalis and, in Eastern Finland, the
arctic rose, R. acicularis. These bushy, pink flowered
plants would probably have been grown for their leaves and flowers,
infused for a tonic tea, as well as for hips. |
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| In subsequent centuries, the thorny Rosa
dumalis was also planted around coastal fortifications to
impede the advance of invaders. |
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| The first references to Finnish-grown roses
known to this writer are in lists of medicinal plants found growing
in the south-western Turku (Swedish: Åbo) region, compiled
in 1673 and 1683 by Prof. Elias Tillandz. He mentions white,
pink and red-flowered forms with single or double flowers, probably
growing in the Physic Garden of the Åbo Academy. We can
only surmise that these may have been alba or gallica roses.
Finland, and Turku in particular, had strong links with other
Hanseatic cities, and wealthy German merchants had already settled
in the city. Several of the city's burghers imitated the merchants
and created well-stocked gardens around this time. |
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