This is the first in a series of posts about my gardening adventures in Norway and Sweden, June-July 2016.Norway is a garden. Everyone has seen photos of Norway's beauty- forests, fjords and fjell (mountains), but what has really surprised me this trip is the number of "garden" plants that have seemingly escaped the garden. Whether these are plants that are native to Norway or plants that have truly escaped the confines of human care I am not sure, but all along the roadways, parking lots and abandoned semi-wild spaces, a beautiful garden grows.
I first noticed this as we drove from the airport in Oslo. Oslo is a large metropolitan area with a population of nearly 700,000. Despite the International airport being less than 30 miles to the city center, it is located in a completely rural setting. As you leave the airport the highway greets you with tall sturdy pines opening up to pastoral vistas and miles upon miles of Lupines that grow along the highway. So much so, that to many Norwegians, Lupines are weeds. |
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| On further expeditions, hikes through the mountains and walks in the cities I was shocked by the number of garden plants growing wild: Astillbe, Dianthus, Monkshood, Penstemon, Lily of the Valley, Astrantia, Calendula, Foxgloves, Forget-Me-Nots, Geranium, Lady's Mantle, Primula, Verbascum, Bleeding Hearts, Verbena, Salvia, the list goes on. Here the garden is everywhere and the beauty is bountiful. |
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 | | Geraniums grow between the hiking path and a raging mountain river. |
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| One of the highlights of our trip was a 14 mile hike down the mountain valley between the small towns of Myrdal and Flåm ending at the Aurlands Fjord. The hike took nearly eight hours, but I know we could have done it much more quickly if I hadn't had to stop and admire all the flowers. It was this hike through near complete wilderness where I saw the greatest variety of "garden" plants. It was difficult to choose between admiring the splendor of the grand landscape of mountains and many waterfalls entering the raging river or the garden plants at my feet. Around every corner I spotted something new. |
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 | | Lewisia, a perennial succulent that can be found at specialty nurseries and in this case, clinging to the mountain side in Norway. |
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 | | Astrantia, Lady's Mantle, Forget-Me-Nots, Ranunculus and Geranium grow along the hiking trail in a beautiful combination that rivals a cultivated garden. |
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| Walking through the towns and cities was no different in finding garden plants popping up everywhere. In the nooks and crannies of sidewalks, rock walls and along the roadways and parking lots the garden continues. |
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 | | Here verbascum grows in a narrow strip along a sidewalk |
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 | | These garden plants rambling down a rock wall are no where in sight in a cultivated garden, but they are happily thriving in the pockets of the wall. |
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| For all it's beauty, Norway is an amazing country and photographs can not possibly capture the awe one feels in the landscape. Added to the grand landscape, from the tiny plants growing in rock crevasses to the fields of wild flowers, the garden that is the country of Norway does not disappoint. |
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