Backup collections of garden plants

Annika Michelson annika.michelson@hamk.fi

Maarit Heinonen maarit.heinonen@luke.fi

Backup collections

Backup collections of native plants may include the following plant species:

1) fruit trees: apple, plum, damson, pear, sour cherry trees;

2) berry plants: gooseberry, black and red currant, sea buckthorn, raspberry, arctic raspberry, wild strawberry and other similar berry plants;

3) vegetables: rhubarb, horseradish, onions;

4) hops;

5) herbs, medicinal plants and plants for landscaping and some other species selected for long-term storage based on the evaluation of the expert working groups of the National Plant Genetic Resource Program.

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The plant stocks included in the backup collections must be managed in accordance with the guidelines for the long-term preservation of Finland's national plant genetic resources prepared by the Finnish Natural Resources Institute.

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There is a Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on environmental compensation § 33 that the backup collections are based on.

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Backup collections

• Hops
• Apples
• Bush roses
• Dahlias
• Vegetables
• Onion flowers
• Herbs and medicinal plants
• Lilacs
• Northern garden plants
• Rhododendron and azaleas
• Musk strawberrie
• Peonies

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• The hop backup collections location: 7 are at Häme University of Applied Sciences' Mustiala campus, 13 at Helsinki University's botanical garden in Kumpula and 10 at Keudan Saari manor in Mäntsälä.
• Mustiala’s collection was established on 17.6. in 2005. It includes 6 old Finnish cultivars and 1 natural strain of hops
• 6 strains were collected in a project of the North Karelia hop club and the North Karelia Rural Center that investigated the possibilities of hop cultivation in 1999. The collection has later been supplemented with two hop strains collected from southern Finland. Two are according DNA analyses dublicates.
• Mustiala’s hops are: Hautamäki, Kuusisto estate Kaarina, Loppi, Viinijärvi Liperi, Pitkänen Oravisalo Rääkkylä, Kakkinen Rasivaara, Huhtilampi Kiihtelysvaara, Kitee Niinikumpu

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Hop

• The apple backup collection is located in Fruticetum fruit park in Lohjansaari in Western Uusimaa
• The backup collection includes 30 Finnish local apple varieties.
• Varieties that originated in the Lohja region have been selected for the collection, e.g. 'Kirkniemi Winter', and from other parts of Uusimaa, e.g. 'Tammisaari'. In addition, there are currently rare local varieties, e.g. 'Gallen’ an apple tree from painter Akseli Gallén-Kallela's childhood home in Tyrvää.
• The collection of ornamental apple trees has 10 old varieties, many of which come from Helsinki's parks and are selected by Bengt Schalin, who worked as a city gardener in the 1940s and 1950s. These include e.g. 'Rixi’, Kirjailija' and 'Linnanmäki'.

Apples

• The backup collection of bush roses is located in the Rosarium Hospitalis Borgoensis in Porvoo Hospital territory and is managed by Porvoo garden association (Borgå Trädgårdsförening).
• This backup collection includes 11 old varieties
• The largest group are traditional Finnish midsummer roses and garden roses. Some of the roses are connected to Porvoo's cultural history: the old garden rose variety 'Pohjolan Kuningatar' (also known as 'Kaiserin des Nordens', 'Nordens Drottning’ or 'Tsaritsa Severa'), which was planted in many places in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century, Fredrika Runeberg also included in her garden in Porvoo.

Bush roses

• The backup collection of dahlias is located in a private garden
• The collection includes 30 old varieties.
• The dahlias are a part of a private collection in Parainen. The historical data and plant population age data has been carefully evaluated. Many dahlias are associated with valuable cultural-historical information.
• The collection includes two dahlias that were grown in the garden of the Imatra State Hotel during the time of Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

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Dahlia

• A backup collection of potato onions, rhubarb and horseradish is located in Kurala village in Turku. In addition to vegetables, there is also a partial backup collection of bulbous ornamental flowers at Kurala.
• The backup collection includes 7 old strains of potato onion, 5 rhubarb and 5 horseradish and they were planted in spring 2019.
• There are 26 genetically different potato onion strains in the national central collection, from which strains of southern Finnish origin were selected for Kurala.
• From the rhubarbs, 4 strains of true Finnish origin were selected from the central collection and the most common rhubarb variety in Finland, 'Victoria'.
• 5 Finnish strains were selected from horseradish, which were collected from the national central collection in 2002. Of these, the strain from Vehmaa is still cultivated professionally.

Vegetables

• Bulbous flowers grow from an onion.
• The backup collection is located in the garden of the artist's home Casa Haartman in Naantali, in the Meritalo museum in Salo and in Kurala.
• The collection includes 24 old plant strains and was established in the fall of 2018
• Onion flowers have been collected from different parts of Finland.
• The spring snowdrops bloom first, then the yellow and white daffodils, tulips, fragrant white daffodils, blue grape hyacinths, grass lilies and lastly the double, fragrant white daffodils (Pentecostal narcissus).
• Among the tulips, the rare semi-double red and “lily-flowered” "Herrgårstulpan" are from Kemiö, as well as three daffodils and one grape hyacinth. Two daffodils have a background from Sauvo.

Bulbous ornamental flowers

Herbs and medicinal plants

• The backup collection is located in the Saare manor at Keski-Uudenmaa educational association KEUDA in Mäntsälä
• There are 24 plant strains from different species in the collection.
• The most strains are of mint and rose root, which is a medicinal plant from the northern nature.
• Among the traditional herbs are sweet flag (Acorus calamus), common motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), peppermint (Mentha × piperita), ‘Moroccan’ mint (Mentha spic. var. crispa), wild mint (Mentha arvensis var. canadensis), rose root (Rhodiola rosea), cicely (Myrrhis odorata), southern wormwood (Artemisia abrotanum), heart-leaved bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia), lovage (Levisticum officinale), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) & oregano (Origanum vulgare).

Lilac

• The backup collection is located in the lilac park in Eura.
• There are 15 old varieties in the collection, 5 of each variety

The collection includes

• 8 garden lilacs (Syringa vulgaris)
• 4 park lilacs (Syringa x henryi) that is a cross breed between (Syringa josikaea x Syringa vilosa)
• 1 each of Isabella lilac, Syringa x josiflexa and Syringa vilosa.
• ‘Tuomarinkylän’ garden lilac was added to the collaction later than the others
• The municipal gardener, community technology manager and culture manager are responsible for the management of backup collection.

Northern garden plants

• The backup collection is located at the vocational college in Lappia, Tervola, at Loue.
• The collection was transferred from Apuka Arboretum to Loue.
• The collection includes 44 plant strains that thrive in northern growing conditions and have a long cultivation history in the region. The collection includes potato onions, bush roses, honeysuckles (Lonicera), lilacs, Filipendula, shrubby five-fingers (Dasiphora fruticosa), Viburnum
• 0.5ha area.
• Students and teachers will take care of the area. The area will function as a learning environment.
• Potato onion are maintained annually by growing them on field.

Tervola Potentilla. Photo Marjatta Uosukainen / Luke arkisto

Rhododendron and azaleas

• The backup collection is located in the village of Laukaa Vuontee, in Marjatta’s park.
• The forst garden is the former location of Agricultural Research Center MTT Laukaa and is now owned by the municipality of Laukaa.
• The collection is managed by the Jyväskylä garden association (Jyväskylä Puutarhaseura ry.)
• There are 10 Finnish azalea varieties and 27 rhododendron varieties in the collection

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Musk strawberry �(Fragaria moschata)

• The backup collection is located in Maaria vicarage in Turku.
• Musk strawberries grow under the appletrees
• There are 9 strains in the collection, most of which have been collected in the Turku region from old growing sites and which have connections to Professor Pehr Kalm (1716 – 1779) his activities and significant places. Professor Pehr Kalm was a pupil of Carl von Linné, the swedish biologist and physician who is known as the father of modern taxonomy. Linné built the system of giving all species two names in latin, genus and species name.

Photo: Maarit Heinonen, Luke

Peonies

• The backup collection is located in Meritalo museum in Salo
• In addition to peonies, there is also a partial backup collection of bulbous ornamental flowers.
• There are 5 old peony strains in the collection: one Paeonia animala, one Paeonia officinalis, one Paeonia x hybrida and two garden peonies (Paeonia × festiva)

Planting peonies and onion flowers in October 2023. Photo: Anna Kamara / Kasvitarhuri

Heinonen, Maarit (2024): Varmuuskokoelmat. Luonnonvarakeskus. Henkilökohtainen tiedonanto 24.1.2024

Luonnonvarakeskus: Geenivarat 2019, s 4-6.

Luononvarakeskus (2020): Varmuuskokoelmat verkkokokous 17.9.2020

Luonnonvarakeskus: Alkuperäiskasvien varmuuskokoelmat

Ruokavirasto: Alkuperäiskasvien varmuuskokoelmat. Haettu 24.1.2024 osoitteesta https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/tuet/maatalous/peltotuet/alkuperaiskasvien-varmuuskokoelmat/

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Sources