Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Enaforsholms mountain garden is situated in the western parts of the Swedish province Jämtland. This means a maritime climate. After a donation made by wholesaler A. W. Bergsten the country estate became KSLA property in 1937. In 1948 the superintendent of KSLA's garden school, Sven Gréen started experimental plant trials to test the hardiness of different plant species. In 1965 professor Börje Lövkvist took over what remained of Gréens experimental garden and added these with more plant material from various countries. The plant material consisted of lignoses, perennials and bulb plants. Lövkvist was especially interested in the reactions of the plants to low temperatures.

Once again the garden was left in decay for some time until 1991 when Kjell Lundquist (PhD in agriculture) took over responsibility of the garden. What was left of Gréens and Lövkvists experiments was saved and marked as far as it was possible. No larger new experiments were initiated. The garden now was led into a new era as an open garden for the public.

The experiments that were carried out during Gréens, Lövkvists and Lundquists time were documented. However no full report of these experiments has been made. This master thesis outlines how to create a database of the documented material of the experiments from 1948 to 2009 and suggests this digitally compiled material can be used. The aim of this thesis is also to emphasise and inspire a discussion on some of the plants that have proved to cope with the conditions at Enaforsholms mountain gardens.

The material on which the database is built is observations of plant experiments, diary notes as well as site plans. Most of the material can be found in KSLA’s library in Stockholm. Having read and carefully analysed the assembled material, the next step was to compose the layout of the database. After having analysed and studied other plant databases my choice of computer software in which to create the database was Microsoft Excel. The layout of the database was now slowly built up. I added data from a selection of ten plants, through this I got an indication of which headlines I would need. This part of the working progress, to figure out and create a basic structure for the database and to insert all the facts formed the bulk of work in this master thesis.

Today the database has over 1000 A4 pages. The database consists of all the information that has been found about the plants in the garden from 1948 to 2009. There are 986 different names of plants in the database.

My wish is that the database on Enaforsholm mountain garden's plants will be accessible through KSLA's (library) web page. I also hope that it will be accessible at Enaforsholm. The thought is also that this physical part of the master thesis shall be available close to the computers at KSLA and at Enaforsholm to explain its origin, use and function.

The result of this master thesis is not only the database itself but also the process of building the database and the lists of lignoses, perennials and bulb plants. An important part of this master thesis is also this written essay which places the database in a geographical, horticultural and historical context. In the past, questions about the plants in the garden were hidden amongst piles of paper. Now, with a simple click on the keyboard, one can learn about the lifespan of the plant, the year it was planted, its origin and its blooming period.