Hortus Botanicus Leiden

[Stephenb]

I was asked by the Dutch Master if I had any pictures from Hortus Botanicus at Leiden in the Netherlands. The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world, established in the 1590s. The original garden set up by botanist Carolus Clusius was small (about 35 by 40 meters), but contained more than 1000 different plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortus_Botanicus_Leiden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolus_Clusius

It's a small garden, perfect for an afternoon visit - both times I've visited  (in May 2006 and July 2010) I've had a morning meeting elsewhere in the Netherlands and taken the train to Leiden Station from where there's a short walk to the garden. Nevertheless, there's so much to see that I always run out of time...
 
1. A little reminder of where in the world we are (self-guiding?) (the bike gives the clue)
2. The entrance is in the building at the back and the first  garden you see is a reconstruction of Clusius' original garden which was 35x40 metres and contained about 1,000 different plants!
This first set of pictures are from my visit on May 2nd 2006:
3. There are a number of very old trees. Here's the Liriodendron tulipifera from 1682.
4. Ginkgo from 1785 with Ornithogalum nutans
5. There are 100's of large pot plants like this, some obviously very old.
6. A Cycas
7. Tulips, of course
8. A large trained Chaenomeles japonica
9. Fritillaria thunbergii
10. Wasabia japonica (source of genuine Japanese Wasabi paste), not easy in culture, needing running cool water to produce good sized roots

More from this year's visit later...

[Brian Ellis]

Somewhere I have always wanted to visit, so many thanks Stephen for sharing this with us.

[mark smyth]

That Chaenomeles must be the best I have ever seen

[Rodger Whitlock]

That Chaenomeles is very dark, resembling the cultivar 'Atsuya Hamada' which is named after the gentleman who found it growing wild on the slopes of Mt. Fuji.

Beautifully trained it is, and a model for how to cope with Chaenomeles. Better than letting them indulge in perpetual bad hair days!

[Stephenb]

Charles de l'Écluse, L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius (Arras, February 19, 1526 – Leiden, April 4, 1609), seigneur de Watènes, was a Flemish doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th century scientific horticulturists! He is also responsible for the Dutch Tulip industry! Here are some of the plants in the reconstruction of his garden at Leiden:

1. Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)
2. Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)
3. Allium flavum
4-5. Allium ampeloprasum (in 5, I presume the labels are as Clusius' would have written plant names, but what does moly mean here - I know it's the epithet of another well known Allium?)
7. Allium sphaerocephalon
8. Catananche caerulea
10. Acanthus spinosus
11. Solanum ajanhuiri (an important diploid Potato cultivated in the Andes)
12. Celtis australis (I guess this is a virus  rather than variegation or a deficiency? - the reason I ask is that I have a Celtis occidentalis in my garden and it is also variegated although I don't find a  cultivated variegated form - mine was from seed - and I therefore began to wonder why)

[Lvandelft]

Thanks for showing your pictures Stephen.
I have been there many years ago several times. But I think much did not change.
Just in de last years the making of the Clusius Garden and in the glasshouses many newer plants because they had a very good gardener ( recently retired now) with much knowledge of tropical plants and very much specialized in Araceae.
Not very likely that de l’Ecluse has known this potato 
Solanum ajanhuiri was introduced to France from Peru about 1815 and I don't think the Dutch did this in the 16th century.

9. Celtis australis

I always thought Celtis australis is a tree or shrub??

[Stephenb]

Woops, yes it was the wrong picture.

The potato: strange, you're right of course...

[Pascal B]

Just in de last years the making of the Clusius Garden and in the glasshouses many newer plants because they had a very good gardener ( recently retired now) with much knowledge of tropical plants and very much specialized in Araceae.

Luit, the successor of Art Vogel, the former keeper of the glasshouses you probably refer too is equally knowledgeable. His successor formerly worked at the Wubben Orchid nursery and the biggest strength of the Leiden Botanic Garden, the orchids, are in his very capable hands. Unfortunately most of the Leiden research collection in the glasshouses is not open for the public but the Nepenthes collection and the giant stinkers, Amorphophallus titanum, are still reason enough to pay a visit to the glasshouses. Most of the tropical Araceae have been moved to the Wageningen Botanic Garden about 4-5 years ago but because Wageningen was closed recently, that collection is now located in Hamburg. They needed to move out of Leiden to make room for the orchid collections from Papua New Guinea. But Leiden Botanic is worth a visit for anyone who can, it definitely has a charm of its own.

[cohan]

interesting place--the history is fascinating for sure...
so this solanum is a species potato? cool...

[Stephenb]

Yes, a species Potato.

I didn't have time to see the new glasshouse as it had closed when I got that far  

I think I must have misunderstood and not all plants within the square Clusius garden were from his time?

A few more, the first a final view of the Clusius garden, the others from other parts of the garden.

3. Allium tuberosum
4. Calycanthus floridus
5. Myrica cerifera
6. Asclepias syriaca
7. Matteuccia (Ostrich Fern)
8. Unlabelled fern
9. Morus yeddoensis (never seen this species before)
10. The magnificent Gingko
11. Wildlife corner: Hosta with aphids (Is there an aphid that specialises on Hostas?)

[Paul T]

Great pics!!  Thank you for the tour.

I'm intrigued by the Calycanthus with the burnt tips.  Mine does that here as well every year (it's just finishing flowering now, here) and I am wondering now whether it always does that for everyone?

Thanks.