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The greenhouses in the Kaisaniemi botanic garden are made up of a main lush tropical palm house and several adjoining smaller greenhouses housing plants from biomes such as the Mediterranean and deserts, a water lily pond and even a gorgeous little room completely dedicated to African violets. My Swedish grandmother used to have these in her living room window – but did you know that they originate from Tanzania and Kenya? Just imagine, the journey they made, as a species, to get from a moist patch next to a small stream in a remote tropical forest in inland Tanzania to my grandmother’s windowsill in Vårberg in the 1980s. The stories about travel and fashions and colonialism that our potted plants could tell.
Photo: In the greenhouses of Kaisaniemen kasvitieteellinen puutarha, Finland, May 2017. Posted on Instagram February 26, 2021.
Katja Malmborg 