Rosendals Tradgard

The garden started as a horticultural school in the 1860s on land beside Rosendal palace and has been run since 1982 as a biodynamic garden and foundation. It works: vegetable beds, herb borders, a rose garden, an orchard of old Swedish apple varieties, and long greenhouses where the cafe puts its tables among the plants. The kitchen bakes in a wood oven and cooks largely from the beds outside, which is the reason most people come, and there is a shop selling plants and produce. Picking your own from marked rows is possible in season. It is a working garden, so parts are closed off as they are cultivated.

Background

The land was sold in 1817 to King Karl XIV Johan, and in 1819 the architect Fredrik Blom built a royal palace by the grounds. Oscar I added an orangery for palms and other exotic plants in 1848. From 1861 Queen Josefina worked with the Swedish Gardening Society to open a gardening academy here, which ran for fifty years while the garden began to take its present form. In its best years the fruit garden held nearly 400 apple trees, and over 24 500 fruit trees were sent out across Sweden, along with 30 000 currant bushes and 22 000 park trees. The rose garden dates from 1988 and grows over 100 species, and 7 grape varieties are cultivated.

Source: Wikipedia, "Rosendals Trädgård"

What's there

• Beds, borders and an old-variety orchard - the working garden.
• Greenhouse tables among the plants - where the cafe seats people.
• A wood-fired bakery - the kitchen's main output.
• Pick-your-own rows in season - marked areas only.

When to go

May to September; the garden is bare and the cafe reduced in winter. Two hours.

Good to know

Summer weekends bring long queues at the cafe. Prices are high. Winter opening is limited and the garden is dormant. It is a walk from the tram.

Nearby

Rosendal palace is next door; Skansen is west.

Key facts