Trees and shrubs – Arbores et frutices
“The leaves pale on the trees: 1 the maple, 2 the oak, 3 the elm, 4 the lime, but they blush on the rowan. As soon as the ash’s leaves have fallen off, the plants from southern regions should be taken into the Winter houses, so that frosts will not harm them.”
Carl Linnaeus 1755, Blomsteralmanackan
Along the borders of the garden, Linnaeus had one specimen of every known Swedish species of tree planted, plus foreign trees such as false walnut Juglans regia and chestnut Castanea sativa. These trees served a practical purpose, by protecting the garden from the cold north winds of the Uppsala plain.
In the garden, Linnaeus studied when the trees came into leaf as well as in what order they shed them in the autumn. The oldest trees growing here today are some elms from the first half of the 19th century. The last Linnaean tree, a black poplar Populus nigra, fell in a storm in 1911.