Summer is arriving in the Arctic Garden

Preparations for the upcoming summer season have started already at the Arctic Garden and there is much to do. Gardeners Elise Stöckell and Tuomas Määttä are working in the garden until the end of October.

Spring in the Arctic Garden starts with reparations of winter
damage as well as cleaning the ground. Surprisingly, this year quite many disposable
hand warmers have been found around the area. In May Stöckell and Määttä are busy
with raking, putting up name signs for the plants and cutting branches.

Elise Stöckell is preparing the
garden for the summer. Photo: Pihla Mensonen.

The garden
will reach full bloom after midsummer. On both sides of Arktikum’s iconic glass tube
can be seen ruskarinne and tunturirinne with beautiful flowers and plants.

“The view from the top of the Arktikum’s glass tube is incredibly
stunning especially on summer mornings”, Stöckell describes.

The viewpoint by the Ounasjoki River also attracts visitors through the
seasons. In winter, it’s a great spot to see the northern lights, and in summer it
provides amazing views of the midnight sun.

The Arctic
Garden is home to a wide variety of plants, with globeflowers and the coltsfoot
already in bloom. An area called Kuusiviidakko (Spruce junge) includes seven
different species of spruce: larch, blue spruce, black spruce, white spruce,
Siberian fir, Subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce. Biodiversity is important in the
garden. An insect hotel made from wood is popular especially with visiting school
groups. The garden also has fences made of brushwood that are used to collect garden
waste. These fences make raking easier and attract insects and decomposers to the
area. They function much like natural compost piles, working with the help of nature
itself.

The Arctic Garden will reach full bloom after
midsummer. Photo: Risto Viitanen.

Stöckell and Määttä will
be joined by extra hands over the summer. The first summer employees arrive after
midsummer. Their tasks will include weeding, general maintenance, edging paths and
painting.

Preparations for autumn will begin in August.
Before that there’s plenty of time to enjoy the colors of the summer in the Arctic
Garden.

Text: Pihla Mensonen, communications
intern, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland