The Edvard Anderson house
Three climates under one roof.
Holger Ellgaard — CC BY-SA 3.0 · L.G.foto — CC BY-SA 4.0 · L.G.foto — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Daderot — CC0
Bergianska is Stockholm University's botanical garden, spread across a broad slope overlooking Brunnsviken bay north of the city. The outdoor garden is entirely free and holds sections arranged geographically and botanically: a Japanese garden, an alpine plant section, a kitchen herb garden and a historic apple orchard — all opening onto lawns you can sit on. The ticketed part is the glasshouses, chief among them the Edvard Anderson building with several climates under one roof: a Mediterranean hall with olive and citrus trees, a humid tropical section, and a desert section of cacti. In a hard Swedish winter, stepping into a warm Mediterranean climate is as much a psychological experience as a botanical one. A second, smaller glasshouse holds the giant Victoria water lily, whose leaves exceed a metre across — flowering only in summer. The place is quiet and thoroughly local in character, rarely appearing on visitor itineraries, and makes a comfortable stop on the red metro line heading north.
Three climates under one roof.
Leaves over a metre across — summer only.
Gustafsborgsvagen 4, 114 18 Stockholm
Yes, arguably more than in summer — the outdoor garden is dormant, but the glasshouses are exactly what a visitor misses in a Stockholm January: light, humidity, warmth and the smell of living plants after weeks of darkness. Many residents visit in winter for precisely that reason rather than any botanical one.
