RHODODENDRONDALEN – OAS I INGENMANSLAND Fallstudie av en trädgårdsmästares parkdröm

Abstract

This study focuses on the history of Rhododendrondalen, its plant material and suggestions for how to care for the area in the future. Rhododendrondalen is situated on the east side of mountain Billingen just outside central Skövde in Västergötland. Today the area is a mix of a park, uncultivated land and nature reserv. The area was created in the middle of the 20th century by the gardener Karl Magnusson. He ran his nursery Convallaria at the slopes of Billingen where he built a new home in 1936. Adjacent to his private garden he planted exotic trees and shrubs. This study examines the trees that were planted by Magnusson and for what purpose. For the last decades Rhododendrondalen has been left without management and care for long periods of time. The result of that is overgrowing and the fact that many of the implanted plants have disappeared. The municipality of Skövde owns the area and a renovation of the northern part of the valley took place between 2015 and 2017. A cultural historical value of the environment is described in this study, and future possibilities to changed care and management is discussed.