Trees of Finland and Sweden
- 10 August 2023
- Celia Hay
Visiting both Finland and Sweden, it’s hard to avoid noticing the trees. Foresty covers 75% of Finland's land mass and around 69% of Sweden. Plantation forestry can be pure forests or more often mixes of Norway spruce (Picea abies), Baltic or Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Juniper (whose berries are dried and used to flavour gin), Silver Birch(Betula pendula) and Aspen or Poplar (Populus tremula) which we are very familiar with in New Zealand.
Travelling by train from Stockholm to Gothenburg, we passed through thousands of hectares of native and plantation forests. In Finland, we visited the Nuuksio National Park, about 40 minutes drive from Helsinki and experienced first-hand a wilderness area.
Celia Hay
August 2023