Was one of the most significant Sedum collections at the beginning of the 20th century – perhaps even ever – to be found in a private garden in a small village outside of the provincial capital of Gothenburg, Sweden? Recent historical scholarship seems to indicate as much.

The garden in question was called Bondegården after a former owner, the author and amateur ethnographer August Bondeson, but also as a pun on the Swedish word for farmstead (bondgård). In 1909, it was acquired by Erik L. Magnus (1884–1969), a young industrialist from Gothenburg whose name betrayed his Jewish ancestry: Magnus is indeed an ordinary Swedish name, but not as a surname.

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“Bondegården – largest collection of Sedum ever?” (with Ray Stephenson), Sedum Society Newsletter 145 (January 2023), pp. 41–49 (9 p.). Read the entire text here.