Honkasuo

The wood-framed buildings are mainly two to five stories. The houses are colourfully painted, and adjacent buildings are different colours. The area offers owner-occupied flats and houses, rentals, and right-of-occupancy housing. The heart of Honkasuo is the Perhosniitty park with its urban farming plots. 

A raised sphagnum-moss marsh sits west of the residential area, which the Finnish Environment Institute’s inventory has determined to be a locally important geological formation. The marsh was drained for peat extraction about 50 years ago, which is why it’s now forested. Pine, spruce, marsh Labrador tea and bog bilberries grow in the marsh. 

The western edge of Honkasuo joins with the westernmost of Helsinki’s Green Fingers (green areas).  Birds in the area include the corncrake, common grasshopper warbler, river warbler, marsh warbler, Blyth’s reed warbler, wood warbler, and Eurasian blackcap.  The forest and marsh area have a large population of forest birds, including the icterine warbler, red crossbill, and the hazel grouse – rarely seen in Helsinki. The meadow area in Honkasuo is also an excellent butterfly meadow, according to resident sightings. 

Honkasuo central park area, Perhosniitty, was the yard area of the old Honkasuo tenant farm. The house sat on top of a small hill, surrounded by a field cleared from the forest, a meadow and sheep barn. Some lilacs, an apple tree and other trees remain in the yard, but the only thing left of the buildings are remnants of the stone foundations. There are plans to develop the park for the existing cultural environment. Parts of the park are reserved for urban farming plots for the residents, and the open meadow area is intended for meadow plants that feed butterflies, in particular. 

The city block park in east Honkasuo, Haapaperhosenpuisto, features an impressive knolly outcrop and the surrounding trees, primarily pine trees. 

The marsh park in the western part, Honkasuonpuisto, could generate wider interest due to its unusual vegetation. Marsh Labrador tea, rhododendrons, cotton grasses and other rare plants occur naturally in marshlands. 

Wetland ponds and other retention areas for rainwater run-off are being built in Pihkapuisto and Niittyperhosenpuisto parks. 

Reittiopas(Link leads to external service)

Katso kartalta lähin kaupunkipyörä-asema(Link leads to external service)