Information & Pictures about Liberec - Botanic garden

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The botanic garden
A visit to the nearby Botanical Gardens would undoubtedly be in order as well, for they are among the oldest of their kind in the Czech Republic, and among the most valuable in terms of the diversity of their collections and exhibits. On display there are numerous precious species of plants from all corners of the World, including the arctic and tropical zones. The Gardens attract about 140.000 visitors annualy including a number of foreigners, thereby contributing to their good name abroad too.

It is a lesser known fact, however, that the Liberec Botanical gardens pursue a range of other activities besides. Their contacts at the International level and exchanges of species of flora with a number of botanical gardens in Europe, Asia, Africa and Northern and Southern America serve not only as a means of expanding their collection, but also as a stimulus to scientific research. In addition, the Liberec Botanical gardens are available to foreign students wishing to gain practical experience there or acquire the material they need for their dissertations. Whole groups of foreign experts converge on the Liberec Botanical Gardens, whose Botanical collections are most familiar to prestigious breeders and researchers throughout the World. Another important field of activity - though little advertised outside the Gardens - has been the care of a selected range of endangered species of flora. many exotic plant species virtually extinct in the wild, are grown in artificial conditions. Moreover, certain endangered species of Czech flora have been revived there on a large scale with the use of modern methods and returned to the wild. If you happen to go to Liberec Botanical Gardens, we recommend that you visit their collection of carnivorous plants, one of the best in the country; there collection of orchids, the largest in the Czech lands, and their range of plants of the Bromeliaceous family. No less remarkable, however, are the collections of precious fern, cycad and tropical water lily, or its marvelous camellia, the oldest grown in Europe, and a unique bonsai tree, now more than 200 years old. This exquisite Chinese juniper is evidently the oldest bonsai grown outside the Far East, as conclusive evidence exists to corroborate the fact that it was imported into Europe more then a century ago. As for the Gardens' thematic exhibitions the oldest of them introduces visitors to Australian flora. The Garden's original greenhouses have been gradually replaced with new facilities, erected, however, on different , more suitable sites in the Gardens' grounds. As a result, the establishment is currently facing a rather difficult task , namely that of replanting in a short time several thousand valuable floral species and creating new exhibitions of the same or even better quality.

Miloslav Studnička