A beautiful small jewel away from the buzz of the city centre of course it’s not the biggest in Switzerland, but it’s lovely. It is one of the places to see in St.Gallen for the nature lovers and also for the plant enthusiast. Since 2016 the Museum of Nature stands adjacent to the Botanical Garden.
In a small city like St.Gallen visitors tend to end up all doing more or less the same things – check out the abbey cathedral, stroll down the Multergasse, hit up the textile museum and climb the Freudenberg. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great things to do in St.Gallen, but sometimes you need to escape. The Botanical Garden is quiet and peaceful and well worth the visit.
The Botanical Garden is situated a bit outside the city center. The Garden is a very peaceful oasis and houses a collection of over 8000 different plants indoor and outdoor from across the globe in different sections. The Botanical Garden St.Gallen dates back to 1878, when the founder Prof. Dr. Bernhard Wartmann planted his first plot in the City Park. The Botanical Garden than moved first to another place and finally to Stephanshornstrasse in 1945. Here you can read about Hanspeter Schumacher who take care since 1986.
On a sunny day you can explore the many different features around the garden that show plants from all regions of the world and climate zones, but on a rainy or snowy day the glasshouse is a perfect getaway to spend a day surrounded by greens. You can spend hours studying and photographing flowers. Most plants in the glasshouse come from warm and tropical parts of the world, and so the temperature remains pleasant throughout the experience. Like Zoos, Botanical Gardens often work in tandem with each other, exchanging seeds, pollen, and other genetic information to preserve rare, threatened, or endangered species. The Botanical Garden can collect a total of 80000 liters of rainwater in tanks. In normal years that is enough for the whole year.
The oldest plant in the garden is over 150 years old! It’s a Chilean myrtle (Myrtus Iuma). It was given to the Botanical Garden in 1880.
In the cactus garden is a giant mexican cactus (and many others) and estimated to be over 50 years old. There are 150 years more to go until the cactus reaches his maximum size of 13 meters.
The Agaves lives in the Alpine-House. These bloom once in their life but than it’s a spectacle and beautiful! The Botanical Garden St.Gallen has about 10 different species, including an Agave franzosinii. It’s the biggest of its kind. Infrequent mature plants (at least 15 years old) are topped with a magnificent flower stalk that can reach 12 meters.
The Giant Lily Pond
My favourite part, however, is the tropical zone – the one where humidity rises to 80%, the temperatures is around 24-30°C and the plants become even greener. Other beautiful features are the pond with the almost circular floating leaves and the pool brimming with goldfish. This species of plant, the giant water lily or Victoria amazonica is the largest of the water lily family, with floating leaves that can reach up to two metres in diameter in the best time (June, July).
Not only plants – Goldfish, gold dust day gecko and pipe frog
There are also over 100 gold dust day geckos among the tropical plants. Such a large population of these animals is considered zoological rarity. Anyone who goes through the tropical house with their eyes open on a warmer day can discover the colored geckos on the windows, on heating pipes or in the plants. They are used for pest control.
Opening Times And Prices
Switzerland is a notoriously pricey country, so you might be glad to learn that these gardens in St.Gallen are totally free. So if you are looking for a peaceful and beautiful place, then visit the Botanical Garden! The Botanical Garden is open every day from 8am until 5pm. For more info on guided tours of the garden or just to see what’s on, visit the Botanical Garden website! For CHF 20.– you can support this beautiful garden and become a member! Than you’ll receive an annual program and continuously informations about exhibitions.
Where to find?
Stephanshornstrasse 4 | www.botanischergarten.stadt.sg.ch
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