MySecretGarden: Germany

If you travel to Frankfurt, Germany, I highly recommend that you plan a visit to two interesting gardens. There is just several minutes of walking from one garden to another. I visited them in May 2011. My pictures from Palmengarten are here: The PalmenGarten in Frankfurt, Germany .
This post includes my pictures of Goether University Botanical Garden.

Botanischer Garten Frankfurt am Main is maintained by the Johann Wolfgang University. It is a botanical gaden and arboretum.

The day I was there, there were very few visitors. In most of the parts of the garden, I met no one. It was a relaxing, calm and enjoyable walk.

Established in 1763 and moved to its current location in 1931, it has an amazing variety of plants - over 5000 species. Each plant has undergone research, been catalogued and has a label.

Cental European plants are represented here the best. Besides them, there are plants from the Mediterranean region, Asia and North America and some others.

Mixed forests, collections of berries, water, alpine and meadow plants, dune and swamp vegetation, herbs, medicinal plants may be found here.

Above: Salvia officinalis (Common Sage)

I love this orchid, Bletilla striata. Sometimes, it is sold as Hardy Orchid or Chinese Ground Orchid

Above: Cerastium bierbersteinii (Boreal chickweed)

Above: Aconitum lycoctonum (Wolf's bane)

A big part of the garden has a natural layout and looks like a beautiful meadow.

Alpine garden is absolutely gorgeous

Above: Anthericum liliago (St. Bernard's Lily)

Above: Galium glaucum

Above: Bistorta officinalis Delarbre

Asphodelus albus

The garden is open from March 1st to October 31st and admission is free.

Tip: In spring, be aware of the strong aroma from hundreds of blooming plants. I needed to buy anti-allergy pills after walking through the gardens. The good thing is the pharmacies there are well prepared for such type of emergency.

I join Gale at Clay and Limestone for the Wildflower Wednesday.

The PalmenGarten was number one on my list of places to visit in Frankfurt am Main during our recent trip to Germany. Its themed gardens and greenhouses didn't leave me disappointed.

The formal rose garden was the first stop upon entering the garden. I liked its geometrical form:

The Rose garden can be rented for weddings. I came to the garden in the morning and was almost alone there. Isn't it great?

The price of admission was 5 euros. Very reasonable for such a huge and unique place.

Water lilies are always a treat to see:

The Rhododendron garden was in full bloom and reminded me about our Pacific Northwest.

Pretty lake with an artificial waterfall and number of turtles:

The Rock garden was one of my favorite parts:

A wide variety of plants from different mountainous regions covers a rocky hill of good size.

I enjoyed not only the plants themselves but also the views of the garden's attractive historical buildings.

If you ask what I loved the most, I won't hesitate to say: peonies.

This peony, in the picture below, was absolutely stunning. I featured it in a previous post.

Pictures can't show its real beauty. I didn't find any tag with the plant's name. Tiina and Larry suggested that it could be one of the 'coral' varieties.

The charm of the old world - this comes first to my mind when I see these plants.

Peony bushes, tree and herbacious, were huge and looked artfully wild:

Drought tolerant plants weaved a lovely carpet which I absolutely loved. Most of the blooms were small, but in masses created beautiful patterns.

The Steppe section of the PalmenGarten was as lovely as it could be. Perennials and annuals from the steppes of Northen America, Europe and Asia covered a big area and bloomed mostly in pastel colors of blue, purple, white and violet.

Isn't it lovely? Understated, simple beauty of wild flowers:

From different parts of the garden I could see the Frankfurt TV tower:

Mediterranean region was represented by a large variety of plants.

The collection of tropical plants is very impressive and deserves a special visit if you are a fan of exotic plants.

Plants from rain forest, mountain rain forest, mangrove, monsoon, savannah, thorn forest, trade-wind forest (have you ever heard about such forest?) fill the huge size greenhouse called Tropicarium.