The botanical garden in Liberec will be renovating the greenhouse with 800 plants this year

Liberec - The botanical garden in Liberec will be renovating its deposit greenhouse this year, which houses about 800 plants including orchids. For this reason, the plants will need to be temporarily relocated. Therefore, the gardeners plan the repairs for the summer period. The garden's director, Václav Lenk, informed journalists about this today.

"Because of course, the operation will have to take place during a climatically favorable part of the year, meaning sometime in the summer, so that the plants do not get cold during the relocations," said Lenk.

The deposit greenhouse, which is about 250 square meters in size, needs repairs to its shell, which is leaking, allowing water to seep through, and due to material degradation, it also has reduced light permeability. According to Lenk, they also want to add ventilation windows. "This means it will not only bring light comfort but also thermal comfort for the plants," Lenk stated. The repair costs of the greenhouse are estimated at 2.3 million crowns.

The renovation of the deposit greenhouse is a pilot project for the oldest botanical garden in the country, and they are preparing to renovate other greenhouses as well. "To see how quickly it goes, how challenging it will be for us," added Lenk. The Liberec garden has nine greenhouse pavilions built between 1995 and 2000, designed by architect Pavel Vaněček, which resemble a grouping of plant cells. A pavilion for water lilies was added ten years ago.

The botanical garden has been located on Purkynova Street since 1895. It has over 8000 exotic plants in its collections and boasts several unique specimens. Among them are the five oldest camellias in Europe and the largest cross-section of a fossilized trunk ever found in the Czech Republic. It likely also has the largest orchid collection in the country, containing over 1500 species. Last year, it had the highest attendance in the last 13 years, with 69,807 visitors, which is 7302 more than in 2022.

For this year, it plans new events for visitors called Ice City, Apple with a Story, exhibitions of spring bulbs, and cacti. It also wants to focus more on educational programs for kindergartens and elementary schools. They tested this at the end of last year, and there was significant interest. "My colleague had around 20 dates, and practically within a week, everything was filled," Lenk stated. In addition to educational courses for schools and kindergartens, the garden will also attract visitors with short educational programs that will be part of some exhibitions.