Diamant travel - Excursion details

Nikitsky Botanical Garden

is a complex scientific and research establishment. It is the most famous and popular park of the Crimean Southern Coast. The Garden combines nature, history, art, and science. Its collection possesses some 30 thousands plants from all over the world. The Garden is located at the Southern coast of Crimea between Nikita village and the Black Sea.

Almost 4 miles away from Yalta there is a wonderfully beautiful site of Crimea, a green treasury of Ukraine, - Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Collection of the Garden comprises representative species of all the plants growing in the world’s subtropical areas. Nikitsky Garden is on of the oldest scientific and research establishments. The Garden was created in 1812 not far from village of Nikita, which gave name to the establishment.

On 10 June 1811, with active participation of renowned botanist Fyodor Bieberstein (Marshall von Bieberstein), the “Decree on creation of the Emperor’s State Botanical Garden in Crimea” was signed in St.Petesrburg. The same year, 375 desyatin (an old Russian measurement unit equal 1.09 hectare) of land were bought from landowner Smirnov.

A vacant position of the Garden’s director Bieberstein proposed to his attendant, a 30-years old scientist Christian von Steven. The first plantings were made as early as September 1812 – so the birth was given to the State Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Within 14 years of outstandingly industrious work, von Steven managed to collect more than 450 species of exotic plants, receiving a nick-name of “Nestor of Russian botanists”.

Today the living collection of the Garden counts 30 thousand species, hybrids and types of plants of almost all countries of the world. The Lower park of the Garden has a growing California oak (the only one in Ukraine), and Primorsky park features the most heat-loving trees and bushes: myrtle, feijoa, orchid tree, chamaerops (palmetto). Nikitsky Garden possesses also Aleppo pine, Algerian fir, Californian oak, Arizona cypress, Juniperus Virginiana, and the only one in Nikitsky Garden species of an “ironwood” – Parrotia Persica (Persian Ironwood Tree).
This tree is almost 17 ft. high, has a top formed of wide oval leaves, which in fall start to be pink-orange in color.

A special pride of the Botanic Garden is a dendrological park with a collection of over 1700 species of trees and bushes, collected from all continents of the globe. The park has some 600 species and types of flowers and some 250 species of greenhouse plants. Near the sea there is the world’s most rich rose species collection, counting almost 1600 Ukrainian and foreign species. Fan-leaved Chinese palm-trees are grown here.

These trees have been cultivated since 1860 and since then have been spread all over the Southern Coast of Crimea. A stone pine and Lebanon cedar were planted there. The first of them was delivered from the Mediterranean and the second – from mountains of Asia Minor.

Not far from bamboo brushwood there grows a yew-tree (Taxus baccata). This representative of the wood, which had been growing there once, is considerably old – it is over 530 years old. Here one can see the biggest tree of the Nikitsky Garden – gigantic sequoia, or mammoth tree. It is more than 114 ft. high and over 5 ft. in diameter, although it is only 110 years old. It’s an interesting fact, that yaw-like sequoia, which is also a representative of gigantic trees, had been delivered to parks of Western Europe from Nikitsky Botanical Garden together with some other plant species. There is an open area behind the sequoia, which is all planted with roses, and a small pool on it preserves water plants – lotus Nelumbo Caspica, iris, Acorus Japonicus, water-lily. Then there is a group of Himalayan cedars, Atlas cedar and an evergreen sub-shrub – true lavender.

The Garden is divided into several parks: the Lower, the Upper, Primorsky and a park on cape Montodor. These parks are not connected territorially.

The oldest part of Nikitsky Botanical Garden is the Lower Park, established far in the times of Garden’s founder von Steven.
The Upper Park occupies a relatively calm part of the slope in the central section of the Garden. It was founded in the mid-19th century. Renowned landscape designer Arnold Regel participated in design creation of the park, which was created “for walking purposes”.

Primorsky Park (literary: Seaside Park) was laid more than 80 years ago. The southern section of the Garden protected by cape Martyan from cold northern and north-eastern winds is an ideal place for planting heat-loving trees and bushes. To the left and to the right of Primorsky Park there are two interesting sections of Nikitsky Botanical Garden. To the east, there is a Reserve “Cape Martyan, where a priceless site with a preserved part of sub-Mediterranean forest. There one can find rare trees, bushes and herbs (overall 500 species) growing in natural conditions. And this entire treasury grows on 120 hectares of reserve land.
This reserve serves as a natural laboratory for the Garden’s scientists and hence it is closed for massive guided tours. To the west of Primorsky Park, closer to Yalta, there is a Park on cape Montedor. It preserves both indigenous species (downy oak and Greek juniper), and relic coniferous exotic trees – many species of pine from different countries, metasequoia with a tender conifer falling in winter. Metasequoia was considered an already dead species, when it was unexpectedly found “in good living condition” in China in 1941.

Park Montedor is the youngest park of Nikitsky Garden – it was created just over 50 years ago.

Numerous diplomas and awards tell us about success of Nikitsky Botanical Garden. The anniversary medal coined to commemorate its centenary features a Latin inscription Per scientiam ad vitam – meaning “To serve the life with science”. Activity of the Garden was highly appreciated during international exhibitions in Austria, the USA, Belgium. Nikitsky Botanical Garden was awarded an honour prix in 1961 in Erfurt for its extensive results in fruit growing – 13 golden and one silver medals.

Photographs are donated by crimea-photo.com