UNIVERSITY OF MARIBOR BOTANICAL GARDEN, MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
A few miles south of Maribor city, on the shores of the historical Pannonian sea, lays an agricultural estate with a long and interesting history. An over one hundred year old lime alley leads to the Hompoš castle, the main feature of the estate. Over the 1000 years of the castle’s history, many owners were in charge of the property. The technological peak of the estate was achieved during the time of its last owner – the Pacher Theinburg family. At the begining of the 20th century, the esate was famous far and wide for its modern technology and was a center for the education of agricultural engineers. After the second World War, the estate Pohorski dvor and Meranovo estate were joined under the same leadership. Meranovo estate has its own long and interesting history, which began in 1823, when the Archeduke Johann of Habsburg, grandson of the famous monarch Maria Teresia, planted the first vineyards on the steep sunny slopes of the Pohorje mount. Besides high quality wines, produced from grapes of the steep vinyards, Meranovo estate was also known as the first School of viticulture in the region. The joined estates are currently managed by the Faculty for Agriculture and Life Sciences, with its seat in the Hompoš castle. At the take-over of the property’s ownership in 1994, the dean of the faculty admired the rich natural and cultural heritage of the neighbouring esate. The decidion was made to include the neighbouring estate to the Faculty and so the construction of the Botanical Garden began.
University of Maribor Botanical Garden was opened to the public in 2002. Today it plays an important role in plant diversity conservation and holds an important share of the state’s gene bank of edible and useful plants. It binds together the history and present of the estate Pohorski dvor, it serves as a research and education institution, and at the same time, provides a relaxing ambient and meeting place for its visitors. Together with its rich archeological, natural and cultural heritage, including ornamental and rare plant collections, it represents an important tourist attraction of the city of Maribor. In spring, visitors can admire over 11.000 flowering daffodil bulbs in all shades of yellow, white and orange. Blooming magnolias and rhododendrons are also spectacular to see in the spring. Summer brings out the many colours of roses. The rose collection in the Rosarium holds over 130 different cultivars. Late summer days offer gentle colours of flowers and golden shades of grasses. The vegetable beds and fruit trees offer a bounty of produce, and autumn brings out the magnificent colours of shrubs and trees.
https://botanicnivrt.um.si/?page_id=1865
GARDEN BY VILLA MIRASSASO, SEŽANA, SLOVENIA
The garden boasts invaluable cultural elements and a botanical collection of over 170 different non-native species.
The Scaramanga family garden formerly covered an area of about 3 ha but the construction of roads and railways in 1949 reduced the garden by a third. This resulted in the loss of the Scaramanga vineyards and orchards, several exotic trees, an artificial cave and two viewing towers. However, in 2017, the Municipality of Sežana revived in modernist style the long-abandoned smaller part of the garden that remained on the other side of the railway after its construction. Today, the total area of the old and new parts of the garden extends to more than 2 ha.
The old garden is still roughly divided into 2 parts:
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A central or formal part, with finely designed box parterres, glades, a pine grove, a fish pond and fountain, pergolas and a greenhouse, which is a smaller copy of the Schönnbrun greenhouse in Vienna, and
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An informal part, constructed in a more relaxed landscape style, with spacious grassy clearings, a pine forest, a cedar plantation and maple alley.
https://www.vrtsezana.si/the-garden/the-garden-today/?lang=en
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THE GARDEN OF CACTI, SEČA, SLOVENIA
PLEČNIK HOUSE, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
In 1921, the architect Jože Plečnik settled in the ground-floor Trnovo house at Karunova 4, to which he added a cylindrical extension on the west side in 1923-25, and after buying the neighboring house in 1928, a winter garden on the south side. Here, the master created in privacy until a late age and lived a detached and solitary life.
Plečnik's collection was declared a monument of national importance in 2009. It consists of a complex of Plečnik houses at Karunova 4 and 6, as well as a cylindrical annex with a preserved original inventory and an associated garden with a lapidary. In the middle of 2010, Plečnik's House came under the auspices of its current manager, the Museum and Galleries Institute of the City of Ljubljana.
https://mgml.si/en/plecnik-house/
THE BOURBON ROSE COLLECTION, FRANCISCAN MONASTERY KOSTANJEVICA, NOVA GORICA, SLOVENIA
In May 2004, in the former garden of the monastery, at the southern fasade of the Kostanjevica monastery near Nova Gorica, there was opened for the public a collection of Bourbon roses. It is one of the biggest and most complete collections of Bourbon roses in the world. In May and June there are thousands of them in bloom.
Bourbon roses, the roses of the 19th century, have become mostly extinct in the world. In Nova Gorica, the city of roses, the last preserved representatives were given a special place and became the second largest public collection of the original Bourbon roses in Europe (the only larger one is at Roseraie de l'Haÿ near Paris). They flourish in the approximate vicinity of the resting place of the last French kings, the Bourbons, in the garden of the Franciscan Monastery at Kostanjevica.
Bourbon roses are truly special among roses, as they represent an important step in the development from old to modern roses. They were named after the island Ile de Bourbon in the Indian Ocean, which is today called Reunion. This means that the name is only indirectly connected to the last French kings, the Bourbons. The first were created by accidental cross-fertilisation of two old varieties of roses, the Old blush China and the Quatre saisons damask rose. Famous French and other gardeners raised about 1,500 varieties, which over several decades literally flooded Europe. Only about one hundred have been preserved to this day. They put an enticingly fragrant stamp on their time, when they adorned the residences of the wealthy. From them they created new, modern roses, which slowly ousted the antique roses from gardens.
https://www.samostan-kostanjevica.si/en/bourbon-rose-collection
