The Botanischer Garten Schellerhau (1.4 hectares) is a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

located near the hamlet of Schellerhau at Hauptstrasse 41, Altenberg,

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged. The garden was established in 1906 by Gustav Adolf Poscharsky, inspector of the Royal Botanical Garden of Dresden, as his private garden. As he subsequently wrote, "As far as I know it was the first attempt with such a garden in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains). I chose the plateau of Schellerhau at 750 m elevation." There he planted species from the mountains of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, North America, and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

, and by 1908 was growing 93 trees, including 19

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

varieties, 9

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

s, 7

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...

s, 2

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

varieties, many shrubs, and 401

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. In 1916 the garden was transferred to the

Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt The Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt (; 33.4 hectares), also known as the Sächsisches Landesarboretum (‘Saxony State Arboretum’), is an arboretum maintained by the Dresden University of Technology. It is among the oldest arboreta in the wor ...

in what was to become a complex tangle of ownerships that persists to this day, and in 1920 became associated with the

Botanischer Garten der Technischen Universität Dresden The ''Botanischer Garten der Technischen Universität Dresden'' (3.25 hectares), also known as the ''Botanischer Garten Dresden'' or Dresden Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden maintained by the Dresden University of Technology. It is locat ...

as an

alpine garden An alpine garden (or alpinarium, alpinum) is a domestic or botanical garden, or more often a part of a larger garden, specializing in the collection and cultivation of alpine plants growing naturally at high altitudes around the world, such as in ...

. In 1928 it was enlarged by two additional purchases of 2240 m² and 800 m², and subsequently began to focus upon the flora of the Erzgebirge, but fell into disuse during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. At war's end, of the 1026 plants species recorded in the 1930s, only 33 trees and 158 shrubs could be identified. In 1949 it was expropriated and restored with great industry by teacher and botanist Fritz Stopp, and by 1951 cultivated more than 1000

, gradually growing to approximately 2000 species with good collections of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s, lichens, and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es.

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

state funding was eliminated in 1991, with garden rehabilitation continuing through the 1990s in the reunited

. Today the garden cultivates about 1000

, with a focus on endangered local species. It also collects North American and

n species, particularly of the high mountains. Collections include high altitude plants such as

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

gentian ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...

and

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...

, bell flowers, carnations, heather, dwarf

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

s, primroses,

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nativ ...

s, and

saxifrage ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 473 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...

References

Botanischer Garten Schellerhau

Qypte entry, with photographs
{{Authority control Schellerhau, Botanischer Garten Schellerhau, Botanischer Garten Altenberg, Saxony

See also

References