The Brocken Garden () is an alpine

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. is ...

on the summit of the

Brocken The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is a mountain near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, between the rivers Weser River, Weser and Elbe. The highest peak in the Harz mountain range, and in Northern Germany, ...

(1,142 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

), the highest peak in the

Harz mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It lies within the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the Germany, German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg am Harz, Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern ...

near

Wernigerode Wernigerode () is a town in the Harz (district), district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the Wernigerode (district), district of Wernigerode. Its population was 32,181 in 2020. Wernigerode is located southwes ...

in the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

and has a stock of around 1,600 types of plant. These include species that only grow in the Brocken region, like the Brocken anemone or alpine pasqueflower and the Brocken

hawkweed ''Hieracium'' (), known by the common name hawkweed and classically as (from ancient Greek ἱέραξ, 'hawk'), is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion (''Taraxacum''), chicory (''Cichorium''), ...

, but its main focus is on alpine plants like the white dryad and the Swiss willow. It is open daily without charge.

History

By 1760 there was already a herb garden on the

Heinrichshöhe The Heinrichshöhe is a subsidiary peak of the highest mountain in the Harz, the Brocken, and, at , it is the second summit in the Harz, Harz Mountains. Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purpos ...

and in 1761 a garden with plants from the Brocken was laid out at

Schierke Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode. Situated within the Harz mountain range in the valley of the river Bode, at the rim ...

. But it was not until 1890 that the Brocken Garden was established by Albert Peter with the permission of Prince Otto of

Stolberg-Wernigerode The County of Stolberg-Wernigerode () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz region around Wernigerode, now part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg. History The Counts of Wernigerode h ...

on the royal

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representativ ...

. Peter was a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and head of the Botanical Garden of Göttingen. The purpose of the experimental garden was to research the adaptability of

alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxon, taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial g ...

s to the conditions of a new

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. Due to its northerly and exposed location the summit of the Brocken (1,141 m) equated climatically to heights of about 1,700 to 1,900 m in the

Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...

. Until 1945 the Brocken Garden was run by

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

s at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. Only in the years 1914 to 1934 and 1945 to 1950 did work have to stop because of the impact of the two world wars. In 1950 the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

took over its upkeep. When the Brocken was declared an out-of-bounds area the botanical garten was closed to the public in 1961 and lost its importance. In 1971 all scientific and

horticultural Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

work had to stop. In the period that followed native plants took over much of the garden. Only 90 of the hitherto 1,400 cultivated species could still be found in 1989. After the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

the Brocken Garden was re-established jointly by the High Harz National Park and the botanical gardens of the universities of Halle and Göttingen. Brockenkuppe wp

Today the garden comprises a public viewing area and an experimental area, closed to the public, in which experiments in

biotope A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of flora (plants), plants and fauna (animals), animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term habitat (ecology), "habitat", which ...

and species conservation are carried out. In addition the garden is devoted to the renaturalisation of the Brocken summit. The Brocken Garden is accessible to visitors between May and the middle of October. In 2008 there were around 9,000 visitors.http://www.altmark-zeitung.de/sachsenanhaltstart/00_20081014101846_Saison_im_Brockengarten_geht_zu_Ende.html

Tasks

The Brocken Garden supports academic instruction, research, species conservation, school instruction and public information and thus the functions that were given to it by its founder, Albert Peter.

Climate

The average annual temperature is 2.9 °C (based on the period 1960–1990), and there are an average of 171 days of frost and 176 days with snow cover. Only the months of July and August are generally entirely frost-free. Annual precipitation is 1,814 litres per square metre, the average annual

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

is 88 per cent and there are 306 days of mist or fog. The summit of the Brocken is one of the windiest places in Europe. The highest measured wind speed was 263 km/h (in 1984). The Brocken has a natural timber line.

References

Sources

* Friedrich Ebel, Wolfram Richter: ''Der Versuchs- und Schaugarten auf dem Brocken. Informationen über den Brockengarten.'' (Mitteilungen aus dem Botanischen Garten der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle 130), 1991 * Friedrich Ebel u. a.: ''Der Brockengarten. Ein Versuchs- und Schaugarten.'' Schadach, Goslar 1999,

External links

Brockengarten

* Friedrich Ebel and Wolfram Richter, ''Der Versuchs- und Schaugarten auf dem Brocken: Informationen über den Brockengarten'', Botanischer Garten der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle, 1991. * Friedrich Ebel et al., ''Der Brockengarten im Harz: Ein Versuchs- und Schaugarten''. Studio Volker Schadach, Goslar, 1999, 2006. . {{Authority control

Botanical gardens in Germany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...