The Tallinn Botanical Garden in Estonia - 40 Years
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.j CHRONICLE m CHRONICLE The Tallinn Botanical Garden in Estonia - 40 years History At present, the TBG covers an area of 109 hec- tares and has 46 employees. It has been headed by The first botanical gardens in Estonia were found- Director Veiko Lahmus since 2001. ed in Tartu in 1803, under the local university reo- In 196 1, collectioning of tropical and subtropical pened in the previous year. The idea of also founding plants was started in two hothouses (600 m2). In 197 1, botanical gardens in Tallinn emerged in the 1860's. It five new greenhouses were built, including the 9 m high took allnost 100 years for the idea to be materialized. palmhouse, and the total covered area under the glass On December I, 196 1, the Tallinn Botanical Gardens expanded to 2 100 m2. In 1994, the greenhouse for suc- was established as a subordinate institution of the culent plants was rebuilt using modern construction Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. methods and computer climate control. In 1999 recon- Preparatory works for the establishlnent of the struction of Palm house was finished. There is a glass Botanical Gardens were cornmenced much earlier. The house for palms and other subtropical plants, which idea was revived in 1946. The first experimental gar- is of 500sq/m, its max, height is 20 m, a conference hall dening farm in Tallinn was established in 1950, on the for 120 people, a lecture room for 25 students, a cof- plot expropriated from gardener Otto Kramer (1 883- 1972) fe-shop and rooms for the staff of departments of in the city district of Lillekiila. There, the gathering of environmental education and subtropical and tropical plants for the future botanical gardens was com- plants. During the reconstruction a new heating cent- menced. By the late 1955, 2,900 taxa of ornamental er was set up and new pipelines were installed. plants had already been gathered there. In search of a new location for the Botanical Gar- Woody plants collections dens, a suitable tract of land was spotted in the Pirita River valley at Kloostrimetsa (Forest of Cloister) north- The development of the TBG collections owes east of Tallinn in the 1950's. The tract was mainly much to numerous expeditions. Nearly 50 expeditions coniposed of farmland belonging to Konstantin Pats have been organized to this effect, and plant material (1874-1956), the former president of Estonia (in 1938- has been collected from 30 floristic regions. Other 1940). botanical gardens have been interested in obtaining The territory of TBG is divided by the river Piri- seeds from natural habitats and we have tried to meet ta, bordered by a large area of sandy pine forests. 111 these requests. the neighborhood, Metsakallnistu (Forest Cemetery) is The total number of taxa in the living plant col- located. The Tallinn TV tower is standing right next lections was 7,979 (2000). The collections of tropical to the Botanical Garden. The cafe of the TV tower is and subtropical plants together include 226 1 axa. All at the height of 170 m, offering a good panoramic view in all, 57 18 taxa grow on open ground, of which 21 19 of the surroundings. are woody plants. Most of the woody plants grow in In 1959, the first workers arrived at Kloostrilnetsa the arboretum (I 140) and the rosary (578 vareieties). and the establishment of the Botanical Gardens (TBG) The establishment of the Arboretum was started began. Subsequently, the TBG developed into a com- in the spring of 1963. To date, the area of the arbore- prehensive research institute dealing with a vast number tum, with its roads and water bodies, covers 17 ha. of issues in natural science. Because of the transfor- The initial plan of the arboretum was drafted by land- mations in Estonian science in the 1990's, the TBG lost scape architect Aleksander Niine. The arboreti~mhas its importance as a scientific institution. In 1995, the been established on the basis of the systematic prin- TBG was transferred into the ownership of the city of ciple. The positioning on the landscape of plant fam- Tallinn. Currently, the TBG consists of the following ilies has rnainly been based on the system developed departments: Accountancy Department, Administrative by the Soviet Russian academician A. Grossheim, of Department, Marketing and Sales Department, Depart- plant genera and species on that developed by the ment of Woody and Herbaceus Plants, Department of German scientist Engler. In the process of planting, the Tropical and Subtropical Plants, Department of Envi- initial plan has steadily been iluproved and, because ronmental Education and Department of Research. of the ecological perspective, also slightly modified. The collections of woody plants have been ar- The scientific activity and education ranged in individually designed sections, sucli as tlie Main Arboretum, the Heather Garden, the Garden of The scientific activity of the TBG is focused on Ornamental Conifers, the Rose Garden and the Audaku plant hortic~~ltureand plant introduction. Experimental Station on the island of Saaremaa in the Fairly extensive is the activity of the TBG in the west of Estonia. donlain of environmental education. The research arid The Arboretum (1 999) comprises 1,138 taxa froin educational staff of the TBG hold lectures on botany, 157 genera of 54 families. Most of the taxa represent ecology, ornamental gardening, etc, in the lecture hall the following genera: Rosa - 71, Salix - 49, Acer - of the TBG as well as at different colleges, high 45, Lorricera - 35, Spiraea - 35, Prurrlrs - 3 1, etc. schools and other venues in Tallinn. The number of The largest number of foreign species has been attendees increaseti to 40,158 in 1999. brought in from the temperate zones of East Asia and In the last years, the most crowded botanical exhi- North America, since many of thein acclimatize them- bitions were "Exotic fruits", "irises", "Fragrant Plants selves well to the Estonian ecological and climatic and Spices" and "Days of Orchids". The Finnish-Esto- conditions. The introduction of woody plants from nian joint exhibition of the Baltic Sea titled "The Salne other regions of the northern temperate zone has been Sea in Us All" drew great crowds in the winter of 2001. less successfitl, the least effective being that of plants In 1994, the TBG joined the "Botanical Garden from the Caucasus and southern Siberian mountains. Conservation 1ntert;ationnl". In the next year, the So- The northern part of the Arboretum has been ciety of Friends of the TBG was started, atid tlie first planted with groups of conifers (Pinaceae, Cupres- volunteers engaged themselves in the educational work saceae, Taxaceae). Next to these, groups of decidu- aimed at the general public. ous trees and shrubs from the families Oleaceae, Ul- maceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae have been planted. Library The next zone accolnlnodates groups of woody plants from the families Rosaceae, Berberidaceae, Acerace- The establishment of the library of the TBG was ae, Caprifoliaceae, Jrrglanduceae, etc. The peripher- started in the initial years of the institution. Its main al zone is occupied by the families Fabaceae, Celas- collection is composed of 10,100 items, including 5,000 traceae, Ailacardiaceae, Cornnceae, Rharnrlaceae, volunles of books and 4,200 items of periodicals and Salicaceae, etc. serials. In addition, it houses manuscripts and ab- The Heather Garden (0.6 ha) is located near the stracts of dissertations along with slides and photos. conifers. It was planted in 1970 at a special site under The books are arranged systematically using the Uni- the canopy of a pine and oak stand. It holds 79 iden- versal Decimal Classification (UDC). Alphabetical and tified taxa froin the following genera: Rhododerrd~on systen~atical(UDC) catalog~~esare available on cards. - 46, Vaccir~iunt- 13, Erica - 7, etc. The establishment of the herbarium of the TBG In 1989, a new Garden of Ornamental Conifers was was started in the initial years of the institution. The founded near the office building of the TBG. The gar- earliest herbariun~sheets were prepared even before den features 120 cultivars of ornamental conifers. the foundation of the Botanical Gardens. The size of There is a collection of wild species of Rosa (71 the herbarium is 80,500 sheets. Tracheopytes take up species), planted since 1980, between the Main Arbo- approxin~ately9,500 herbarium sheets, including 6,500 retum and the Rose Garden. sheets of woody plants and approxin~ately3,000 sheets In 1963, the first 45 taxa of introduced woody of herbaceous plants. The ~nushrooniherbarium con- plants were planted at the Audaku Experimental Sta- tains 6,000 specimens, the moss herbarium 15,000 spec- tion (Saaremaa Island) of the TBG. The woody plants imens and the lichen herbarium 50,000 specimens. The collection colnprises today 22 1 taxa (2000). woody plant herbariutii of the TBG is the richest in Inspired by advancement in introduction of Estonia of its kind. woody plants from the Southern Hemisphere to botan- ical gardens and arboreta of Nordic countries, exper- iments on introduction of plants of the temperate zone Outputs in English of this region to Estonia were made in Kloostritnetsa and Audaku in1994-1997. There were 49 species (93 accessions, 83 1 plants) planted on experimental beds Paivel, A. (cd.). 1996. Indcx plantaruni. Thc Catalogue of Plant Collections. Tallinn Botanical Gardcn. Tallinn, 220 p. in Kloostrimetsa and 26 species (61 accessions, 561 Tamm, H. (conip.). 2000. Tallinn Botanical Gardcn. - Navys, plants) in Audaku. E. (cd. in chicf). Baltic Botanical Gardcn. Vilnius, Lithua- nia. Vol. 4. 6-10. Vishneuskn, L., Sander, H. 2001. Thc history of two bo- Gardct~ in Estonia. - Dcndrological St~tdicsin Estonia. tanical gardctls - 45 ycars of thc National Botanical Part Ill.