Moscow Main Botanical Garden and Red Square

We started our day today at Moscow Main Botanical Garden. Vladimir and Svetlana took us to meet Alexander Demidov, the director of the Garden. Mikhail Romanov, head of the Tropical and Subtropical Plants Department also joined our meeting. We expressed our mutual admiration of the exchange program and the wonderful experiences that Russian and American botanists and horticulturists have had over the years. We also discussed more particulars of the next two weeks.

Main building at the Botanical Garden

Mikhail was our guide for the day. The Garden is quite large, 330 hectares, but less than half of the area is cultivated. We drove through the Arboretum, which features over 1000 tree species from around the world. The Arboretum, like the rest of the garden, has not had adequate funding in recent years. Volunteers are currently working to clear out weedy native tree species such as Corylus avellana and Betula pendula. We stopped to admire the orange shades on the bark of Pinus sylvestris.

 

 



Ducklings!

 

The first garden area we visited was the Japanese Garden. We met the curator of the Japanese Garden, Elena Golosova. This garden will be 30 years old in 2017. It has maintained in a more natural style, with less extensive pruning. Since Moscow is colder than some parts of Japan, replacement species are used that are hardy here. Acer manchurica is used as a replacement for Acer palmatum, which can grow, but tends to die back from the cold. Around the Yatsuhashi Bridge was a mixed planting of Iris sibirica with Silene, Equisetum, Ranunculus and Iris pseudoacorus. The Equisetum is not desirable, but is so thick it would be too much trouble to try to remove. The I. pseudoacorus seeds itself into the planting. Nearby beds were in different stages of renovation.

 

Ben, Elena and Mikhail in the Japanese Garden 

The newly renovated bed on the left, mixed Iris bed to the right



Next, Mikhail showed us the new conservatory he oversees. Construction began 27 years ago, but the foundation and beams were left for 10 years before there was funding to put on the glass. Planting has been ongoing, and Mikhail hopes to open the tropical section late this year or early next year. The 33 m high conservatory has a roof that is designed to quickly shed snow and ice in the winter. Inside the beds are organized by geography, plant adaptations, and useful plants, with many rare and endangered plants included in the collection. Some of the standouts were various Aristolochia sp. in flower, including one with cauliflory. We also saw Tahina spectabilis, a monocarpic palm from Madagascar. Though endangered in the wild, the plant has been widely distributed in cultivation at other botanical institutions. One of the larger aims of the conservatory is to provide ex-situ conservation of rare and endangered plants. In the subtropical section, Mikhail has Franklinia alatamaha, a tree which has been extinct in the wild in the US since 1803. The seed for this plant was collected when Mikhail came to the US on the 2014 exchange trip.

Aristolochia arborea with cauliflory

When plants look back at you! Aristolochia salvadoriensis

Tahina spectabilis

 

A view of the dry subtropical section, which will open later than the tropical section of the new conservatory.

 

 



After lunch, we toured the Perennial Garden. The garden is divided into beds mostly organized by genus and family. The stars at this time of year were the peonies! It was stunning to see mass plantings all in bloom! The garden is open to guided tours at certain times of the year, including when the peonies are in bloom. The garden also functions as a trial garden, with plants evaluated based on their drought-tolerance. The best plants are then recommended for planting in the Moscow area.

A popular peony cultivar in Russia.There has been a lot of breeding done in Russia, with old cultivars becoming popular again.

Lovely

 

We also visited the Rose Garden, which had be reconstructed about 5-7 years ago. Mikhail mentioned that climbing roses are not hardy here without protection. The entire plant is dug up, laid flat and covered with mulch for the winter!

Elena offered us tickets to the tea ceremony in the Japanese Garden that afternoon. It was my first time at a tea ceremony, so she helped to translate some of what was going on. Tea masters must train in Japan to become certified to perform the ceremony.

 

Red Square



Ben at dinner

 

Sculptures at this metro station celebrated war heroes and different occupations. Recently, it has become something of a tradition to touch the nose of the dog! We saw several people do this, and the nose was very smooth from being touched so often!

 

Our first full day was wonderful! On Saturday, we will leave Moscow to travel north. It may be a few days before I can update the blog. We’re very excited to visit Lake Plescheevo, the town of Rostov and other areas over the next few days.