Outdoor plants
The outdoor plants are presented on the one hand in the traditional layout on beds and on the other hand in recreated biotopes (Central European wild plants).
Traditional plants
On an area of approx. 2 ha, the grounds of the old botanical school garden, there are plants for
- Woody plants (arboretum)
- perennials
- summer flowers and
- medicinal and aromatic plants
- fruit and vegetables.
Central European biotopes
The varied terrain profile of the Botanic Garden offers ideal conditions for the presentation of plant communities. Plants that occur in the wild in neighbouring plant communities under the same site conditions are shown here in horticulturally created plant communities. The visitor has the impression of finding natural habitats. Pupils and students as well as interested visitors can thus familiarise themselves with and identify a large number of Central European plants in their associations in a small space. Biotopes include forests, heathland, dunes, steppes, bodies of water and moors.
Forests
The forests take up the most space in the botanical garden. Visitors can explore over 20 forest communities on a well-developed network of paths and footbridges, e.g. oak-beech forest, woodruff-beech forest, alluvial forest and alder swamp forest.
The alder swamp forest is a near-natural forest on wet, nutrient-rich moorland soil with high groundwater levels all year round. Characteristic species include black alder, bog birch, marsh calla, water iris, various willow and sedge species.
The alluvial forest is particularly recommended in spring with its spring snowflake, hollow larkspur and wood cowslip or, a little later, the wild garlic blossom.
Heath
Heaths are habitats created by human cultivation. As a result of grazing and litter utilisation, forests developed into nutrient-poor plant associations with juniper, broom and dwarf shrubs.
A section of a sub-Atlantic heath is shown in the Chemnitz Botanical Garden, but for maintenance reasons not on sandy soils, but on stone rubble similar to the flint fields of Mukran (Rügen). In connection with the dune, a section of an Atlantic heath is also shown, in which the Atlantic crowberry dominates.
A large terrarium with native amphibians and forest lizards also harbours the species of mountain heaths that can be found on the southern slope of the Fichtelberg on the so-called Beerhübl.
Dune
Dunes form in a characteristic way on sea coasts or areas of open sand. Primary dunes, white dunes, grey dunes and brown dunes form a sequence that is shaped by the environmental conditions.
In Chemnitz, artificial dunes were formed by the gardener determining the sequence.
Felt butterbur dominates the primary dune, while the white dune is dominated by beach rye. The grey dune is the richest in species. Silver grass, sand sedge, sand strawflower, mountain sand button, beach grass carnation and other plants form a colourful summer aspect. The brown dune has been omitted as the species in question can also be found in the Atlantic heath.
Steppe
Where no natural forest can grow due to extreme dryness and lack of nutrients, steppe-like nutrient-poor grasslands develop. In Central Europe, steppe grasslands are mainly found on sunny and therefore very warm southern slopes in areas with little precipitation. The feather grasses, which sway in the wind like long silver hair in summer, are a magnificent sight.
In the Chemnitz Botanical Garden, steppe plants found their home on a south-facing hill covered with basalt. The southern exposure and the high heat absorption capacity of the black basalt rock create soil temperatures that the steppe plant species, such as the greater cowslip, Adonis florets, purple mullein and steppe spurge, tolerate well. Peony carnations and dwarf irises also grow in a small quarry. The design was modelled on a basalt hilltop in the Bohemian Central Uplands.
Waters
A large number of bodies of water of different sizes have been created in the botanical garden. This allows the biodiversity of marsh and aquatic plants to be demonstrated. While the water iris, water feather and marsh calla can still exist in shaded oxbow lakes, the water pitcher and the shining water lily require warm, sunlit waters. Reeds, bulrushes, pond sedge and large swathe overgrow species with weak competition and must be cultivated separately.
Due to the diversity of water species and aquatic plants, there are a large number of animals in these habitats. For example, 21 dragonfly species have been recorded in the Botanic Garden and the great crested newt has one of its largest populations in Chemnitz here.
Bogs
Fens or fens are natural or semi-natural habitats saturated by groundwater, spring water or seepage water. Fens are characterised by small sedges and conspicuous cotton grasses that are visible from afar in summer with their fluffy fruiting stems.
Raised bogs are wet, extremely nutrient-poor habitats characterised by a number of distinct specialists such as peat mosses and the carnivorous sundew.
Bog biotopes are integrated into other habitats in the Botanic Garden on a small scale. In a small raised bog with peat mosses, common cranberry, rosemary heaths and dwarf birch in the heath area, the round-leaved sundew can also be observed from time to time.
Fens species can be found in a pond with crab claw at the edge. These include narrow-leaved cottongrass, wood sedge and marsh fritillary.
Between the dune and the heath there are mossy areas where you can find gale bush, low birch, royal fern, marsh pondweed and scabious cottongrass.
Did you know?
Chemnitz schools without their own school garden can hold their lessons here in the Botanical Garden's school garden.
Teachers from the Chemnitz Education Directorate also offer numerous teaching events for nature-related and interdisciplinary knowledge transfer. Most of this work is carried out in groups, with the involvement of teachers from the schools. In addition, many biology teachers use the facility's facilities to organise lessons and project days independently.