In case you missed it, I’ve been on holiday in Berlin, visiting my daughter and enjoying a bevy of garden tours, cafes, charming architecture, shopping, and the wonder that is the Berlin transit system.
One of the (admittedly many) delightful highlights of the trip, was a visit to the botanical garden. The day dawned with clouds and the threat of some intermittent rain, and we decided to brave the botanical garden anyway for a couple of hours and hope the rain held off.
Boy were we surprised - Both with the improving weather, and the garden itself!
Our first pleasant surprise was that Thursday was “bring a friend day” so we got in with two people for the price of one…and the admission is inexpensive anyway considering this turned out to be the Disneyland of the plant world!
We had been here for the Christmas light show on my last visit to Berlin and it was magical with numerous different light displays choreographed to music as we strolled the pathways around the grounds with our mugs of hot mulled wine.
But the Christmas event did not include some parts of the park so we had NO idea about the extent of sights available!
MU: Botanical Museum SW: swamp and water garden
MG: Moss Garden. DT: Scent and Touch Garden
AZ: medicinal plant garden SY: System of herbaceous plants
GW: Greenhouses IG: Italian garden
PG: Plant Geography AR: Arboretum
The Gardens and museum are a part of the Free University of Berlin. Set on 106 acres of land, this botanical garden was conceived in the late 19th century as “the world in a garden”. As such, the gardens have sections with plants and structures for different areas of the world, currently sporting over 22000 species of plants.
We strolled past the pretty flower gardens near the entrance and through the meandering walkways of the vegetable/edibles garden when the greenhouses came into view.
These were not open for the Christmas show, and WOW they are incredible!
The central tropical greenhouse is 80+ feet high and is surrounded by 14 other interconnected greenhouses, each offering a different specialty. There are are full grown towering TREES in these greenhouses, and giant bamboo, and ferns that look like trees and fern fiddlehead fronds taller than me! You can see a video of the incredible fern house on my IG HERE.
Here is the list of greenhouses!
House A: Large tropical house
House B: Araceenhaus
House C: Tropical crops
House D: orchids
House E: Rainforest plants
House F: fern house
House G: bromeliads
House H: African succulents
House I: cactus house
House K: South Africa
House L: carnivorous plants
House M: Australia
House N: camellia house
House O: Victoria House
House P: Mediterranean house
New glass house: for events
The greenhouse entrance even boasts aquariums filled with underwater plant life.
Not for lack of trying, but it is just impossible to capture the magic of these greenhouses in photos! They have meandering paths and water features, and little stopping places with benches built into some of the walled gardens. At structures alone they are impressive, but filled to the brim with lush plants from all over the world, they are breathtaking. If you are visiting Berlin you HAVE to go see them!
trees in the Mediterranean greenhouse
wisteria on a pergola outside the greenhouse complex
I’m usually not much of a succulents and cacti aficionado, but the greenhouse with these totally converted me. There was even a giant jade tree that would make my brother and sister in law proud!
Many of the roses in the rose garden had already gone by, but the lavender border was in full bloom and full of very busy bees!
Mother - daughter in front of the basalt lava rose arbor/pavilion
We spent so much time in the greenhouses oohing and ahhhing that we barely had time to explore much of the remaining arboretum and parkland! We managed to get to the Asian pavilion and the rose garden area, and stopped at the cute cafe back by the entrance for sustenance, but I definitely need to go back and explore the rest.
My new favorite beverage, a rhubarb spritzer!
There is also a plant museum on the grounds which is currently closed for renovations, but promises to be an incredible eduction for any plant aficionado when it reopens.
I can’t wait to get back here to explore some more!
