Botanical Gardens at the Higher Vocational College and Secondary Agricultural School in Tábor

1866 - the present day 

Tábor Botanical Gardens were established in 1866 at the Higher Economic School and Provincial Economic-Industrial School in Tábor (now the Higher Vocational College and Secondary Agricultural School). These are the second oldest botanical gardens in Bohemia. They are situated by the school, on the bank of the Jordán reservoir. In 2002 the garden and the school building were declared a cultural monument; their gradual reconstruction commenced in the same year, and is still under way today. The gardens cover an area of 2.5 ha and contain 6000 plant species. The gardens are divided up into two main parts, the arboretum and the economic system. 

 

From the very beginning the sections of the gardens were adapted to suit the needs of teaching and growing economic and economic-industrial plants. The gardens also included experimental and test fields, a kitchen garden and a fruit and forest nursery. The gardens’ origins are associated with the work of the pomologist Karel Němec (son of the writer Božena Němcová), who taught gardening in Tábor between 1870 and 1896. A milestone came for the gardens with the construction of the new school building in 1903, during which the gardens were partially relocated and rebuilt according to original plans drawn up by František Bubák (1866–1925). While the standard system in botanical gardens was to group plants by families (botanical system), Bubák arranged the plants in groups in beds according to their agricultural and industrial use (economic system). This was unique in the world at the time, and, together with the number of plants it cultivated, made the Tábor gardens a prominent institution. The economic system has been preserved to this day. The second part of the gardens comprises the arboretum, which was also created in 1903 and covers an area of 1.5. Visitors can see Czech and exotic species here, mainly deciduous trees, although there is a group of conifers in the western part. The trees are planted to form various communities (Krkonoše, Alps, Šumava, floodplain forest, mixed forest, alder, moorland), which is also reflected in how they are planted in the herb understory. The arboretum includes a small pond and rock garden (rockery). The reconstruction of the botanical gardens took 10 years, during which time the gardens’ also started to exchange more seeds with botanical gardens all over the world. After 1919, which saw the establishment of the University of Agriculture in Brno (the first rector of which was František Bubák), the gardens did not see another era of massive development. The situation became complicated after 1975, when the gardens were bisected by a panel road, which was to temporarily serve as a bypass while one of the main roads in the town centre was being repaired. This road damaged the gardens’ economic system and remained open for a long 15 years. Although the panel road was removed in 1990, the integrity of the gardens continued to be threatened by the re-construction of the (now permanent) road. The disputes over the road building were brought to an end by the (very first) local referendum in 2000. The two small greenhouses are used to cultivate a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, orchids, passion fruit, palm trees, banana trees, cacti and other succulents; there is also a collection of carnivorous plants. The botanical gardens’ rarities include Welwitschia mirabilis and Wollemia nobilis.

 

References

Webové stránky Botanické zahrady. URL: http://szestabor.cz/botanicka/ [20. 12. 2018].
Chytrá, M.; Hanzelka, P.; Kacerovský, R.: Botanické zahrady a arboreta České republiky. Praha 2010, s. 280–289.

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