Alpinum and New Zealand

Beste Besuchszeit: März bis Oktober

Alpinum

The plants originate from the Swiss Alps and other European mountains such as the Carpathians and the Caucasus.
We show you habitats such as the dwarf shrub heath, a small high moor, a typical high shrubland of the subalpine zone or a native spar shrubland along a stream.
In other sectors there are also mountain plants from Asia, America and New Zealand to discover. Among the representatives of North America and Asia you will find many species known from Europe, such as pine (Pinus), rhododendron (Rhododendron) or lady's slipper (Cypripedium). This shows that the mountain and forest floras of the northern hemisphere have a common origin. Asia and America were still connected by a land bridge when important groups of flowering plants emerged 50 to 100 million years ago.
Note: When wet, the rocky paths are slippery.

New Zealand

This area is located on the edge of the Yew Forest Trail, below the Alpinum. The flora of New Zealand is unique: Separated from other continents, New Zealand has been able to follow its own floristic and faunistic paths over the last 200 million years. Unique is the high proportion of endemic plants (85 %) and, with the exception of 3 bat species, the absence of mammals.
The mostly evergreen trees of New Zealand consist on the one hand of conifers with species of the Podocarp family (Podocarpaceae) and the kauri trees (Araucariaceae), and on the other hand of deciduous trees dominated by southern beeches (Nothofagus) - these species are found here.
Since ferns can colonise islands well with their small spores, a great diversity of ferns can be found in the undergrowth of New Zealand's forests. The most conspicuous are the tree-shaped pocket ferns (Dicksonia) and the silver fern (Alsophila dealbata), which grows up to 10 m high and is New Zealand's national plant.

Nadine Kofmehl (gardener):
"My favourite time of year in the Alpinum is June, when everything is still freshly green, it grows and blossoms and the insects swish around my head."

Christine Odermatt (gardener):
"I love the inconspicuous but wonderful little plants in the alpine garden!"