This is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1812 by the decree of Alexander I. Today, the garden’s collection contains more than 28 thousand plants from all over the world, including many unique and exotic: Lebanese and Himalayan cedars, Spanish fir and others.
The four parks of the garden are spread out on steep slopes and descend to the sea. The upper one is famous for its luxurious rose garden, which blooms from May to December. The lower park is located on a rocky slope, while walking along it, panoramic views open up. It has an olive grove and a cascading pool.
Tropical plants are collected in the Seaside Park, which faces the coast. The youngest is the Montedor Park.
Nikitsky Botanical Garden in Yalta blooms all year round. The air here is saturated with incredible aromas.
For those who are planning a walk for the whole day, there is a dining room in the Upper Park. Ice cream and pastries are sold on site.
History
The botanical garden near Yalta was conceived in 1811. The owners of the Crimean palaces and dachas on the southern coast of the peninsula decorated their plots with different trees and flowers. The climate made it possible to grow even the most exotic of them. But there was no place for where to collect seedlings in such quantity.
Then Armand-Emmanuel de Richelieu, a Frenchman by birth, who entered the Russian service and later became the governor-general of Novorossiya and Bessarabia, proposed to create a large botanical garden. It was defeated near the village of Nikita, from which it got its name.
During the Great Patriotic War, when the Crimea was occupied, many plants died, and the Germans removed a valuable herbarium from the garden. After the war, the director of the garden, Anatoly Koverga, went in search of him, found a unique collection near Berlin and returned it to the Crimea.
Interesting Facts
The Nikitsky Botanical Garden is home to the only specimen of the Californian oak in the CIS and the largest giant sequoiadendron.
In 2017, a comedy film about the pioneers “Smena” was filmed here. The garden was “turned” into a pioneer camp in the 70s and 80s.
What to see
Explore the new Montedor Park. It was opened in 2017, although it was founded in the second half of the last century. For the last 20 years, it was closed, everything went to the fact that an elite development would appear on this site. But the park was saved, and today it is a beautiful park with ponds, bridges, gazebos and unique plants – there are single specimens that are no longer in Crimea. For example, the Lebanese oak and the Mexican plane tree.
See a butterfly exhibit, a cactus greenhouse, and a dinosaur exhibit at Seaside Park. These are 15 life-size reptile statues. The idea of the exhibition is to show tourists that many of the plants that grow in parks today are contemporaries of giant lizards, survived them and have survived to this day.
Nikitsky Garden at different times of the year
In the spring, in late April and early May, a tulip parade takes place in Nikitsky Garden. It has been held since 1961, and some tourists specially come to Crimea to admire the luxurious flower beds. Tulips in the botanical garden have been grown since its foundation. Today the collection numbers 300 species and 900 hybrid forms.
In May, lilacs bloom, a little later the real carnival of irises begins.
In the summer (July-August), daylilies of different varieties bloom. Orchids and clematis are fragrant until late autumn. In October-November, the chrysanthemum ball reigns. Roses are pleasing to the eye until December. Cacti bloom all year round.
