We’ve got 10 minutes until our next stop, so let’s chat about another of Klaipėda’s ‘crown jewels’ – the Klaipėda University Botanical Garden. We’ll discuss the garden’s plant collections and its connection to the Prussian royal family. Just a reminder, we’ll be orienting ourselves as we did before – based on which bank of the river the sites are on, either the right or left, in the direction of travel.

Once Klaipėda University was founded in 1991 and biology, ecology, and recreation study programmes were introduced, there was a need for a research base. To meet this need, the Klaipėda University Botanical Garden was founded in 1993 in the valley of the Dangė River, on the right bank, on the grounds of the former Great Tauralaukis Manor. The property covers an area of 9.3 hectares and is located 3.5 km from the Baltic Sea. Klaipėda University Botanical Garden has an impressive track record, working not only with botanical gardens in Lithuania and worldwide, exchanging seeds and green cuttings, but also building a collection of seeds from cultivated plants. The garden is home to nearly 5,000 plant specimens, including over 250 wild plant species. The botanical garden develops, manages, and continually propagates five collections: Dendrological, Medicinal and Aromatic, Herbaceous Ornamental, Oriental Gardens, and Lithuanian Flora collections, as well as an ethnographic flower nursery and a unique collection of dune plants that showcase the distinctive flora of the coastal area. The Herbaceous and Ornamental Plants section representatives are working on expanding and developing exhibitions of roses and bulb plants. A highlight of the botanical garden is the Ginkgo biloba, a rare Japanese relict tree seldom seen in Lithuania. The garden is situated in an area with unique climatic conditions: it experiences higher air temperatures, more rainfall, and a longer growing season compared to other parts of Lithuania. In 2000, the botanical garden was declared a protected natural site.