Volunteers Cleaned the Area Again
Dozens of volunteers participated in the fifth consecutive cleanup event at the Plovdiv Botanical Garden. While parents cleaned an additional 200 square meters of the area, children took part in an outdoor workshop. Together, they made, decorated, and hung 14 birdhouses. Within just 20 minutes, they were occupied by bird families.
“We dreamed with the parents about how wonderful it would be to restore the Botanical Garden and have a space where activities for both children and adults can be regularly held outdoors, in nature, and in the city. The proof of this was the little ones themselves. They didn’t want to leave. Even the three-year-olds helped, ran, and played on the cleaned lawns (which were once almost impassable). However, we do not plan to stop with the regular cleanups. You can join us again on April 15 at 11 a.m. We are currently preparing an interesting program for the upcoming summer months,” say the organizers of the initiative.
They also share the history of the Botanical Garden.
Since the establishment of the Agronomy and Forestry Faculty in Plovdiv, Professor Kiril Kiryakov, head of the Department of Botany, selected assistants who were strongly attracted to nature: Dimitar Delipavlov, Stoyan Dimitrov, Ganka Alexieva, Ivan Kovachev, Maria Popova, and Iliya Cheshmedzhiev, and began intensive research into Bulgaria’s plant resources. The garden itself was founded in 1950 on a plot of 250 decares. It is the third botanical garden in Bulgaria and the first outside the capital.
Professor Kiril Kiryakov built the Botanical Garden, creating favorable conditions for scientific research.
Professor Stoyan Dimitrov organized expeditions involving all faculty members. The actual work on establishing the garden’s collection began in 1957 when Dr. Eng. Dimo Gramatikov was appointed as its director. Over the following years, a project was developed to improve the area, including the construction of water features, artificial relief forms, rock gardens, alleys, resting places, and a rose garden.
Using planting material from the parks of former royal palaces (Krchim, Vrana, Evksinograd) and from major decorative nurseries in the country, the garden’s arboretum was established. During the 1980s and early 1990s, it became the richest in terms of species in Bulgaria. In 1963, a seed bank was created for the botanical garden, and the first catalog (seed catalog) was issued, integrating the garden into the international system for the exchange of plant genetic material (seeds and vegetative material for propagation).
By 1990, the garden had established contacts with more than 150 botanical gardens across Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Australia, North and South America. The botanical garden published its catalog annually or biennially without interruption from 1963 to 1991.
In the early 1970s, the area of the botanical garden was reduced twice. The first reduction was due to the appropriation of part of the garden’s area for the construction of residential buildings as part of the development of the “Trakia” district. The second reduction was related to the planned extension of “Saint Petersburg” Boulevard from the SPS hotel to the “Skobeleva Maya” road junction, which has not yet been realized. As a result, the garden was reduced from its original 250 decares to 113.504 decares. Fortunately, the western part of the garden, which is the most developed and well-maintained, has been preserved.
“Currently, however, no activities are taking place there; the area is extremely neglected and overgrown. Over the years, several initiatives to restore the botanical garden have been organized, but unfortunately without success. The desire of Plovdiv’s residents to have a botanical garden remains strong. We do not intend to stop holding volunteer initiatives, accelerating the restoration process, and drawing public attention to a place we believe has the potential to become the favorite spot of the Plovdivians,” the volunteers assert.
Source : trafficnews.bg