Forest Botanical Garden Cologne
The Forest Botanical Garden Cologne is an approximately 25 hectare large botanical garden in the south of the city of Cologne . It is part of Cologne's outer green belt . The forest botanical garden is spatially limited by the motorway junction Cologne-Süd or the parallel Friedrich-Ebert-Straße (L 92) with the subsequent golf course area, the Bonner Landstraße (L 166), the street Zum Forstbotanischen Garten (in the extension of Industriestraße ) and the adjacent ones Allotment gardens (L 300).
History of origin
One of the core ideas of a theses paper formulated by Konrad Adenauer was that Cologne "should take a second deep breath after the terrible years of war and expand its area to the natural limits of its living space", "in order to achieve the full development of its powers". The prerequisite is "the administrative integration of the peripheral areas into the Cologne city area".
The architect Wilhelm Riphahn also presented his “Basic Thoughts for the Redesign of Cologne” on July 14, 1945. Riphahn was of the opinion that the "integration issues that became necessary (...) within the framework of the political and economic reorganization can be solved more easily than ever". The villages of Rodenkirchen and Sürth on the left bank of the Rhine are also "ready for incorporation for years". Around 30 years later, these plans became a reality in the course of the last municipal reform on January 1, 1975.
Under the direction of the then still independent mayor of the large community of Rondorf ( Cologne district ), to which Rodenkirchen also belonged, the now 25 hectare park was created for the population in 1964. The financial situation of the independent municipalities of the district was often very good due to the high trade tax revenue from the industrial and commercial companies located here. This explains the unusually high biodiversity in the forest botanical garden, which could only be implemented with great financial outlay.
Former fortress area
Until the First World War, the area belonged to the outer fortress ring of Cologne . Today the Rhododendron Gorge still reminds of the position of the "Hermannshof Infantry Base", which was blown up after the First World War. The rubble of the defense structure built in 1907 was included in the horticultural design as a so-called rock garden. The gorge corresponds to the throat front of that time and the footpath around it corresponds to the former rifle positions. There are also the two "Grabenstreicher Hermannshof" and the "Vorfeldstreich Hermannshof" in blown form "under the" Forest Botanical Garden. Another still recognizable apron prank is outside the forest botanical garden next to the footpath to Hochkirchen.
In the nearby fortress museum in Cologne there are a number of display boards with plans, reconstructions and old photographs of the former infantry base in the forest botanical garden.
Realization of the current system
In the mid-1950s, Adenauer's ideas and the resulting plans by Fritz Schumacher (1920 to 1923) were revitalized with regard to a green corridor surrounding the city. In 1955, Hans Berge was also head of the Cologne property office as city director . Berge recognized and feared that, in view of the reconstruction, especially due to the growth of industrial settlements, the fallow or agricultural areas of the population could be lost as near-natural recreational areas. He tirelessly urged the committees for town planning and town planning not to intervene in the local conditions of the landscape , but to preserve nature. Mountains themselves took advantage of the opportunities given to him by his office to influence the green spaces in Cologne's post-war by ordering the child Grünflächenamt, also in the area of the exterior green belt to run out leases or cancel or open terrain surfaces no longer lease to forgive. As a passionate nature lover and as a member of the German and International Dendrological Society , he also campaigned in this function to leave space for nature.
The forest management, with a total of 616.7 hectares of urban forest to be looked after, was a department of the property office. She was subordinate to the chief forester Clemens Scheideler , who was on duty in Dünnwald .
In order to be able to do justice to the increased tasks of the forest administration, additional offices were set up. Scheideler, who had already reforested 234 hectares by 1960 and created the Dünnwald wildlife park , was increasingly overwhelmed. Therefore, in 1961 the forester Wilhelm Mense and in 1962 the forest assessor Herbert Aden were hired and the responsibilities were redistributed. Since the spring of 1962 Herbert Aden was appointed head of the forest administration.
Berge and Aden, with their idea of creating a park-like recreational area for the population in the less forested south of the city, were able to start building the forest botanical garden in autumn 1962. This should become a garden area, which should offer botany experts as well as laypeople and garden enthusiasts a great variety of species.
The nuclear facility
Since then, the garden in Cologne-Rodenkirchen has been offering not only the Cologne flora but also nature experiences for Cologne residents and visitors from outside the city at any time of the year, by presenting not only a variety of local garden plants but also foreign trees. Not included (as in an exemplary arboretum ) is a representation of the undergrowth according to different soil and forest types.
- As in the following text, only a small selection of the biodiversity
Cutout
inflorescence
Inflorescence, on stem
Azalea Sea
The facility offers the “ Rhododendron (Ericaceae) Gorge”, a heather garden, peonies ( Paeonia ) and Japanese cherry trees - and a wide variety of azaleas such as Azalea pontica . Autumn awaits with the splendid colors of the Japanese maple ( Acer palmatum ) and cake trees ( Cercidiphyllum ). Also bamboo (Bambusoideae) is represented. Spread over a 1.5 hectare forest area, you can discover North American trees such as the giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ), the yellow pine ( Pinus ponderosa ) and the Colorado fir ( Abies concolor ). In the center of the facility, at the water lily pool with water features, there is a mushroom-shaped shelter as a meeting point and for weather protection.
Occurring poisonous species
- Deadly nightshade ( Atropa belladonna )
In addition to the black-fruited deadly nightshade, there is also a rare yellow-fruited variety ( Atropa belladonna var. Lutea ), which has pale yellow flowers. The deadly nightshade was named after the Greek goddess Atropos, who cuts the thread of life; Belladonna means "beautiful woman" because women used to drip deadly nightshade into their eyes for cosmetic reasons to dilate their pupils . Hallucinations can be triggered by ingesting deadly nightshade , accordingly deadly nightshade was part of the witches' ointments in the Middle Ages .
- Common laburnum ( Laburnum anagyroides )
The laburnum is one of those poisonous plants that poison information centers have to deal with most. Despite a lot of horror news that haunted the press, serious poisoning is the exception.
The peace forest
In the south is the 20 hectare peace forest, which was laid out in the 1980s. Designed as a local recreation area , it consists of huge meadows, circular paths and many small connecting paths criss-crossing the complex. In the middle of the meadow, on the edge of an artificial sand hollow (a play paradise for children), the terrain rises like a hill. As in several places in the city ( Herkulesberg etc.), the war rubble of bygone times is located under the sward that has grown over decades . Adjacent deciduous and coniferous forests , in which trees and bushes from many countries with which the Federal Republic maintained diplomatic relations then and now, have been planted, surround the area. The types of tropical and subtropical countries, whose typical vegetation are not hardy here, are represented by symbolic trees.
Teaching and Research
Teaching and research in botany and horticulture have a long tradition at botanical gardens. Today the gardens also play an important role in nature conservation and environmental education.
- Opening conference " Local Agenda 21 " for Cologne, Institute for Biology and its Didactics , Botany (excerpt)
The possibilities of integrating the extracurricular learning locations in the Cologne area into the biology teacher training and environmental education were examined in a project at the educational science faculty (University of Cologne) (Bannwarth, Fischer). On a trial basis, schools, universities and extracurricular institutions are already working together in the context of practical school exercises for student teachers in the field of biology with the school biology center (municipal open-air and gardening school) in Cologne-Müngersdorf , with the Flora Green School in the Botanical Garden Zoo school in Cologne Zoo and the Villa ÖKI (large sewage treatment plant in Stammheim).
information
Transport links
- By bus and train:
- Tram line 16 or 17, Rodenkirchen Bahnhof or Siegstrasse stop (about 800 meters walk to the forest botanical garden entrance)
- Bus line 131, get off at Konrad-Adenauer Straße
- Bus line 135, Schillingsrotter Straße stop
opening hours
- daily, April-August: 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
- November – February: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- March, September, October: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
- Public tours: 1st Wednesday and 3rd Saturday of the month
Entry to the garden and the Peace Park is free. It is suitable for wheelchair users.
See also
literature
- City Cologne. The Oberstadtdirektor (Ed.): The Greater Cologne Center and its entanglements [several volumes], Cologne 1972–1973
- Josef Fachinger: Expert opinion on the memorandum of the Cologne city administration on the incorporation of the Cologne district into the city of Cologne, Frechen 1945.
- City of Cologne (ed.): The new Cologne . A preliminary draft, Cologne 1950.
- René Zey: Parks in Cologne: A guide through the green areas , Greven, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-7743-0273-1 , p. 75ff.
Web links
- Forest Botanical Garden Cologne In: Stadt Köln.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Bouwman: "The city and its forest": In Joachim Bauer and Carmen Kohls: Cologne under French and Prussian rule . In: Werner Adams and Joachim Bauer (eds.): From the Botanical Garden to Urban Green - 200 Years of Cologne Green (Stadtspuren - Denkmäler in Köln, Volume 30, pp. 251 ff.)
Coordinates: 50 ° 53 ′ 6 ″ N , 6 ° 58 ′ 46 ″ E