Zaporizhzhya Botanical Garden

The city of Zaporozhye, which is known throughout Ukraine for its polluted air, and beyond its borders for its Cossacks and the island of Khortitsa, conceals various attractions. One of them is the Children’s Botanical Garden, in the very center of the city, in the industrial district, on the dry Moskovska River.

The river itself is known to many locals for the deep red and orange colors it takes on downstream. Despite the fact that there should be mutant fish there, some people manage to fish there. And in fact, the dry Moskovska is dry… You can jump over it. But not everyone knows that a little upstream there is a botanical garden. I have fond childhood memories of it, and that’s why I visit it once or twice a year, sadly watching it fall into disrepair. Today I want to show it to you as well.

On March 18, 1958, the city authorities decided to establish a children’s botanical garden. The main goal was to build a place for children and teachers to practice biology. The project of the engineer of “Zelenstroy” Yuri Andreevich Gaidar was used for the construction.

Earlier on this place was a dump, but on October 29, 1958 pioneers and Komsomol members came here with tools and began clearing the territory, planting the first plants. Today the garden occupies more than 14 hectares of land, has more than 20 greenhouses.

There is even a wedding hall on the garden grounds. This is a cut-down version of a modern wedding, when instead of a horrible office of the local registry office you want to use something more aesthetically pleasing. But it will still look better and will be remembered. It doesn’t look so bad. White hall with fresh flowers. The main thing is that no one would not be allergic to them.

Of course, it is silly to compare it with, say, the botanical garden in Batumi, the scale there is completely different. But there are a few things that are disappointing here.

First of all, the garden has been neglected. I remember going there with my mother when I was still in elementary school. Everything was planted with flowers, there was a huge number of plants. Now, for the second year he meets mostly rare flowers and weeds in the flowerbeds. Sometimes just empty. It looked much more interesting back then.

Secondly, no matter how many times I visit, more than half of the greenhouses are closed to the public. The rose garden, the lemonarium, the others. You just can’t get into them. As a result, for several years now I have had to make do with just the cactusarium and tropical plants.

But even what’s left is there to see. As I said, one of the available greenhouses remains a place with tropical plants – palm trees, bananas and a pool where very large, voracious and cheeky goldfish swim.

Very interesting look different green corners near the paths, where “settled” crafts in the form of herons, owls and other things.

There are also dozens of beautiful birdhouses made by children of the city at the contest. There are birdhouses in the form of an owl, a moose, a crow…. Decorated with seashells, straw, wood carvings … In general, a lot of imagination has been applied here.

But back to the plants. After all, we didn’t come here for birdhouses! Despite the fact that there are many different and even a few interesting plants here, I always, after a little walk around the territory, ran further away. Towards the river.

By the way, the management of the garden began to try to transform the territory outside the fence. For some reason, not to open greenhouses all right, but to build a gazebo outside…. I don’t know why. But now there are good paths for walking.

Well, there you go. Today these paths look much more civilized. You can walk along them and get not only to the Suha Moskovska, but also to other parts of the garden, which seem to be there, but seem to be absent =)

Why are they there and not there at the same time? I never paid attention, but there are tons of flowerbeds and grounds. I think they belong to the Children’s Botanical Garden too, but they look about the same as shown in the photo below.

As you can see, there are even lights. Weeded, planted, lighted and it’s beautiful! And people have a place to walk, and the price of your admission ticket will be more reasonable.

On the other side, there’s a rivulet. As I said, a schoolboy can cross it in this place. The weak current does not allow to cope with the garbage thrown into it by the locals, and therefore in some places the poor brook has a very unpleasant odor. This does not, however, prevent ducks from wading and swimming here.

You’ll meet some sad dogs on the way. Sitting all day in the heat, on a chain… Apparently, they put this scarecrow in the forest so they wouldn’t be so bored.

But, in general, it’s worth coming here. Either at the moment when the plants are in bloom, or in autumn to admire the colors of nature. And be sure to take a look at the cactusarium, if this greenhouse is open at the time of your visit.

There aren’t any truly unique and rare plants here, but the kids will have a great time. And if, like me, you like walking in such places, it’s worth a visit. Although I am unlikely to write this object down as a must see of the city.

Children’s Botanical Garden in Zaporozhye (Ukraine) is located in Shevchenkovsky district, near the district office. Coordinates are [coordlink]47.836889, 35.195825.[/coordlink]

You can get here by such routes: 13, 25, 32, 57, 71 or by 12, 15 streetcar (stop “Botanical Garden”). If you are not lazy to walk a little bit (extra 200 meters) – added routes: 9, 9A, 23, 43, 44, 53, 64, 79, 89 (stop – “Charivnaya Street”).

Garden schedule:

• Monday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Tuesday is a day off
• Wednesday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. during the summer and until 5:00 p.m. during other months