Overview

The heart of the garden is the Systematic Section. It was designed to present the evolutionary relationships amongst the Angiosperms. The most primitive species are situated at the bottom of the slope. From there, symbolizing the evolutionary development, several system-arms ascend to finally merge at the top of the slope into the highest developed species of the plant kingdom.

The Systematic Section of the Regensburg Garden deviates from the usual sequence of beds of traditional Systematic Garden concepts, still found in older botanical gardens, creating a more interesting experience. The Regensburg Systematic Section integrates trees and shrubs belonging to the respective systematic groups, creating small scale structures with views and look-throughs. In some cases accessories indicate the habitat of the plants, for example boulders for Saxifrages and Crassulaceae. Aquatic plants have also been integrated into the Systematic Section by using smaller or larger water basins. In many cases the water basins have been lined with wooden sleepers to invite the visitor to sit down and linger. The different bodies of water offer a large diversity of aquatic habitats. Evidence for this is the 12 species of dragonfly found in the garden.

The southern margin of the Systematic Section borders on the Geographic Section. Originally the Geographic Section contained only woody species that, during the warm geologic Tertiary Era, could be found in the species rich summer-green deciduous and mixed coniferous forests extending as far north as Spitsbergen. In the following Ice Ages many of these plants disappeared while others managed to survive to the present day in the warmer zones of their continents. Many plant species that originated only after the glacial periods, can now also be found in this section.

The area is almost 4000 sq m and contains about 800 plant species. From east to west it is divided into the continents of America, Asia and Europe, with large stone cubes sunk in the soil forming the borders between the continents. These areas are appealingly laid out, using English landscape gardening elements. A multitude of beautiful and rare plants make this part of the garden definitely well worth seeing.

Ein Teil der westlichen Abgrenzung der systematischen Abteilung wird vom Submediterranen Bereich gebildet. Pflanzen aus einer bestimmten H?henstufe südlich der Alpen sind in diesem Areal anzutreffen. Ist auch der hintere Gel?ndeabschnitt jener Anlage nur in Form einer einfachen Geh?lzpflanzung vorhanden, so vermag doch der Vordergrund durch eine gro?zügige Staudenpflanzung mit thermophilen Arten zu gefallen. Die Pflanzung zeigt sich im Juni/Juli in einem farbenpr?chtigen Zustand, wenn Felsennelke, Graslilie, Mauerpfeffer und diverse Klee-Arten zusammen mit einer ganzen Reihe anderer Pflanzen ihren Blütenh?hepunkt erreichen.

Lining the western margin of the Systematic Section is the Sub-Mediterranean Section. Plants originating from a specific altitudinal belt south of the Alps can be found here. Though the area behind this section consists of a simple planting of woody species, the foreground consists of a generous planting of thermophilous perennials. The planting is most colourful in June and July when Petrorhagia, Anthericum, Wallpepper and several clover species together with many other species reach their height of flowering.

Northwards the back of the Sub-Mediterranean Section merges into an Oak-Birch Forest, which occurs naturally in Western and NorthWestern Europe on sandy, acid and nutrient poor soils. During the history of mankind large scale logging of this forest type, followed by live-stock grazing, lead to a different vegetation type, namely Heathland. The wide open spaces covered by heathland, next to the Oak-Birch Forest, demonstrates the large impact humans can have on nature. While the Atlantic Heath, with its wide expanses of scotch heather interspersed with glacial boulders, depicts the atmosphere of the Lüneburg Heath in Northern Germany, the appearance of the Broom Heath, found in Western Europe, is dominated by gorse and broom.

Integrated within the Heathland is a small inland dune, like they were formed after the retreat of the glaciers in largely vegetation-free areas.