Malešice botanical garden, Botanical garden in Malešice district of Prague 9, Czech Republic.
Malešice Botanical Garden is a plant collection in Prague 9 that displays native Czech species and plants from around the world across distinct themed zones. Pathways connect these sections and guide visitors through the different planting areas.
In the mid-19th century the site held Josef Havlíček's farmstead with a vegetable garden and orchard. Around 1900 it became a park around a villa, which industrialist Jirásko rebuilt as the Neo-Renaissance Jiráskova vila; garden architect František Thomayer worked on the park. During the war the Gestapo had its headquarters and a German military hospital there, and documents were removed, so records of the park's original form are lost. The state confiscated the property in 1945 under the Beneš decrees and on 1 September 1948 moved the Vinohrady horticultural school, founded in 1909, into the park.
The garden belongs to the Jarov horticultural school and is tied to apprentice training; each year the school holds two exhibitions of pupils' produce and products, visited mainly by Prague 9 school classes. A shop in the new greenhouse building sells plants, and a bouquet workshop stands near the main entrance.
Only the lower part of the garden is open to the public; the production garden near the summit of Tábor hill is closed off. Since 2020 the grounds are open daily during the May to October season, and entry is free. A marked hiking trail, 1105 from Kobylisy to Staré Malešice, passes around the garden.
The garden holds 5,200 cultivated taxa (2023), including collections of orchids, bromeliads and tillandsias, and an arboretum with a historically notable plane tree. A marked hiking trail, 1105 from Kobylisy to Staré Malešice, passes around its perimeter.
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