The Průhonice Park
Unesco
National Heritage Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site
Collections
The Chotobuz Botanical Gardens and the Gene Pool Collection
The Botanical Garden Chotobuz was founded on the 1st January 1963. From its beginning, it has focused on collections for studying and expositional purposes, that register the development of breeding selected barren plants, their variability and the preservation of gene pools.
Until 1990, the garden was closed to the public and was used only for gene pool reservation and research. In 1994, it was opened to the public as an architectural expositional garden (area of 3,5 hectares).There visitors can see expositions dedicated to individual families in a representative selection.
Collections of Irises
The most significant collection is of the irises. The collection is one of the biggest in Europe. It is part of the National Programme of Conservation and Usage of Plant Genetic Sources and Agro biodiversity. The bases of the collection are mainly German Irises (Iris barbata hort.) but visitors can also see garden cultivars of Siberian Irises (Iris sibirica cv.), Spuria Irises (Iris spuria cv.) and other interesting botanical varieties.
Collection of Roses
Garden roses (Rosa): their collection is the second biggest in the Czech Republic. In the displayed flowerbeds it is possible to see historic, climbing and shrub roses as well as a rich collection of cluster and miniature roses. Botanical roses, which are now closed to the public, will be included in the collection by stages.
Collection of Peonies
The collection of peonies (Paeonia) represents original botanical species, as well as valuable historic cultivars and hybrids of herbaceous perennial peonies.
Collection of Rhododendrons
A representative collection of rhododendrons follows the tradition of the Průhonice Park. It contains the majority of all the grown groups of rhododendrons – deciduous and semi-deciduous azaleas and large leaf evergreen rhododendrons. Plantation is completed with plants from the heather family (Ericaceae).
Collection of Daylilies
Visitors can also admire a general collection of daylilies (Hemerocallis) – either in original botanical varieties from expeditional collections in Korea, or varieties that are grown as vegetables and spices, or decorative garden daylilies including new and interesting plants.
Collection of Water lilies
Visitors can also see a selection of the most intruiging garden varieties of water lilies (Nymphaea).