Post by Fulbright Hungary

The Eastern Side of the Danube Bend - #Fulbright monthly meeting in May: The Commission organized a guided tour to the Vácrátót National Botanical Garden and sightseeing of Vác for American The Fulbright Program grantees. The castle park, which forms the basis of today's botanical garden, was founded in 1827, and in the 1870s Count Sándor Vigyázó transformed it into a romantic landscape garden. In addition to the construction of new artifacts (artificial ruins, watermill, cave, waterfall), the existing lake system was expanded with another lake. In 1952, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences took over the operation of the garden. This impressive botanical garden is organized into four primary collections, each highlighting a specific aspect of global flora and historical landscaping. 🌳 The Arboreal Collection: the most species-rich section of the garden with a regional focus on species from East and Central Asia, featuring maples, cotoneasters, guelder roses, lime trees, and ashes. 🌲 The Taxonomic Collection: it is the largest collection of its kind in the country, organizing 2,800 flowering plants based on their evolutionary relationships. 🌿 Perennials and Rock Garden Plants: houses nearly 3,100 species of plants featuring bulbs, tubers, or rhizomes. 🌴 The Greenhouse Collection: manages 3,000 species and varieties, categorized by their specific needs for temperature, light, and humidity. 🐟 The garden is also home to 62 species of birds, 22 species of fish in the ponds and 73 species of molluscs.