A visit to one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe, the Flora in Cologne, is a must for any tourist with a child. If you are holidaying in or near this city, take a few hours to visit this blooming and fragrant place. The Flora covers an area of 11.5 hectares.
Designed by the famous Prussian landscape architect Peter Josef Lenne, the garden was laid out in 1864 in the northern part of Cologne and was considered at the time to be the most complete garden ensemble in Cologne. Parents with children can travel to the Flora on the small tourist train, which transforms the journey to the garden from an ordinary route into a fascinating journey.
The Botanic Garden is an organic blend of styles, from the timeless classics to the epochal Renaissance and Italian Renaissance. The garden's manicured paths are lined with flowerbeds in full bloom, the murmur of small waterfalls here and there, and the shady lanes invite sun-weary travellers with children to sit down and take a break. The Hornbeam Avenue is a special attraction for visitors to the garden. Here you can show your child the real old trees and explain how the annual rings are formed and what they mean.
To the north of the Flora Garden is another park laid out in 1914. This park is particularly interesting because it is a botanical encyclopaedia, presenting plants from all climatic zones: from exotic and rare plants to agricultural crops in the "Farmers' Garden" and mountain plants with more than 2,000 species in the "Alpine Garden". There are also lush beds of irises and lilies, summer flowers and ornamental shrubs.
The areas of the two formerly independent gardens were joined together in 1920.
The Flora Garden is a flower lover's paradise. The beauty lovers can enjoy both simple variegated flora such as the heath or fern, as well as discovering hitherto unknown exotic species that bloom profusely and lushly.
The botanical garden in Cologne is divided into several thematic areas. There is a Mediterranean garden and a garden of aromas, which has its own pond of impressive size, inhabited not only by frogs but also by ducks. Feeding the ducks with bread is a favourite pastime of the children who visit the garden. In general, the Flora is a veritable encyclopaedia of botany for schoolchildren, as people who study plants for a living call it.
Be sure to visit the farmer's garden, which has a rich collection of cultivated plants. Here your child can learn about plants grown for food and fodder.
Cologne Zoo is just 500 meters from the park, and Cologne Cable Car is 900 meters away.
The Alpinum Garden is a concentration of mountain plants: some 2,000 species of herbs, flowers and shrubs coexist peacefully in the relatively small area of the Alpinum. The flower gardens of the Cologne Botanical Garden are a real eye-catcher. Lilies, irises, camellias, roses and many other delicate botanicals open their petals and perfumes to visitors to the Flora. You can entrust your child with a camera to take beautiful pictures of the flowers as a souvenir.
Incidentally, the Cologne Botanical Garden is where specialists grow the most delicate camellias. In this old European city, camellias bloom in the coldest months of the year. It is worth noting that the Botanical Garden holds annual exhibitions of these beautiful flowers.
