The rare and the common side by side trees, flowers and bushes from all parts of the globe delight visitors at the Hebrew University Botanical Garden, a pastoral refuge in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalems midtown.
by Lili Eylon
As you stroll on paths lined with spring tulips or autumn chrysanthemums, you see men and women, broad-rimmed straw hats shading their faces from the sun, digging, weeding, planting. These are volunteers from England, the United States, Holland, France, Germany and Austria as well as Israelis, armed with pickaxes, clippers and saplings and a love of flowers. Below is an artificial lake abounding with water lilies, graceful black and white swans and other water fowl. At the lake, too, is a visitors center and a terraced restaurant. The Jerusalem Botanical Garden, located on the "museum mile" near the Israel Museum and the Bible Lands Museum, is a multi-hued haven away from the maddening crowds.
But the garden, initiated by the late botanist, Professor Michael Zohary, is not just a place where one can admire natures colorful displays and breathe fresh air. "We are actually a horticultural center," explains director Yitzhak Ayalon. "We are hoping to become a national park; the Knesset has already passed a resolution to this effect in a first reading. We have a gardening school and are engaged in extensive research. We also maintain contacts with botanical gardens the world over the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, the London Kew Gardens, and gardens in Capetown, Moscow, Yerivan, Nanjing and countries in South America. Our agreements enable us to make exchanges in several areas: information about plants, genetic material, seeds of rare flowers, and researchers. We are also a member of the International Botanical Gardens Organization."
Educational activities form an important part of the Botanical Gardens program. All-year-round enrichment courses bring to pupils of elementary and high schools an appreciation of the beauty of nature as well as ecological awareness, while teachers and professionals are instructed via special courses and in-service training workshops.
The 32 acres of the Botanical Garden are divided into six sections: South Africa, Europe, North America, Australia, Central Asia and the Mediterranean Region. Each section exhibits plants of that geographical area. A magnificent flowering occurs in the South Africa section twice a year, with South African spring plants blooming here in autumn and vice versa, since the seasons in South Africa and Israel are reversed. With Jerusalems climate cooler than in most of the rest of the country, spring blooms of European flowers such as lilac and forsythia can flourish in that continents section providing pleasing sights and scents for the visitor. The unique flora of the enormous continent of Australia is demonstrated in that countrys section, while blossoms of fruit trees such as apples, pears, almonds, plums, apricots and cherries characterize the Central Asian Section the area in which man first grew these fruit trees. Giant redwoods, maples and sycamores, a series of pools and small waterfalls, as well as miniature prairie grassland and cacti, are found in the North American Section. The Mediterranean Section is typified by traditional Mediterranean terraces with cedars of Lebanon planted along the skyline; also spices such as thyme and marjoram. Plants from tropical climes including palms and different varieties of orchids are cultivated in the Gardens dome-enclosed conservatory.
A number of observation platforms and wooden bridges over seasonal streams are scattered throughout the garden. Explanatory tours for the visitor are conducted twice a week, in six languages Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, French and Spanish.
The Botanical Garden is supported by the very active Friends of the Botanical Garden association, a non-profit organization under the leadership of Jerusalemite Nehama Ben Zeev. "We are this year celebrating 20 years of active work on behalf of the Garden," says Ben Zeev. "We began in 1978 when the Garden was in dire need of help, with a group of landscape planners, professors, lawyers, judges and other public-spirited citizens. Our first major activity was organizing a fair of agricultural products, house and garden plants and cut flowers, with the participation of many of the countrys agricultural schools. The fair was held in the auditorium of the Hebrew University and then-president Ephraim Katzir attended. We brought to the publics attention the fact that here was a botanical garden for their use and their pleasure, which needed their support, and the response was most gratifying."
In celebration of the anniversary, the organization will host an exhibition of photographs, sculptures and slide shows in September and October 1998 in the visitors center at the Botanical Garden. The Friends of the Botanical Garden regularly sponsors courses and lectures on medicinal herbs, house plants, and garden planning, organize fortnightly film shows and discussions, and arrange outings to gardens, parks and nurseries with the aim of getting to know the flora of the Land of Israel.
One of the recent events in the Garden was an afternoon of dance and music set against greenery and flowers. Jerusalem crowds watched folk dancing groups from the Balkan countries, Africa and Japan, in different parts of the garden; the highlight was noted ballerina Galina Panova appearing in Tchaikovskys "Swan Lake" on a stage built above the lake, with the real swans looking on.