The National Botanic Gardens (Irish: Garraithe Náisiúnta na Lu ) are located in Glasnevin, 5 km northwest of Dublin Ireland. [1] The 19.5 hectare [2]is located between Prospect Cemetery and river Interpret where it forms part of the the river’s floodplain.
The gardens founded in 1795 by the Dublin Society (later the Royal Dublin Society), and they have grown to hold 20,000 living plants and many millions of dried plant specimens. There are several architecturally notable greenhouses. Today Glasnevin place is the headquarters of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, which has a satellite garden Kilmcurragh in the county Wicklow.Den botanic garden participates in national and international initiatives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The Director, Dr. Matthew Jebb, is also chairman of the Plant Network: The Plant Collections Network of the UK and Ireland. It is Ireland’s seventh most visited attractions, and the second most visited free attraction.[3]
History
The poet Thomas Tickell owned a house and a small farm in Glasnevin and in 1795, they were sold to the Irish Parliament and given Royal Dublin Society for them to establish Ireland’s first botanical gardens. A double row of yew trees, known as “Addison’s Walk ‘survives from this period. [4] The original purpose of the gardens had been promoting the knowledge of plants for agriculture, medicine and dyeing. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection is responsible for the 1845-1847 potato famine identified. Throughout the famine, was research to stop the infection is carried out in the garden.
Walter Wade and John Underwood, the first director and vice respective works design of the garden, but when Wade died in 1825, the decline for some years.From 1834, Director Ninian The level brought new life into the garden, performs any redesign. This program of change and development continued with the following board members at the end of the 1960s. [4]
The gardens were placed in government care 1877th
In winter 1948/9 Ludwig Wittgenstein lived and worked in Ireland. He often came to the Palm House to sit and write. There is a plaque commemorating him on the steps he was sitting on.
Features
In addition to being a tourist destination and an amenity for local residents, it also serves as a center for horticultural research and education, including the breeding of many prized orchids.
Earth in Glasnevin is strongly alkaline (in horticultural terms) and this limits the growing of calcifuge plants such as rhododendrons to specially prepared areas. Yet gardens exhibit a range of outdoor “habitats” such as a rockery, herbaceous border, rose garden, bog garden and arboretum. A vegetable garden has also been established. National Herbarium is also housed at the National Botanic Gardens. The museum’s collection includes some 20,000 samples of plant products, including fruits, seeds, wood, fibers, plant extracts and objects collected over the garden’s two hundred year history.The gardens contain noted and historically important collections of orchids.The newly restored Palm House houses many tropical and subtropical plants.
In 2002, a new multi-built; it includes a café and a large auditorium. It is responsible for the Arboretum at Kilmacurragh, County Wicklow, known for its pine trees and calcifuges center. This is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Dublin.
Architecture
In the garden there are some greenhouses of architectural importance, such as the Palm House and the Curvilinear Range.
The Great Palm House is located in the southern part of the garden, and is connected to the cactus house on its west side, and orchid house on the east side. The main building measures 65 feet in height, 100 feet in length and 80 feet in width.
Palm House was originally built in 1862 to accommodate the ever-increasing collection of plants from tropical areas that required more and more protected cultivation conditions. The construction was supervised by David Moore, curator of the garden at the time. The original structure was built of wood, and was unstable, leading to the blown down heavy storms in 1883, twenty one years later. Richard Turner, the great Dublin ironmaster had already delivered an iron house to Belfast gardens and he persuaded the Royal Dublin Society that such a house would be a better investment than a wooden house and in 1883 construction began on a stronger iron structure.Production of the structure took place in Paisley, and shipped to Ireland in sections. In the early 2000s, the Palm House had fallen into a state of disrepair. After more than 100 years, had wrought iron, cast iron and wood building has seriously deteriorated. Before its restoration a large number of glass panes broke every year due to corrosion and instability of the structure.As part of the restoration, the house was completely dismantled more than 7,000 parts, tagged for repair and restoration off-site. 20 meter high cast-iron columns in the Great Palm House had seriously deteriorated and was replaced by new cast iron columns created in molds of the originals. To protect the structure from further corrosion, the new modern paint technology used to develop a long-term protection of the Palm House, which provides protection against constantly tropical interior climate. For health and safety reasons, the overhead glass lamination and vertical panes tempered and specialized form of glue used to fix windows replace the original linseed oil putty that had contributed to the decay of the building over seklet.Palmhuset opened in 2004 after a long reforestation program after reset.
Curved Range ended 1848 by Richard Turner, and was expanded in the late 1860s. This structure has also been restored (with some surplus contemporary structural ironwork from Kew Gardens) and this work attracted the Europa Nostra award for excellence in conservation architecture. [1]
There is also a third row of greenhouses: aquatic House Fern House and the original Cactus House. Unfortunately, these structures are closed in the early 2000s, and is currently undergoing restoration. Because these greenhouses have specialized in plants they live, many copies as the Giant Amazon Water Lily has not grown in the garden since the closure of the structures.
directors
The Director is the chief officer of the gardens, with a dwelling place.Previous Directors include: [4]
- Dr. Walter Wade, professor of botany at the Dublin Society (until 1825)
- Samuel Litton (1825-1834)
- Ninian The level (1834-1838)
- Dr. David Moore (1838-1879)
- Sir Frederick Moore (1879-1922)
- JW Besant (1922-1944)
- Dr TJ Walsh (1944-1968)
- Aidan Brady (1968-1993)
- Donal M. Synnott (1994-2004)
- Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson (2005-2010)
- Dr. Matthew Jebb (2010-)
See also
- List of Irish botanical illustrators
- List of Irish plant collectors
- The Ferns UK and Ireland
References
- ^ Jump up to: ab “Heritage Ireland: National Botanic Gardens”. Office of Public Works. Are downloaded November 2011.
- Jump up ^ “IRELAND.com National Botanic Gardens”. Are downloaded November 2011.
- Jump up ^ “Guinness Storehouse tops the list of most visited attractions.” Irish Times. July 26, 2013.
- ^ Jump up to: abc “National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.”Irelandseye.com. 1999-2005. Retrieved 14 September of 2008.