2022 Ukraine Botanic Garden Appeal

O.V. Fomin of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

The Fomin Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Ukraine founded in 1839. The garden covers an area of 22.5 hectares and is located in the central part of Kyiv, with the main collections concentrating in woody plants of the temperate and subtropical regions. The collections are one of the largest in Ukraine, they were formed by several generations of botanists and they should be preserved for future generations.

Collections at Fomin Botanical Garden

The dendrological collection of the garden includes ~170 year old specimens of trees, as well as several 200-year-old specimens that have survived from the time before the foundation of the garden. The garden has a large collection of conifers, many of which are included in the international red lists. The garden also has several greenhouses, one that is 30m high and is one of the tallest in Europe. The Botanical Garden has a large collection of tropical and subtropical plants, which was formed during the 183 years of its existence. Plants are grown in 4 greenhouse complexes. The largest is the complex of central greenhouses (as we call it). It consists of 6 interconnected greenhouses with a different set of plants. The complex was built in 1846-1849 and reconstructed twice in 1936 and 1976-1977. The largest greenhouse of this complex is a subtropical greenhouse with an area of ​​about 1000 m2 and a height of 30 m. Most of the oldest plants of the collection are collected here, most of which are planted in the soil and are 100-200 years old – Livistona australis (about 30 m), Araucaria bidwillii (25 m), Ficus elastica (25 m), F. subrepanda (25 m), Phoenix canariensis (18m), Brachychiton acerifolius (20m), Jubaea chilensis (7m).

Impacts from the war

As a result of military operations on the territory of Ukraine, the amount of funding for the Botanical Garden has significantly decreased. There is not enough funds to purchase biological preparations for plant protection and certain materials to replace the glass that fell in one of the stock greenhouses during the shelling of Kyiv.

How will the funds from the Appeal will help?

Funds will be used to to conduct tours for different groups and highlight information about events in the Botanical Garden on social networks, also to fund employees to recruit and manage volunteers to care for botanical collections. Part of the funds will be used to print of a booklet and ordering the making plaques to mark the oldest trees of the botanical garden.

September 2002: Update from O.V. Fomin Kyiv Botanic Garden

Caring for these plants is quite difficult, especially when it comes to removing dry leaves from palm trees and pruning branches.We are extremely lucky. A group of climbers came to the botanical garden, whom we invited to help us improve the tall plants. With their help, sanitary cleaning of Ficus, Brachychiton and removal of dry leaves from tall palm trees was carried out.

It is always scary to watch the work of climbers in greenhouses. Especially when people are hanging over plants. It’s scary for people, although we understand that they are professionals. But it is also scary for the plants, whether the climbers will damage or break the old plants. Climbers carefully examine their tools, and the curator of the subtropical greenhouse Tetiana Kolomiets worries about people and plants. On the Brachychiton, a large branch was broken at a height of at least 10 m from the ground, and on the Ficus, a large branch was removed, which interfered with the plants growing under it and made it a little smaller in height.