The Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences offers over 22 hectares of greenery in an industrial city: hundreds of tree and shrub species, Red Book plants and glasshouses where azaleas bloom as early as February. Here is its history, what to see and when to go.
More on this topic: botanical gardens of Ukraine, Dnipro Botanical Garden, Kharkiv Botanical Garden, houseplants.
The idea of a botanical garden in Kryvyi Rih came from Professor Yevhen Kondratiuk. The city received its first plants from the Donetsk Botanical Garden in 1975 and, with no buildings yet, kept them in school greenhouses. Construction began in 1980, and in 1989 the garden officially opened as a branch of the Donetsk garden.
Since 1992 it has been an independent research institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Its main scientific task is unusual for a botanical garden: how to green and revive land damaged by mining — Kryvbas, with its quarries and spoil heaps, became a natural laboratory. Departments cover native flora, plant introduction, plant physiology and soil biology, alongside a seed laboratory and a herbarium of about 20,000 specimens.
The garden is at 50 Marshaka St in the Damanskyi area; it is part of the nature reserve fund, and its arboretum was declared a site of national importance in 2004.
The arboretum, about 22 hectares, is divided into 30 blocks, 18 of which display individual plant families. In total the collection holds over 1,100 tree and shrub taxa from Europe, East and Central Asia, China and North America. Look out for the themed gardens:
More than 15 hectares of ravines keep their natural steppe vegetation, with hundreds of native species. Over 60 of the garden’s species are in Ukraine’s Red Book. The glasshouse holds about a thousand tropical and subtropical taxa; for ones you can grow at home, see houseplants.
The garden is open all year; dates are approximate and weather-dependent.
Address: 50 Marshaka St, Kryvyi Rih (Damanskyi area). The details below are the latest published (2023); check them before visiting, especially given the security situation in the city.
Other gardens in Ukraine are covered in botanical gardens of Ukraine.
The garden is in the Damanskyi area at 50 Marshaka St; the main entrance is on the north side.
Routes are from the latest published data; check them in a transit app before you go.
Kryvyi Rih media most often mention:
Visitors quoted in reports recommend coming in different seasons — each has its own beauty.
What to photograph in the garden through the seasons:
You can’t cut the garden’s azaleas and roses, but you can greet family with flowers any day: flower delivery in Kryvyi Rih, bouquets, boxed arrangements and orchids.
See roses and flowers in a box.
50 Marshaka Street.
First plants arrived in 1975; it officially opened in 1989 and joined the Academy of Sciences in 1992.
Yes, year-round; in winter the glasshouse azaleas are worth seeing. Check hours before visiting.
According to the latest published data, 40 UAH, 25 UAH for pensioners, 50 UAH for the glasshouse; children under 6 with parents free.
Bus 228 to the Botanichnyi Sad stop, or trolleybuses 16 and 18 to 7th City Hospital; the address is 50 Marshaka St.
In autumn, roses in the continuous-bloom garden and autumn foliage; in winter, tropical plants in the glasshouse, with azaleas from February.
garden.gov.ua — news and hours are posted there and on the garden’s social media.
Author: Maria Svitlovir
Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.
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