The collection of wetland and aquatic plants was being put together gradually since 1976 for scientific purposes in the first place. Today, the collection has a character of a small specialized botanical garden open to students and public.
The plant collection of our Botanical Garden includes more than 700 species of aquatic and wetland plants. The majority of them comes from Central Europe. Our collection contains common plants of streams, rivers and ponds, and also rare plant species, including the ones that have disappeared from our nature forever. One part of the outdoor exhibit is arranged according to plant’s habitats, including water bodies both rich and poor in nutrients, mires (bogs and fens), emerged pond bottoms and shores, salt marshes and glacial lakes. Among the either outdoor or greenhouse exhibits on display to the public are also several tropical and subtropical wetland plant species. A special exhibition of plants from all biogeographical regions is shown in a greenhouse during each year’s summer season.
One of the main tasks of our Botanical Garden is the preservation of vanished and critically endangered plant species of the Třeboň Basin Protected Landscape Area and Biosphere Reserve within the Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO. Plants of selected critically endangered species are repatriated to their registered anthropogenic alternative habitats such as sandpits, and their survival and spread are monitored. We cultivate more than 140 plant species protected by Czech law, together with numerous other endangered species. In cooperation with the Botanical Garden and Genetic Resource Collection at Průhonice, we have elaborated ex-situ conservation methodologies for local populations of endangered plant species.
As a member of the world’s largest plant conservation network Botanic Garden Conservation International, our Botanical Garden (acronym HBT) maintains ex-situ plant collections for research, conservation, education, and promoting public awareness of biodiversity. Following the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro 1992) and the Nagoya Protocol (2014), our Botanical Garden meets conditions of the international code of access to genetic resources. We are part of the International Plant Exchange Network (IPEN), facilitating easy cooperation, documentation, transparency and communication for non-commercial use of plant genetic resources. The seeds of endangered species are stored in a frozen state at -20°C as a gene bank, starting from 2016.
Our garden is not only for plants. The area of the Botanical Garden is an important biodiversity centre for the town of Třeboň and our living plant collection offers a wide range of habitats, food and breeding grounds to a variety of animals. Thus, we offer not only botanical guided school tours and educational programmes. Professional training for teachers as well as lectures on practical skills in botany end ecology are organized every year. Also, one- or two-week training courses focused on taking care of the plants are offered to secondary school and university students. Our plants can also be used in classes. Open Days are traditionally organized, usually from Thursday till Saturday of the last week of May.
