15. THE ALPS

This collection also includes plants from the Pyrenees and the Carpathians. Some plants from mountains of southern Europe are also here, located to some miniature hills.

Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum)

This collection also includes plants from the Pyrenees and the Carpathians. Some plants from mountains of southern Europe are also here, located to some miniature hills.

The flora of the Alps is very rich, and isolated areas around the great icecap during the Ice ages served as centres of evolution. Most mountain plants from Norway also grow in the Alps, together with exclusive groups such as snowbells (Soldanella), auriculas (Primula sect. Auricula) and Alpenroses (Rhododendron, separate subsection). Others include the famous edelweiss (Leontopodium, many species also in our Himalaya), pinks (Dianthus), buttercups (Ranunculus) and anemones (Anemone). Pasqueflowers (Pulsatilla) flower very early, whereas gentians and saxifrages from the Alps mostly grow in their systematic collections.

There are many bellflowers (Campanula) in the Alps. The deviating, biannual, yellow species C. thyrsoides is allowed to self-seed in a corner together with poppies, although it is the Siberian species P. croceum which now has taken over dominance.