Silesian Botanical Garden in Radzionków

The Silesian Botanical Garden in Radzionków is a habitat garden of 16 hectares on the Księża Góra site. Its main part consists of plant communities that were growing here before the garden was founded: forests, thickets, meadows and wetlands, enriched with species typical of these habitats. The site lies on former mine workings, so the garden combines nature with traces of an industrial past. It is open all year round and admission is free.

A garden on a former mining site

The garden was created on ground where calamine ore and dolomite were extracted. Reminders of the calamine mine are the numerous warpie, that is small circular heaps, and pingi, that is depressions often filled with water, formed where a shaft was filled in or collapsed. Dolomite was extracted in a quarry, the remains of which are in the grounds of the garden. The varied relief, created by past mining, is regarded as an asset of the site.

The garden in Radzionków, like the garden in Mikołów, is run by the Silesian Botanical Garden - Union of Associations. In Radzionków it operates on the basis of a permit to establish and run a botanical garden from 2010.

Collections

The collections are divided into three groups. The conservation collections include old varieties of fruit trees and a so-called chronological bed, that is a display of cereal plants domesticated by humans in different periods. The habitat collections show semi-natural communities, rare because extensive land use has died out (fresh and wet meadows, sand and xerothermic grasslands), and natural communities such as heaths, woodlands and thermophilous oak woods. In the group of ornamental plants the dendrological, rose, rhododendron, honey plant and herb collections stand out. There are also warmth-loving plant clusters and a small apiary.

Education and expansion

The garden has a Regional Ecological Education Station with a seminar room for 50 people and laboratory and microscope rooms. It runs field and classroom classes for children, young people and adults, and for workshops you need to ask the organiser. The garden is to be enlarged by more than 9 hectares as part of a grant project on the protection of rare species of the flora of the Silesian Voivodeship, so part of the site may be under construction.

Nearby

Next to the garden, on Księża Góra, there is a playground with a rope park and an outdoor gym. In summer a bathing area operates here, and in winter a cross-country ski rental. Of the attractions in the town the nearest is the Bread Museum in Radzionków (about 1.8 km), and in Piekary Śląskie the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Bartholomew (about 2.4 km). The mining tradition of the region is shown by the Fryderyk Royal Mine in Tarnowskie Góry.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Księżogórska 90a, 41-922 Radzionków.
• The garden is open to visitors all year round from dawn to dusk, including weekends and public holidays. Admission is free.
• Dogs are not allowed in the garden.
• Information about workshops and news can be found on the garden's website; before your visit check whether any part of the site is closed because of works.