Pagina 3 - Juliana_Book_eng

3
Introduction
Juliana is the oldest natural botanical garden in Slovenia: it was founded in 1926 by the Trieste
landowner Albert Bois de Chesne and currently it is managed by the Slovenian Museum of Natural
History. The garden is home to some 600 different species of plants characteristic of the Alps, their
fore-mountains and the Karst. Among them, endemic species known to prosper only in Slovenia can
also be found.
The majority of plants in the garden had to be unearthed in nature, brought here and replanted.
Some of them thrive, others grow for a few years, while some do not take root at all. Each year, a
few new species have to be brought to the garden, for our collection of live plants has to be
repeatedly supplemented and constantly taken care of. For this reason the visitors are expected as
well as kindly requested to walk through the garden only along paths, avoiding picking or even
destroying the plants.
This interactive guide contains only a hundred different plants that flourish in Juliana and bloom
every year. With its aid, the visitors will get acquainted with the plants and their adaptation to the
mountain life, learn about many interesting features concerning the species, and gain experience for
plant determination with the aid of more demanding guides in the natural environment of our Alps.
This guide was prepared in the framework of Project SiiT (School-oriented Interactive
Identification Tools: exploring biodiversity in a cross-border area) within the Programme of Cross-
border Cooperation Slovenia-Italy 2007-2013, which is co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund, and by national funds.