The Botanical Garden of Moscow State University "Apothecary Garden" is hosting the VIII festival of orchids, carnivorous plants and desert plants "Tropical Winter", dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the end of Charles Darwin's legendary voyage around the world on the Beagle.

The main character of the festival is a huge, sociable iguana named Butterscotch, which will undoubtedly delight every visitor: feeding sessions and walks will be held on weekends. In addition, guests will see turtles, fossils, the rarest tropical orchids of the most unexpected shapes and sizes, striking with the amazing smells of chocolate, mulled wine, cheese, dust, evening perfume, and will also be able to appreciate new varieties.

Other characters in the tropical tale are huge bananas, coffee, centuries-old palm trees, mangoes, bromeliads, ferns, vines, flowering amorphophallus with the smell of rotten meat, insectivorous Venus flytraps, sundews and butterworts.

To top off the holiday, there is one of the country’s richest collections of cacti, aloe, agaves, “living stones,” and cacti-lianas “queens of the night.” Each visit to the festival is a journey with Darwin and an exciting quest, the main goal of which is to find the most interesting plants in the jungle and feel like an Orchid Hunter. Throughout the festival, new plants will appear and bloom.

For the first time as part of the winter festival, there is a Victor's greenhouse with tropical water lilies, sugar cane, cocoa, papaya, guava, snake fruit, ginger and a unique photo platform right above the huge pool.

The design of the VIII “Tropical Winter” space was made by the best florists of Moscow under the leadership of the Russian Champion in floristry Andrei Filonenko in collaboration with the curator of the collection of tropical plants of the “Apothecary Garden” Vitaly Alyonkin. Masters will present exhibition samples in the most natural way possible. The most rare and remarkable plants will have to be looked for in the thickets of palm trees and other large inhabitants of the greenhouse.

Orchids

The greenhouse will be filled with thousands of flowering plants with amazing properties: some are striking in shape and color, others seem to glow in the twilight, and others exude incredible aromas - chocolate, vanilla, blue cheese, lemon, coconut, dust, mulled wine, meat and cinnamon.

In addition to natural species, visitors will also see amazing works of selection, including rare varieties of cymbidiums and new varieties of phalaenopsis.

“Apothecary Garden” is especially proud to present a unique group of miniature orchids from stock collections - visitors can appreciate their fragile and discreet beauty. Guests of the exhibition will also get acquainted with plants from the genus Dracula, whose unusual flower structure sometimes terrifies some impressionable viewers.

Carnivorous plants

The exhibition “Garden of Carnivorous Plants” is a real tropical swamp with a waterfall and a unique microclimate. It is home to a huge number of carnivorous representatives of the flora, which over millions of years have learned to catch and digest insects, amphibians and even small rodents. Festival guests will see the famous Venus flytrap, several species of sundews, butterwort, as well as the rarest carnivorous plants - the South American heliamphora and cephalothus, which grows only in Australia.

The exhibition of insectivorous plants in the “Apothecary Garden” is one of the largest in Russia and will continue to be replenished with rare species of predators from hard-to-reach corners of the Earth. The variety of forms and hunting adaptations of insidious plants will surprise not only children, but also adult visitors to the tropical greenhouse.

Desert Plants

The collection of succulents at the Apothecary Garden is one of the oldest and richest in Russia: it numbers more than 3 thousand specimens, representing about 1.5 thousand natural and varietal forms. Particular attention should be paid to the country’s largest collection of the legendary cacti “Queen of the Night” (“Moon Cacti”), or Selenicereus. The exhibition also includes agaves, euphorbias, aloe, crassula and “living stones” - lithops. To complete the experience, you can touch some plants.

Last year's VII festival "Tropical Winter" turned out to be the most successful in the history of its existence - more than 100 thousand people visited it.

Operating mode:

• daily from 10:00 to 20:00, ticket office - until 19:30.

Ticket prices:

• adult - 300 rubles;
• preferential (schoolchildren, students, pensioners) - 200 rubles.

From December 26, 2015 to April 3, 2016, the Winter Orchid Festival was held in the Apothecary Garden on Prospekt Mira in Moscow as part of the Tropical Winter festival. Z Updated collections of carnivorous and desert plants were also presented here.

I would like to note that the orchid exhibition in the Apothecary Garden is truly lively. It lasts just over three months, and during this time the exhibition naturally changes: faded specimens are replaced by new types of orchids.

The air in the Palm Greenhouse was filled with the wonderful delicate aroma of blooming orchids. On supports - trees, vines, walls in different places there is a substrate in which orchids are located - here are phalaenopsis, cattleya, vanda, paphiopedium, dendrobium, cymbidium of various species and intergeneric hybrids - admire their beauty with me!

The orchid is native to Southeast Asia, the Philippines and northeast Australia; the flower is shaped like a butterfly. In 1825, botanist Karl Blume found orchids in the jungle on an island in the Malay Archipelago, which from afar in the dark he mistook for white moths; in memory of this, he named the genus of these plants Phalaenopsis Phalaenopsis, which in Greek means “like a moth.”

The leaves of the plant are wide, 5 - 30 cm long, sitting on a thickened stem. Phalaenopsis orchids come in both large and miniature, and some species have variegated leaves. Flowers are up to 15 cm in size, white, yellow, pink, red, brown, green of different shades, collected at the top of the peduncle or branched, bloom almost continuously throughout the year. There are many hybrids of phalaenopsis - with vandas, doritis and other genera of orchids, many varieties are fragrant. Roots and new flower stalks appear in the leaf axils.

The orchid grows naturally in tropical Asia and the Philippines; about 50 species of the genus Vanda are known. The height of the stem with two rows of dense, belt-shaped leaves is up to 1.2 meters; there are up to 15 flowers on peduncles. The roots grow from the axils of the leaves to a considerable length.

From June 7 to July 15 in the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University "Apothecary Garden" will be held exhibition of works by students of the Sergei Andriyaka School of Watercolor "Animals and Plants".

The exhibition includes more than 50 works made using the technique of watercolor painting and drawing (pencil, sanguine, helium pen).

A significant place in the School's curriculum is given to sketches, including those of animals and birds. Following the teaching methodology created by the Artistic Director of the School, People's Artist of the Russian Federation S.N. Andriyaka, students of the Watercolor School regularly work in the open air in the "Apothecary Garden" and other picturesque places, and also undergo practical training at the Moscow Zoo, where they make sketches of animals from life. This learning process allows you to capture an animal in dynamics, develops memory, hand motor skills and the ability to quickly capture an image on paper. The fact that the animals are not copied from a photograph, but drawn from life, can be easily understood from the sketch: some of the heroes of the works are depicted while running or playing with each other.

The opening starts at 17:00. The venue is the hall of the greenhouse complex.

Visitors to the exhibition can see many different insects - beetles, dragonflies and butterflies. Every detail of the pattern of the legs and wings is drawn with filigree precision.

There are also birds here - toucans, pelicans, turkeys, large macaws. Characters in children's works often include pets - dogs, cats, hamsters and chinchillas of various breeds and colors.

Flowers are the calling card of Sergei Andriyaka’s School of Watercolor; there are a great many of them at the exhibition. There are magnolias, anemones, tulips, roses, peonies, and bells.

In the process of creating a picture, students, working from life, accurately transfer the smallest details and structural features of plants onto the sheet. The image is voluminous, with the transmission of light and shadow, with precise modeling of the shape of a flower or bouquet.

The exhibition will be an interesting and memorable event in the busy life of the “Apothecary Garden” - it will delight all residents and guests of the capital.

"Apothecary Garden" is open daily from 10:00 to 21:00, ticket office until 20:30.

On December 24, 2016, a project dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the end of C.R.’s trip around the world was launched in the Apothecary Garden of the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University. Darwin, committed in 1831-36. on the Beagle. We are talking about the annual Tropical Winter festival.

As part of the traditional plant festival, visitors are presented with a wide variety of flora species growing in different parts of the world.

Orchids

The orchid site features several thousand flowering plants with a wide variety of properties. For example, some amaze with their shapes and colors, others seem to glow in the semi-darkness, others exude unusual aromas: from chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and coconut to mulled wine, blue cheese and even meat!

In addition to natural species of orchids, visitors are also presented with real masterpieces of selection, including phalaenopsis, cymbidiums, etc. A special pride of the Apothecary Garden is the collection of unique miniature plants.

Carnivorous plants

The collection of carnivorous or insectivorous plants presented at the festival is rightfully considered one of the largest in the country. According to the organizers, the variety of forms and hunting adaptations of insidious plants will certainly surprise guests.

Among the bloodthirsty living exhibits are a wide variety of carnivorous representatives of the flora, which over many millennia have learned to catch and digest captured insects, small amphibians and even rodents!

At the festival, visitors will see the well-known Venus flytrap, butterfly, various types of sundew, cephalothus and heliamphora, which grow in the wild only in Australia and South America, respectively.

Desert Plants

The festival collection of desert plants includes about 3 thousand different types of succulents. The collection includes all kinds of specimens of aloe, agave, milkweed, crassula, lithops and cacti, including the legendary “Queen of the Night” and Selenicereus.

It is worth noting that this year, for the first time, as part of the festival, there is a plant where tropical water lilies, various types of sugar cane, cocoa, papaya, guava and other plants comfortably live.

On December 26, the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University “Apothecary Garden” will host the opening of the VII annual festival of orchids, carnivorous plants and desert plants “Tropical Winter”, which will last until April 3, 2016. Guests will be able to see and photograph the rarest tropical orchids of the most unexpected shapes and sizes, striking with amazing smells (chocolate, mulled wine, cheese, dust, evening perfume), as well as appreciate new varieties.

Photo © Mikhail Shcheglov

Other heroes of the tropical tale are bromeliads, ferns, vines, flowering amorphophallus with the smell of rotten meat, insectivorous Venus flytraps, sundews and butterworts, huge bananas, centuries-old palm trees. To top off the winter holiday, there is one of the country’s richest collections of cacti, aloe, agaves, “living stones,” and cacti-lianas “queens of the night.” Each visit to the festival is an exciting quest, the main goal of which is to find the most interesting plants in the jungle and feel like an Orchid Hunter. Throughout the festival, new plants will appear and bloom.

Especially for the opening of the festival and at the long-awaited requests of visitors, all the sand paths in the Palm Greenhouse were replaced with wooden ones. The design of the space of the VII “Tropical Winter” was carried out by the best florists of Moscow under the leadership of the Russian Champion in floristry Andrei Filonenko in collaboration with the curator of the collection of tropical plants of the “Apothecary Garden” Vitaly Alyonkin and the curator of the festival - the landscape architect of the “Apothecary Garden” Artyom Parshin. On the eve of the festival, new amazing and unique tropical plants arrived in the garden - unique orchids, bromeliads, ferns and vines. “Apothecary Garden” will present the most interesting representatives of the kingdom of the goddess Flora!

Andrey Filonenko, Russian Champion in floristry:

- The craftsmen tried to present the exhibition samples in the most natural, natural form. The most interesting thing is that you will have to look for the most rare and remarkable plants in the thickets of palm trees and other large inhabitants of the greenhouse! As a result, visiting the Tropical Winter festival will turn into an exciting quest - everyone will be able to feel like an Orchid Hunter! By the way, the corresponding botanical art installation is one of the main “features” of the space design.

Since the Victorian era, orchid hunters regularly embarked on dangerous journeys to the most distant lands - often at great risk to their lives. Kidnappings, encounters with tribes of cannibals, battles with wildlife, tropical diseases - everything the brave men have faced! However, the end justified the means: they longed to bring new, hitherto unseen plants to Europe.

The hunt for valuable orchids continues in our time - with the same dangers and colossal damage to nature, since some plant species are on the verge of extinction and remain only in collections. Thanks to the ancient spirit of the Palm Conservatory, built in 1891, you will feel completely immersed in the times of “orchid fever”.

Orchids

The greenhouse will be filled with thousands of flowering plants with amazing properties: some are striking in shape and color, others seem to glow in the twilight, and others exude incredible aromas - chocolate, vanilla, blue cheese, lemon, coconut, dust, mulled wine, meat and cinnamon.

In addition to natural species, visitors will also see amazing works of selection, including rare varieties of cymbidiums and new varieties of phalaenopsis.

The Botanical Garden will be especially proud to present a unique group of miniature orchids from the stock collections - visitors will be able to appreciate their fragile and discreet beauty. Guests of the exhibition will also get acquainted with plants from the genus Dracula, whose unusual flower structure sometimes terrifies some impressionable viewers.

Carnivorous plants

The exposition “Garden of Carnivorous Plants” is a real tropical swamp with a waterfall and a unique microclimate. It is home to a huge number of carnivorous representatives of the flora, which over millions of years have learned to catch and digest insects, amphibians and even small rodents. Festival guests will see the famous Venus flytrap, several species of sundews, butterwort, as well as the rarest carnivorous plants - the South American heliamphora and cephalothus, which grows only in Australia.

The exhibition of insectivorous plants at the “Apothecary Garden” is one of the largest in Russia and will continue to be replenished with the rarest species of predators from hard-to-reach corners of the Earth. The variety of forms and hunting adaptations of insidious plants will surprise not only children, but also adult visitors to the tropical greenhouse.

Desert Plants

The collection of succulents of the “Apothecary Garden” is one of the oldest and richest in Russia: it numbers more than 3 thousand specimens, representing about 1.5 thousand natural and varietal forms. The main thing in the new season is the country's largest collection of the legendary cacti “Queen of the Night” (“Moon Cacti”), or Selenicereus. The exhibition also includes agaves, euphorbias, aloe, crassula and “living stones” - lithops. To complete the experience, you can touch some plants.

Last year's VI Tropical Winter festival turned out to be the most successful in the history of its existence - it was attended by more than 80 thousand people.

In addition, guests of the Tropical Winter festival in the Aptekarsky Ogorod will be able to visit the largest Japanese bonsai exhibition “The World in a Clay Bowl”, which features the rare 100-year-old Japanese ume plum, 100-year-old pine trees, 70-year-old junipers, strawberry tree, cypress grove, ficus, persimmon and even a miniature domestic apple tree with tiny fruits. The exhibition will run until January 24, 2016.

Website of the “Pharmaceutical Garden” http://www.hortus.ru/

“Aptekarsky Ogorod” is open daily from 10.00 to 20.00, ticket office - until 19.30

Address: Mira Avenue, 26/1.

The cost of a full entrance ticket is 200 rubles, a discounted ticket (schoolchildren, students, pensioners and holders of an international student ISIC card) is 150 rubles.