Budding botanists will be at home at the Botanical Garden in Potsdam, where palms, ferns and orchids await. As you enter through the historic iron and glass palm house, its rainforest canopy of palms and passion flowers covers you overhead. Emerge from the jungle into the central atrium, from which eight houses branch off, each taking you to a different botanical world. Prickly plant lovers should head into the hot and arid cactus house, packed with spiny friends jostling for your attention. One is the bunny ear cactus (Opuntia microdasys) which you might know from your kitchen windowsill – only this specimen is four meters wide. Outside, more temperate plants abound, and the University of Potsdam organizes regular events, including a session on bees and honey making on 26.05.2019. These elegant gardens offer a relaxing, quieter alternative to their Berlin counterpart and with their location – just one stop after the Sanssouci Palace on the bus – they are well worth a day trip from Berlin. Bring a picnic and enjoy the surrounding gardens and parkland. (Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Benji Haughton, Enzio Giljam & Kerstin Kläring)
The University of Potsdam Botanical Gardens, Maulbeerallee 2, 14469 Potsdam; map
Open summer daily 9.30–17h; in winter daily 9.30–16h
