In 2026, it will be 100 years since Albert Bois de Chesne, a native of Trieste (a Swiss citizen of French descent), founded the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden. When we descend over the Vršič Pass into Trento on our vechicles, we have no idea that there is a botanical gem right next to the road, where numerous Slovenian plant treasures thrive in a small area. Brown information boards draw our attention to the Alpine Botanical Garden near the hamlet of 'Pri cerkvi'.
The founding of Juliana
Albert Bois de Chesne (1871-1953) was an enthusiastic botanist and mountaineer since his high school days. At the age of 16, he visited the area of Trenta for the first time with his botanical mentor Eduardo Pospichal and climbed Mt. Triglav with his mountain guide Andrej Komac. After completing his studies in forestry, he had to take over his father's company, which was involved in the timber trade. In 1925, he sold the extensive forests in Slavonia and returned to Trieste. Thus, at the age of 54, he was able to devote himself to his great love - botany.
In Trenta, he bought land on the Tožbar estate for a garden. He chose a sunny slope of Kukla nearby the church of St. Mary, where there were already some large rocks and a few trees growing. Since there was no spring in the garden, a reservoir was built under the waterfall, which was located nearby, and the water was piped into the garden and the area was fenced off. In the autumn of 1926, the initial work was completed. He named the garden 'Bois de Chesne' after his wife Julia. In 1927, plants began to be brought to the garden: they were brought from the Julian Alps, the Friulian hills, from the limestone mountains and the pre-Alpine world, and some also from the Karavanke and Kamnik-Savinja Alps. The garden also included some "foreign" plants that Bois de Chesne obtained from other mountain ranges in Europe and the surrounding area (Atlas, Caucasus).
Bois de Chesne was helped by both Slovenian and foreign botanists in arranging the garden. The famous Julius Kugy (mountaineer, writer, botanist, humanist, lawyer and officer of Slovenian descent ) was also a good friend of Bois de Chesne. He helped the founder with information on plant locations and advised that the garden represent a "botanical journey from the valley to a Julian peak". He also praised Juliana in his works and dedicated some of his most beautiful writings to her.
A look into history
After the capitulation of Italy in World War II, the Bois de Chesne garden was no longer accessible, but the gardeners nevertheless took care of it to the best of their ability. After World War II, numerous Slovenian botanists took up the garden, including Dr. Angela Piskernik (1886-1967), who worked all the years after the war to restore Juliana, care for it and protect it. In 1949, the management of the garden was taken over by The Slovenian Museum of Natural History, but in subsequent years a special commission found that the garden was too much of a burden on the museum, so it came under the management of various local organizations. Renovation work in the garden began in 1958, and a year later it was led by horticultural expert Prof. Dr. Ciril Jeglič. In 1962, Juliana finally came under the management of The Slovenian Museum of Natural History, which still looks after it today. Between 1963 and 1968, its professional manager was Prof. Dr. Tone Wraber, who remained connected to the garden later. Between 1975 and 2013, Juliana was professionally managed by Dr. Nada Praprotnik, who prepared numerous publications, lectures, DVDs and guided tours of the garden during this time.
Gardeners in Juliana
The Tožbar family have been associated with Juliana since the beginning of the garden. Anton Tožbar senior (Špik senior. or Medved – The Bear) was Julius Kugy's first guide when he came to the mountains above Trento to look for the mysterious Trentar grintavec. His son Anton Tožbar junior (Špik mlajši.) was a famous mountain guide, and he also worked as a game warden in the Alberta Bois de Chesne hunting ground. His son Anton Tožbar the youngest was the first gardener in Juliana, and the garden itself grew on Tožbar's land. Bois de Chesne employed Ančka Kavs as an assistant in the garden. The work of the first gardeners was continued by Tožbar's daughter Marija and her late husband Jože Završnik, and the family tradition is continued by their son Klemen Završnik.
Juliana today
Since 1951, Juliana has been protected as a monument of designed nature. Nowadays, around 600 species of alpine, pre-alpine and dry meadow plants grow in the garden on 2,572 m2. Due to the relatively low altitude (800 m), sunny location and warm air coming from the south along the Soča Valley, dry meadow plants thrive best in the garden, and alpine plants in particular have to be brought back from nature several times. Nevertheless, you can see numerous stonecrops, marmots, spiky plants, alpine poppies, smilies, planicas and other alpine beauties in the garden. Some plants that are rare in nature thrive beautifully in the garden. We should mention the tufted horned rampion (Physoplexis comosa), which is a very rare species of rock crevices in the Julian Alps and the Karavanke Mountains. In the garden you can also see plants that grow only in Slovenia, or whose distribution extends a little beyond the border. One of them is the ribbed-leaved hladnikia (Hladnikia pastinacifolia), which is found exclusively in the Trnovo Forest and nowhere else in the world.
Since spring in Juliana begins two months earlier than in the mountains, many alpine plants bloom earlier than at higher altitudes, where they are still covered in snow. Many summer visitors search in vain for plants they saw in the mountains, as they are often already in bloom in the garden. Of course, not all plants bloom at once. In May, the garden exudes the pleasant scent of daphne, especially fragrant daphne (Daphne cneorum) and Blagaj's daphne (Daphne blagayana). The Carniolan primrose (Primula carniolica), which is found in nature only in our country south and west of Ljubljana, and the Idrija primrose (Primula x venusta), which is even rarer, thrive in the garden. In June, numerous irises, Parsley family plants, orchids and fragrant carnations bloom in the garden. In July, the Alpine seaholly (Eryngium alpinum) opens its luxurious inflorescences. In August, the Lilly Leaf Ladybells (Adenophora liliifolia) blooms in the garden, and numerous insects feed on the flowers of the globe thisles.
Autumn is an opportunity to observe evergreen plants and plant fruits. Two species of buttchers broom (Ruscus sp.) grow in the garden, which were once used for decoration, but are now both protected. They are interesting because their fruit grows right in the middle of the "leaf", for which there is of course a botanical explanation.
Have you ever seen the orchid, which has the largest flower in Europe?
Would you like to see the plant that attracted Julius Kugy to Trenta valley?
Visit Juliana Botanical Garden and you are going to see many new things.
Author of the text: Špela Pungaršek / The Slovenian Museum of Natural History
Literature: Praprotnik, N., 2011: Alpine Botanical Garden Juliana. The Slovenian Museum of Natural History. 133 pp.
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