Reykjavik Botanical Garden

The Reykjavík Botanical Garden, known in Icelandic as Grasagarður Reykjavíkur, is a green oasis in the heart of the Icelandic capital, offering visitors a refuge of tranquility and natural beauty. Founded in 1961, the garden covers an area of 5 hectares within the Laugardalur Valley, one of the city’s most beloved recreational areas. This green space is not only a place for leisure and relaxation, but also an important center for botanical research and plant conservation. The garden is organized into different thematic sections, each highlighting particular types of plants and landscapes. Among the most popular sections are the garden of native Icelandic plants, the rose garden, the arboretum, and the medicinal herb garden. Each section is carefully curated to showcase the characteristics of the plants, offering visitors an educational as well as aesthetic experience. The garden of native plants is particularly fascinating, as it gathers a wide range of native species from Iceland. This section allows visitors to learn more about the local flora, which includes plants adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the island. Among these, plants such as arctic thyme, dwarf juniper, and various species of mosses and lichens stand out, representing the adaptability and resilience of Icelandic vegetation. The rose garden is another highlight of the Reykjavík Botanical Garden. This space is a riot of colors and scents, with over 100 varieties of roses blooming during the summer months. The selection of roses includes both ancient and modern varieties, each with its own characteristics of shape, color, and scent. Strolling through the rose beds in full bloom is a unique sensory experience that attracts many visitors, both locals and tourists. The garden’s arboretum is an area dedicated to trees and shrubs from around the world. Here, visitors can admire a collection of conifers, broadleaves, and exotic species, offering an interesting contrast with the local flora. The arboretum is also an important study center for the experimentation and introduction of new plant species in Iceland, contributing to the diversification of the island’s plant landscape. The medicinal herb garden is another noteworthy section, where plants traditionally used for medicinal and culinary purposes are cultivated. This area is of interest to those who want to learn about the healing properties of plants and their use in traditional Icelandic medicine. Herbs such as angelica, St. John’s wort, and chamomile are just some of the species that can be found in this garden, each with a long history of therapeutic use. An interesting anecdote concerns the garden’s collection of arctic plants, which is one of the most complete in the world. This collection was developed thanks to the efforts of Icelandic botanists who traveled to the Arctic and subarctic regions to collect seeds and plant samples. These expeditions have enriched the garden’s biodiversity and created a section dedicated to arctic plants, attracting the interest of botany scholars and enthusiasts from around the world.