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Graz–Oct. 11, 2025

Der Botanischer Garten (Botanical Garden)

There was an odd sculpture (at least that’s what I thought it was) and a plant outside the entrance:

Bright red plastic tubing wrapped around a bamboo frame.
Green fruits on a bamboo frame

The newer greenhouse (called a Glashaus in German):

Botanical Garden building shaped like a cylinder tilted on its side, rising from the ground

Inside was an Ikebana exhibit, as well as an aquarium (a very small one indeed):

Three ikebana displays, one with sunflowers
White, gray, and orange ropes. On the rope are some orange flowers.
Two orange fish and one white fish with black spots

And a variety of plants inside. For some reason, I was very attracted to the cacti.

Large plant with green palm-like fronds
Plant with red fruit at top and red flowers hanging down on all sides
White puffy ball-shaped flowers with yellow at the tip of each segment
Large purple flower that looks like an open mouth
Cactus with flat, open leaves
A green succulent with leaves in the form of a rosette
Cactus with upright spines that look like triangles stacked one atop the other.
Three different types of barrel cactus. At right, an open cactus leaf
Clump of small round cacti covered with white spines; they look like cotton balls
Very small cactus covered in spines, green inside

You can see how small this is by the relative size of the label.

Three very small round cacti with orange spines covering green center
Clump of cacti with red spines
Clump of 18 or so barrel cacti. At right, a cactus plant with long, prickly-looking leaves

This is a dwarf palm tree, the only palm tree native to the European mainland (Mediterranean area). According to the sign, one of the oldest exemplars is in the Botanical Gardens in Padua, and is 500 years old

Very small palm tree Side view of dwarf palm.

Here is the old greenhouse:

Older greenhouse with many glass panels

This was inside the building

Small palm trees inside a building

And this wonderfully decorated table:

Base of table with colored triangles in a row at the bottom and then at random locations towars the top

Behind the scenes: a checklist with a diagram of the area that needs maintenance.

Clipboard with a checklist of plants and a diagram of their locations. It is sitting on top of a bucket that has a trowel and a small rake in it.

Then, walking around outside on the arboretum grounds:

Flower with yellow center and petals that are red towards the center and yellow at the outer edge
Plant with large yellow and green leaves
Clumps of small white flowers with yellow stamens
Flowers with pinkish-red petals
Three trees. The center one’s leaves have turned orange, the ones on the sides still have green leaves.
Tree with large purple flowers
Flower that looks like a long string of purple blooms.
Beehive with large block of wood on cover

They have a beehive outside.

Sign with line drawing of a bee. Text: ACHTUNG BIENENFLUG

Caution Bees flying.

Tree stumps carved to look a bit like pineapples

Not sure what the purpose of these tree parts is, but they look pretty cool.

Closeup of tree stump
top section of tree with branches cut off; the result looks much like a pineapple