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"Week of Croatian Botanical Gardens and Arboreta" : annual event directed by the national network of Croatian botanical collections

Croatian botanical gardens are recognized for their valuable collections of indigenous flora, which is the third richest in Europe, while several arboreta keep collections of ornamental trees and shrubs older than 300 years. Most of Croatian botanical gardens are statutory protected, and all operate as integrated units of different faculties, schools or else, rather than independent institutions. Botanical garden employees assembled in 2009 to constitute a Section of Croatian Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, within the Croatian Botanical Society. That was the easiest way to fulfilling some of the elementary tasks of the European Botanic Gardens Consortium. In 2011, the First National Week of Croatian Botanical Gardens and Arboreta was organized, in order to gain more attention of the public and the authorities. Six Croatian ministries, three Universities and several other institutions accepted to give auspices to the event. The Week was accompanied with Symposium and Exhibition on the same subject. Summarized presentations of all the participants were published in The Booklet of Abstracts. During the Week that followed, various free events opened daily to the public were organized in 12 Croatian botanical gardens, arboreta and other objects with smaller plant collections: guided tours, workshops, lectures, exhibitions and project presentations, documentary film projections, morning puppet shows and story-telling for the youngest, evening events with herbal beverages for the older, ... all inspired with a common idea: the plants and their indispensable impact on human existence. Because of the unanimously positive attention given to the first national Week, the Authorities proposed it to become an annual event. Therefore, the same was successfully repeated this year, during the Second National Week of Croatian Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. The Weeks were visited by thousands of people, gaining a broad attention and putting Croatian botanical collections in the spotlight of the public and media for at least one week in the year.

Week of Croatian botanical gardens and arboreta; education; plant conservation; raising awareness;

Sekcija "Strengthening Networks for People, Plants and Botanic Gardens"