Boboli in Bloom: guided tours to discover orchids, roses, water lilies and citrus trees

Starting Thursday, May 16, 2019, a series of guided tours of the Boboli Gardens will kick off to discover the blooms that can be admired in the 16th-century Medici park from now through the summer: wild orchids, ancient varieties of roses, lush water lilies, and the Medici’s vast and centuries-old citrus collection.
The Boboli in Bloom tour will be held by garden technicians.

The first appointment will be dedicated to wild orchids, whose presence in the park has been established since the 19th century: there are eleven varieties of this type of flower, with a wide variety of colors.

OnSaturday, May 25, we will go on a discovery of ancient roses: the Boboli Garden holds as many as 156 varieties, and among the oldest are rosa bengalensis, banksiae alba and lutea, and alba incarnata, the latter portrayed in some of Sandro Botticelli’s paintings.

It will continue on Saturday, July 6, with a tour of aquatic plants: fifty different species of water lilies, including tropical ones, can be seen in the Upper Botany tanks. A collection that dates back to the 19th century thanks to the great botanist Filippo Parlatore.

Guided tours will conclude on July 27 with the Medici citrus trees: the Garden holds more than five hundred potted citrus plants and is among the most significant collections in Europe. The citrus collection was started by Cosimo I himself in the 16th century. More than sixty varieties, including the famous Bizzarria, a “freak of nature,” as it was called by botanists of the time, dating back to the mid-seventeenth century, which combines the characteristics of lemon, bitter orange and citron. And again the Adam’s apple, which according to tradition was offered by boys as a pledge of love to maidens.

“In spring and early summer, Boboli’s botanical heritage becomes even richer and more luxuriant, reaching the height of its beauty; with these tours we want to give everyone the chance to appreciate the natural treasures that the garden, like a treasure chest, guards and protects,” stresses the garden’s manager, Bianca Maria Landi.

To participate in the guided tours (for groups of up to 30 people), it is necessary to call the Boboli Garden Department in the morning hours at 0552388786 or 0552388717.

Boboli in Bloom: guided tours to discover orchids, roses, water lilies and citrus trees

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