Academic Centre
The University of Latvia (University of Latvia) Botanical Garden invites you for a walk in its outdoor area, to enjoy the first signs of warm weather and the blooming azaleas exhibited in an unusual location to please visitors and create a feeling of spring. Entrance to the garden is free of charge for UL employees and students upon presentation of the ID.
The flowering azalea pots are located in the lobby of the Palm House, where they can be observed through the window. Currently, garden specialists have supplemented the richly blossoming of azaleas on display, making the lobby even more colourful. In addition to the beautiful azaleas, you can see the first heralds of spring in the outdoor garden itself – the first snowdrops begin to appear and the spring witch hazel is in full bloom.
Due to the current restrictions in the country, the greenhouses of the Botanical Garden are closed to visitors until April 6, however, the outdoor area of the garden is open for taking a pleasant walk. The UL Botanical Garden will inform about changes in the operation of greenhouses on the website and social networks. The entrance ticket prices can be viewed here.
About azalea collection:
The azalea collection of the UL Botanical Garden is the largest in the Baltics. It includes about 130 different cultivars. Professor Rihards Kondratovičs (1932–2017) began to create the collection in the Azalea House in 1956. Today, the oldest plants in the collection have reached the age of 60 and are an impressive size. The collection also includes several varieties of azaleas created in Latvia, such as Sārtais dzintars ('Pink Amber'), Grācija ('Grace'), etc. Most of these varieties were created by Professor Rihards Kondratovičs himself, who was a widely recognised breeder of outdoor rhododendron varieties.
Depending on the variety, azaleas bloom from October to May. The most colourful blooms in the UL Botanical Garden are observed in winter and early spring.
Azaleas are divided into early, medium-late and late varieties according to their season of blossoming. Their stand out among many other plants with a long flowering time – under suitable conditions, one shrub can bloom for weeks. Azalea flowers most frequently are pink, but are also white and red, very rarely – purple. The flowers can be of different sizes, variegated or monochromatic, with spots or dots. For most varieties, the flowers are scentless, but the collection of the UL Botanical Garden displays several fragrant varieties of azaleas.
