Vegetation


Carinthia is located at the intersection of plant regions. A number of Illyrian, sub-Mediterranean and Pannonian elements are also present in the Arctic-Alpine and Central European forms, making Carinthia's flora so rich.
The alpine garden is located at 1500m above sea level on the border of the mountainous and subalpine vegetation stages. More than 800 species of plants are allocated to 25 different areas which comprise more than 10,000m2, according to their ecological affiliation. In contrast to similar sites, the alpine garden ‘Villacher Alpe’ is a natural garden in which around a third of the plants were already present at the original site. The other species were transplanted into the garden and are now being continuously supplemented, mainly using young plants from their own breeding.

Due to the location of this garden you can find mainly mountainous and alpine florene elements of the lime flora of the Southern Alps. Alpine lawns and dwarf shrubs heath as well as lime deposits are presented as far as possible. However, the silicate flora is also represented with numerous species, some of the ice-age silicate blocks at the so-called "Zirbenbühel" and artificial silicate material as substrate above the lime subsoil make this possible. Several ‘Hochstaudenfluren’, a section from a herb-rich red beech forest and an alpine campsite completes the variety of the Alpine Garden. In order to show some subalpine aquatic plants and marsh plants, a small pond as well as a wet meadow were artificially created. To recognize the plants signs are placed in the garden which shows next to the German name and the plant family also the scientific name in the Latin language.

In order to be able to see the entire range of alpine flowers in the Alpine Garden, the interested visitor would have to visit the early bloomers in June, the main bloomers in late June to July and the late bloomers in August. The description of the garden in detail can be taken from the Alpine Garden guide, deviations of the species composition since the printing date occur due to climate and location.