From 3 to 4 June, the first festival “Voronezh Peonies” was held in the Kozo-Polyansky Botanical Garden of VSU. Visitors had a chance to see unique varieties of peonies from 15 collectors from Voronezh and the region. In total, about 250 varieties of peonies of Russian and foreign selection were presented, some varieties were personally bred by the participants.
As a result of voting, the winning varieties in different nominations were selected. The festival was attended by Voronezh breeder Aleksei Bredikhin, breeder Nadezhda Kalagina, and members of the Moscow Gardeners’ Union, Lyubov Kovalevskaya and Anna Loseva.
The festival programme included excursions to greenhouses and laboratories, a tour of lupine meadows, and lectures on the secrets of flower care and maintenance of peonies. Students of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences of VSU presented a phytotheque where everyone could try a drink from medicinal plants (sage and ginkgo) grown in the Botanical Garden. The faculty students also gave a tour of the Apothecary Garden exposition, opened last year as part of the Green Campus project. Special photo zones were set up on the festival grounds, where guests could take beautiful photos with bouquets of peonies.
“In June, the flowering period of peonies begins. This is a great time to get together and present your achievements to visitors. We organised the festival so that all people who love nature and peonies could come together and interact,” commented Andrey Voronin, Director of the Botanical Garden of VSU.
