Planting of Minuartia

Rescue planting in private gardens

One of the methods of resuce of Minuartia is  its cultivation in private gardens. It is a unique method that has not yet been used in the Czech Republic to save any plant species. Just as endangered animals are kept in zoos, a rescue population Minuartia can grow in gardens.

Because Minuartia is bounded to serpentine soil, it is necessary to create suitable habitat conditions for it - serpentine rocks.

Cooperation with gardeners

By the end of 2020, we had built rock gardens and planted rescue populations of chickens in the following places:

For plants from Hadce u Hrnčíř SCI

  • Kamberk - 2 private and 1 municipal on the village square
  • Kamberk - Dolejší mlýn
  • Libouň - 1 private and 1 municipal on the village square
  • Louňovice pod Blaníkem - The Office of Blaník PLA
  • Hrnčíře - pension
  • Botanical garden Průhonice

For plants from Želivka SCI

  • Benešov - 1 private
  • Bernartice - 1 private and 1 municipal on the village square
  • Petroupim - Basic and kindergarden school Archa
  • Prague - Botanical garden of Charles University
  • Vojslavice - 1 private
  • Hulice - Visitor centre Včelí svět
  • Kácov - arboreta
  • Čechtice - private

Evaluation of plant growth

The planting success was garden dependent. Three populations went almost extinct (two from the Hrnčíře SCI area and one from Želivka SCI). Therefore, we decided to improve these small rocks and transplant new plants there. Further, the survival rate was dependent on the rigorous observation of rules. The traditional gardeners decided to water plants in the summer (despite being asked not to do so) and therefore had the survival rate higher (almost 100%) then botanical gardens (60.7%) or school Archa (41.4%). generally, larger rocks with more individuals had a higher survival rate then small rocks. We thus assessed the smallest population size planted in gardens to 40 -50 individuals.

Plant evidence

The plant evidence was too hard for the gardeners. On the basis of this knowledge we decided to transfer the monitoring only to koordinator. Local gardeners will monitor only if the plants are flowering (yes/not) and if there is something strange with population (e.g. high mortality, occurence of pathogens etc). 

The instruction for planting

Gardeners were trained in care about the Minuartia and obtained the 
Instruction leaflet with information about care, ecological equipment, occurence of pathogens etc.