Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi

The Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden lies on the Asian side, at the interchange where the motorways coming from the Atatürk and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges meet the Anatolian Motorway. The garden spreads over the pieces of land left between the interchange's main roads and its link roads, which is why it is made up of eight islands. The site was allocated to this purpose by a protocol between the General Directorate of Highways and the Ali Nihat Gökyiğit Foundation. Although the garden's official address is in Ataşehir, the interchange borders Ümraniye, and the garden also has a visitor entrance on the Ümraniye side. The garden's history begins in 1995. That year Ali Nihat Gökyiğit started work to create a memorial park in the name of his wife, Nezahat Gökyiğit. The soil, badly damaged by road construction, was first improved, and then about 50,000 trees and shrubs were planted on the 46 hectare park area. Later the aim changed and the site was replanned as a botanic garden. The garden opened to the public in 2002 and took its present name in 2003. Its herbarium, founded in 2004, entered the international Index Herbariorum under the code NGBB in 2010 and holds around 8,500 plant specimens. Knowing that the garden describes itself not only as a place for a stroll but as a centre for research, education and teaching makes a visit richer. The Central Island holds the garden's densest collections, with bulbous plants, a rock garden, a cactus and succulent greenhouse, water lily pools and sections gathering drought tolerant species. In the rock garden, rock plants that like hot, dry conditions and those that like damp conditions are grown side by side. In the hedge garden, species that grow naturally in Turkey, such as beech, are being tested to see whether they can be used as hedging plants. Istanbul Island was completed and opened to visitors in 2010 and was designed to reflect the layout of 18th century Istanbul mansion gardens. On the island there is a mansion garden, a travertine neighbourhood fountain carved with irises, a scaled down miniature of the Bosphorus with its bridges and towers, and an amphitheatre for four hundred people. According to the garden, 2,512 taxa have been recorded in Istanbul's wild flora, and some of them are endemic plants that grow nowhere but Istanbul. The island's collection of Istanbul plants was created to protect these species, which are threatened by the city's growth. An exhibition on the same island uses photographs to present trees that have become symbols of Istanbul, such as cypress, plane and Judas tree, together with rare species such as the yellow flowered horse chestnut and the tulip tree. On the amphitheatre stage you can read one of the garden's slogans, which says natural life in defiance of concrete. Arboretum Island, opened on 9 April 2011, aims to bring together all of Turkey's native trees and shrubs. According to the garden, the country's 723 native woody species have been brought here through scientific collecting trips since 2009. The island is divided into three sections, Euro-Siberian, Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean, following Turkey's plant geography. On this island, in the Identification Trail Game, an unguided activity for children aged 9 to 14, children follow clues to work out which tree a given leaf belongs to. The area beside the mini rock garden is laid out in memory of the botanist Faik Yaltırık. On Anatolia Island, the largest in the garden, the northern slopes represent the Black Sea forests, the southern slopes the Mediterranean and the flat centre the steppe. In this island's rock garden you can see species found only in Turkey, such as Allium goekyigitii, Allium karacae and Allium koyuncui. A model of Mount Hasan built with volcanic soil and rocks and a wetland section with five water lily pools are also on this island. Because the islands are scattered between the roads of the interchange, plan your visit to start at the Ataşehir entrance and go round the islands in turn. According to the visitor rules, no pets except guide dogs are allowed in the garden, and visitors are not admitted through the Central Island gate on the motorway. No food, drinks, saplings or seeds are sold inside the garden, so bring your own water. Because the garden can at times be partly closed for maintenance or infrastructure work, check on the official website which entrance is open and the current visiting hours. Those coming by public transport should set the Ataşehir entrance as their destination in the city's journey planner, because the area around the interchange is confusing on foot. The garden shows a different face in every season: come in spring for the bulbs, in summer for the water lilies and in autumn for the colours of Arboretum Island.