Did you know that in the center of our city you can find bushes exclusively of wild berries? Cowberry in the center of St. Petersburg, as it turned out, is not at all a surprising phenomenon.

Cowberry shrubs retain their green color perfectly even under snow cover, and if you look closely, you can even find a little harvest from last year.

So where did she come from? The summer garden was founded by order of Peter I in 1704 and is practically the same age as the city. 18th century gardeners when creating a regular garden, local species of trees and shrubs were widely used. The parterre is a complex decorative element of the gardens of that period. Boxwood (or buxus) – one of the main parterre plants, which creates a green outline of the pattern and gives the necessary relief to the parterre – was ordered from abroad and was expensive, and besides, it could not withstand the harsh climate.

The researchers of the Summer Garden in their works report the replacement of boxwood with lingonberries on the territory of the imperial gardens, but documented facts of the use of lingonberries have survived only in the territories of the palace and park ensembles in Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo. Therefore, during the restoration work in 2009-2011, it was decided to return the cranberries to the Summer Garden.

Therefore, when you are in the Summer Garden, take a closer look at the low green border next to the “Crown” fountain.