Nezahat Gokyigit Botanical Gardens

Nezahat Gokyigit established a botanical garden at the tntersection of two major highways on the Asian side of Istanbul. The gardens are in the loops of the clover leaf patterned highway ramps. A clever use of this type of land. The entrance to the gardens is on one of the ramps - a little hard to find, but you are rewarded if you find it. The garden was established in 1995 and beyond the near gardens, you can see the buildings of the Atasehir section of Istanbul.

The rock gardens were very nicely arranged.

The Japanese garden, complete with a little bridge.

A very unusual shell shaped flower on a vine outside the orchid pavillion. No label, so I don't know what it is in any language.

Just opened this past May, is a mini replica of the Bosphorus, with some of the major landmarks on displayed.

A library on the premises contains lots of resource material on plants and gardens. The Missouri Botanical Garden journals are available as well as other journals in German, English and Turkish.

There is a section for children, which includes a labyrinth for those under 3 feet tall.

Two buses of school children were visiting the gardens at the same time as my visit. The garden staff gave them talks about the plants and the environment. The free range ducks were tempting for the children to chase.

The gardens were very nicely established. The noise of the traffic zooming on the roads was loud and continuous, but probably only bothered me, not the school children. For those intested in more information about the garden, here is their website in Turkish http://www.ngbb.gen.tr/