Winter Garden and Orangery of the Northern Botanical Garden (Severny Botanichesky Sad)

The garden was born in 1912 on the grounds of Petropavl's meat-canning plant. Its glasshouse first served industry, supplying ingredients for the factory's tins, onions and bay leaves, to which the garden's own website adds peppers. The garden cites archive documents according to which a dozen bay laurels and date palms were sent by decree of Nicholas II, and the press credits a botanist with bringing in the first exotic plants from South America, agaves and monsteras.

The garden grew with the meat-processing combine in the Soviet period. By the 1980s the complex covered 46 hectares, 16 of them given over to recreation, and in 1984 the combine received a silver medal at the USSR Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy for floriculture and landscaping.

The sources consulted do not date the construction of the present winter garden. They do describe a difficult situation: according to Orda.kz in 2023, the garden has since 2018 been placed under a music school rather than a scientific or environmental body, staff pay remains very low and the glasshouse roof is deteriorating. The garden's website nonetheless presents it as a scientific, educational and exhibition centre open to the public.

None of the sources consulted dates the winter garden or names its designers. The complex has two large glazed volumes: a winter garden under a dome rising to 22 m, and a lower production orangery, 7 m high. The garden's website gives them 886 m² and 1,088.2 m² respectively, figures that other summaries quote the other way round.

In 2023 Orda.kz reported a roof in poor condition and natural light that had become insufficient in winter since a 15 m sports complex was built close by, casting shade over the glasshouses. The winter garden is designed as a place to stroll, while the orangery, described as a 'production' house, also holds tropical and subtropical species and rare exotic flowers.

The garden reports some 2,000 species. The press lists date palms and fan palms, araucarias, bamboos, agaves, Cuban lemons, bananas, monsteras, figs, murrayas, orchids, magnolias and jasmines. A 'desert corner' brings together opuntias and agaves.

Several plants carry the history of the place. According to its website, the garden still has 12 m bay laurels from the 1912 plantings, brought from Saint Petersburg. Its best-known date palm, about two centuries old, is said to have grown from a seed brought back from Mecca and Medina in 1795. The website also mentions a 'Ponderosa' lemon given by Raúl Castro.

The garden is at 41 Medvedev Street in Petropavl, and a single ticket covers the whole site. Beyond the glasshouses there is a mini-arboretum of trees and shrubs suited to the local climate, a pond with ducks and swans, a vivarium that also shelters injured wild animals and birds, a corner of exotic birds and an aquarium called 'Aquamir'.

Guided tours and educational programmes are offered. The winter garden makes a striking contrast with the northern Kazakh winter; allow one to two hours for the glasshouses and grounds.