At a spot where the Vršič Pass road descends from the scraggly peaks of the Julian Alps into the lush Soča River Valley, alert drivers may notice a sign pointing to a garden named Juliana. Viewed from the road, the garden may seem small and unremarkable. However, visitors who choose to ascend a few steps are in for a unique treat.

The Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden is a treasure trove of Slovenian flora. More than 600 species of plants grow in the garden’s natural hillside environment among scattered Alpine rocks. Plants native to the Slovenian Alps and the country’s Karst region are given special prominence. In fact, several of the species featured at Juliana can be found only in Slovenia.

The story of Juliana began almost 90 years ago as a dream of a Swiss wood dealer and botanist. As part of his business, the appropriately named Albert Bois de Chesne -- “bois” means “wood” in French -- bought and sold forests throughout Central Europe. In 1925, he purchased a property in Trenta, the northernmost part of the Soča River Valley. But this time, he didn’t buy the land to make a profit – he got it to pursue his lifelong passion for botany and to fulfill a lifetime dream of owning a botanical garden.

Bois de Chesne was familiar with Trenta. He had visited the area when he was still in school; at the time he fell in love with its scenic beauty. He was now determined to create a botanical garden that would feature Slovenia’s diverse flora. He sought advice from a number of local experts, including Julius Kugy, a legendary mountaineer and one of the foremost experts on the Julian Alps.

Bois de Chesne dammed a local stream to provide water to his new botanical garden. He even traveled high into the Julian Alps himself to look for interesting plant specimens; his assistants brought in plans from Slovenia’s Karst region and from more distant habitats, mostly in Italy and the Western Alps.

When planting his flora, Bois de Chesne he followed Kugy’s advice and arranged the specimens by habitation zones, with valley plants at the bottom of the sloped garden and high-altitude species at the very top. By the late 1920s, he had created, with the help of local assistants, a thriving botanical garden he named Juliana.

For years, Bois de Chesne lovingly tended to his garden, but then World War II changed everything. When the conflict broke out, he was stuck in Trieste. After Italy’s capitulation, he was barred from revisiting Juliana. Even though his prewar assistants did the best they could to maintain it, they lacked funds, and Juliana quickly became overgrown. In 1949, however, the botanical garden’s management was taken over by Ljubljana’s Natural History museum. In the following years, it was not only restored to its prewar appearance, it was also expanded, with the addition of features such as a high-altitude scree habitat. Today, Juliana is a part of the Triglav National Park and a popular destination of visitors to the Soča River Valley.

As for Bois de Chesne -- even though he was barred from visiting the garden after the war, he still financially contributed to its upkeep for several years. His even sent an associate from Trieste to paint the flowers at Juliana for him. In Bois de Chesne’s old age, those pictures remained his only link to the botanical garden that he had created and loved so much.

In 1953, Albert Bois de Chesne died in Trieste at the age of 82.