To promote the further expansion of phenological gardens, the Global Phenological Monitoring (GPM) programme was founded in 1993 on the initiative of the Phenological Commission of the International Society for Biometeorology (ISB). Prof. Dr. Frank-M. Chmielewski from the Humboldt University of Berlin took over the coordination of the GPM programme until 2023. The GPM programme is now integrated into the network of International Phenological Gardens and is coordinated by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. The mother garden has been located in Abstatt (Germany; GartenBaumschule Krauß) since the programme was founded.

After the first plantings were made in Germany in Deuselbach, Blumberg and Tharandt in 1998 and 1999, the first phenological observations were reported in 2000. In 2002, gardens were opened in Beijing/China (until 2006) and Milwaukee/USA, and further gardens were subsequently added in Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia and Turkey. The programme currently comprises 26 active phenological gardens in four countries. Various research institutions and schools are also involved in the programme, giving schoolchildren the opportunity to familiarise themselves with science.

The GPM programme is a standardised phenological monitoring programme which, like the network of International Phenological Gardens, is based on vegetatively propagated, i.e. genetically identical, plants. The phenological observation of these plants enables more precise conclusions to be drawn about the influence of temperature. The GPM programme includes 16 economically important fruit trees, park shrubs and spring flowers with a wide geographical distribution and/or ecological amplitude. The standard programme includes fruit trees such as apple, cherry and pear trees, while the so-called 'flowering phase programme' includes ornamental shrubs such as forsythia, lilac, broom heather and snowdrops. Due to different environmental conditions, there are some gardens that only observe the standard programme and gardens that have a reduced number of species on site.

History