He was born on 7 January 1794 in Brno, a city in Moravia that in those years was part of the Austrian Empire and that now is part of the Czech Republic. As a young boy, he came to live in Vienna, where his father was the chief gardener of the botanical garden of the university.[1]
He was a participant in the Austrian Brazil Expedition from 1817 to 1821. While in Brazil from mid-1817 through 1821, Schott established and managed an introduction garden for accustoming living plants to more temperate climates in order to have them brought to Europe at a later date,[1] made field trips, and prepared many notes concerning the plants and animals he saw.[2]
In 1821 Schott returned to Vienna, where he worked as gardener again. In 1828 he was appointed Hofgärtner (RoyalGardener) in Vienna, later serving as director of the Imperial Gardens at Schönbrunn Palace (1845). In 1852 he was in charge of transforming part of palace gardens in the fashion of an English garden. He also enriched the Viennese court gardens with his collections from Brazil.
He was interested in plants that grow in high mountains, above the tree line,[N 1] He developed a garden with that kind of plants (an alpine garden) at Belvedere in Vienna.
↑These plants are called sometimes as alpine plants because they are common in the high Alps, even if they exist in other high mountains. Alpine plants must resist the difficult conditions of the alpine environment, like low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season.
