10 MOST AMAZING BOTANICAL GARDENS
Botanical gardens are dedicated to the
beautiful world of flora. Plants, with their many shades of green,
speckled with all the other possible colours in the world, are a
stunning site, and worth preserving and cultivating because of all that
they provide to us. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
is perhaps the earliest and most famous example of a botanical gardens,
though its location has not definitely established. Over decades and
centuries, many incredible botanical gardens have been established. Many
modifications and modernizations have taken place, to give us some
stunning botanical gardens. Here is a list of ten of them. Let’s take a
look:
10. Orto Botanico di Padova
The Orto Botanico di Padova in Padua, in north-eastern Italy, is the
oldest academic botanical garden still in its original location. It was
founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic. It is spread across an area of
22,000 square meter. It is particularly known for its historical
architecture, complete with sculptures, fountains, etc., as well as the
collection of 6000 type of plants, including poisonous, insectivorous
and carnivorous ones. The stunning botanical garden is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
9. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is located at the foot of
Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of South Africa’s
nine National Botanical Gardens, which covers five out of six biomes,
and the first of its kind in the world. It is famous for cultivating and
exhibiting indigenous plants from different regions. Many trails lead
to the mountain slopes visible from the garden.
8. Missouri Botanical Gardens
The Missouri Botanical Garden is in St. Louis, Missouri. Also called
Shaw’s Garden, the 32 hectare historic garden has remarkable features,
gardens, statues, etc. – the Tower House and Herb Garden, the “Victory
of Science Over Ignorance” statue, Climatron and Reflecting Pools, etc.
Its Japanese garden, Seiwa-en, is the largest in North America. It also a
Butterfly House, Earthways centre, etc.
7. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden
The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, also called the
Calcutta Botanical Garden, is in Shibpur, Howrah, near Kolkata. This
109 hectare garden has 12,000 specimens of rare plants. One of its major
attractions is The Great Banyan with an almost half kilometre canopy,
which looks more like a forest than a single tree, with 3300 areal
roots, as it lives without the main trunk.
6. Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum
The Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum is a 43 hectare
botanical garden, located in Berlin, Germany. It has 22,000 different
plant species, including some orchids, white water lilies and
carnivorous plants. Among its tropical plants is a giant bamboo. This
stunning garden has a large herbarium and a scientific library attached
to it. The complex has buildings and glasshouses.
5. Kew Botanical Gardens
The Kew Gardens is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon
Thames, UK. This exotic garden at Kew Park is the world’s largest
collection of living plants, including over 30,000 kinds of plants. Its
herbarium, with 7 million preserved specimens, is the world’s largest.
Its main is the eco-friendly Davies Alpine House. This UNESCO World
Heritage Site even has its own police force.
4. Singapore Botanic Garden
The 74 hectare Singapore Botanic Gardens in Singapore is the only
botanic garden that stays open from 5am to 12 midnight, every day. Its
attractions include Rainforest, Botany Centre and Tanglin Gate, Jacob
Ballas Children’s Gardens and other gardens, three lakes, statues, the
Saraca Stream meandering down a hill, etc. It has the Tembusu tree, seen
on the Singaporean five-dollar bill.
3. Jardin Botanique de Montreal
The Montreal Botanical Garden is a botanical garden in Quebec, Canada,
with 75 hectares of thematic gardens and greenhouses. Due to the extent
of its facilities and collection, it is one considered one of the
world’s most important botanic gardens. It has four gardens, and the
Chinese Garden is the largest one of its kind outside China. Another
attraction here is the Lion monument.
2. Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden
The Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden is a 500-acre botanical garden
located near 163 on Sukhumvit Road in Chonburi Province, Thailand. It is
a famous tourist attraction, as well as a major scientific centre which
is dedicated to Cycads, with Cycads from Southeast Asia, Tropical
America and Central Africa, and its own Cycad genebank. It has various
gardens, ant tower, butterfly hill, etc.
1. Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden is located in the Zona Sul of Rio de
Janeiro, at the foot of the Corcovado Mountain, in the Jardim Botânico,
a district which got its name from the botanical garden, instead of the
other way round, as it grew around this stunning garden. The UNESCO
designated biosphere reserve of 140 hectares has 6,500 species, and many
important monuments.
With the depletion of greenery from the face of the earth on the rise, these botanical gardens, and the many others in the world,
do their best in preserving and cultivating foreign as well as
indigenous plants. Besides, in the midst of pollution and chaos of the
cities, these botanical gardens provide a stretch of land that sooth the
senses, ease tension, and offer clean air to breathe in.
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