With spring bringing blossoming gardens, enticing visitors to botanical
gardens in the Northern Hemisphere, I noticed that the Longwood Gardens in
Pennsylvania, America, was voted the best botanical garden by 10Best.com and
USA TODAY readers (April 2016).
Longwood Gardens is huge. It is 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and
meadows with about 11,000 different plants. It has indoor spaces, such as the
Orchid House, and large areas of woods and trees. Established in 1798, it
attracts over a million visitors each year, at a cost of $20-$27 per person for
entry. It has 17 core collections, such as orchids, bonsai, azalea, lilacs,
ferns, and camellia.
This compares to the 98 hectares (about 240 acres) of the botanical gardens
in Tbilisi, which I walk around at least once a week when I am in Georgia, at
an entry cost of about $1 (less in winter). It is officially called the
National Botanical Garden of Georgia (NBGG), nestled in a narrow valley with a
river and waterfalls. It was established in 1625 as the king’s garden and was
officially opened to the public in 1845.
The National Botanical Garden of Georgia has an extensive tree section with
trees from China, the Himalayas, Japan, North America, Turkey, Siberia, and the
Meditteranean. In fact it is well known in the region for its trees, especially
its cedar grove.
While it is a rambling network of paths, with few garden beds, there are
neverthless waterlily ponds, and areas with flowers, as well as wild flowers
growing throughout the park. It is currently establishing an Orangery, which is
yet to open.
MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:-
The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends
(2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan
Curse (2009).
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