A long way from Longwood to the Tbilisi National Botanical Garden of Georgia

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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