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Most Amazing Botanical Gardens (Top 10)
Botanical Garden
A botanical garden, also known as a botanic garden, is a garden that has a collection of living plants. These gardens serve the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display, and education. Botanical gardens can have special collections of plants like cacti, succulent plants, herb gardens, or plants from specific regions.
They may also have greenhouses and shade houses with collections of tropical plants, alpine plants, or other plants. Many botanical gardens are open to the public and offer guided tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, outdoor performances, and other forms of entertainment.
Botanical gardens are beautiful places that showcase nature’s diverse collection of plants and flowers from all over the globe. Whether you love nature or seek a peaceful retreat, visiting a botanical garden is a must. To help you plan your next adventure, RNN has compiled a list of incredible botanical gardens worth exploring.
Most Amazing Botanical Gardens
1. Montreal Botanical Garden
The Montreal Botanical Garden is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Canada. It has gardens and greenhouses covering 75 hectares. It is considered one of the most important botanical gardens in the world and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. The garden was founded in 1931 and serves to educate the public, conserve plant species, and conduct botanical research.
It is part of the Space for Life museum district, along with the Biodome, Insectarium, and Planetarium. The garden features different themed gardens, including a Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, First Nations Garden, and Alpine Garden, among others. It also has exhibits on poisonous plants and economic plants.
2. Singapore Botanic Gardens
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a tropical garden in Singapore, known for being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Asia’s top park attraction. It was founded in 1859 and played a key role in the rubber trade boom. The National Orchid Garden, located within the Botanic Gardens, is a pioneer in orchid studies and houses a large collection of orchid species.
The gardens helped transform Singapore into a tropical “Garden City” and the national flower is a hybrid climbing orchid. The gardens are open daily and free to enter, except for the National Orchid Garden. It receives about 4.5 million visitors annually and has over 10,000 species of flora.
3. Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro
Jardim Botânico is a wealthy residential neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Unlike other neighborhoods in the city, Jardim Botânico has many large detached houses.
It is also where many Brazilian celebrities live and is the headquarters of Rede Globo, a nationwide television network. The main road in the area is Rua Jardim Botanico, which leads to the Tijuca Forest. The neighborhood is famous for hosting the carnival bloc called “Suvaco do Cristo” (Armpit of the Christ) because it is located beneath Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.
4. Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens in southwest London is a renowned botanic garden with the world’s largest and most diverse plant and fungus collections. It was founded in 1840 and houses over 27,000 species of plants. The gardens also have a vast herbarium with more than 8.5 million preserved specimens. Additionally, there is a library with over 750,000 volumes and an illustrations collection with over 175,000 prints and drawings of plants.
The site spans 132 hectares and includes gardens, glasshouses, and historic buildings. Kew Gardens even has its own police force, the Kew Constabulary, which has been operating since 1845.
5. Butchart Gardens
The Butchart Gardens are beautiful flower gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada. They are close to Victoria on Vancouver Island and attract over a million visitors annually. These gardens are recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada.
6. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden located in Brooklyn, New York City. The garden spans 52 acres (21 hectares) and features a diverse collection of over 14,000 plant species.
With almost one million visitors annually, it offers various specialized gardens, plant collections, the Steinhardt Conservatory (home to the C. V. Starr Bonsai Museum), three climate-themed plant pavilions, a beautiful aquatic plant house made of white cast-iron and glass, and an art gallery.
7. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Melbourne Gardens was established in 1846 as a botanic garden on the south side of the Yarra River. It covers an area of 38 hectares (94 acres) with trees, gardens, lakes, and lawns. The garden showcases nearly 50,000 plants from 8,500 different species, organized into 30 plant collections.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is home to the State Botanical Collection, which is located in the National Herbarium of Victoria. This collection houses 1.5 million preserved plants, algae, and fungi, making it the largest herbarium collection in Australia and Oceania. Additionally, the garden features Australia’s most extensive botanical library.
8. Atlanta Botanical Garden
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is a 30-acre botanical garden in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. It was established in 1976 with a mission to display, educate, conserve, research, and provide enjoyment through plant collections. Visit the garden in Midtown to experience a magical and peaceful atmosphere.
Don’t miss the largest orchid collection in the country, located in the Fuqua Orchid Center.
9. Chicago Botanic Garden
The Chicago Botanic Garden is a big plant museum in Cook County Forest Preserves. It has 27 gardens in different habitats and covers 385 acres. You can visit the garden every day, but from 2022 onwards, there will be a fee of up to $35.
Since 1972, the garden has been offering classes and certificate programs through the Joseph Regenstein Jr. School. It has the most members of any public garden in the US, with 50,000 members. Additionally, it ranks as the 7th largest cultural institution in Chicago and the 12th most popular tourist attraction.
10. Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, Thailand
Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in Thailand is a popular tourist spot and scientific center. It covers an area of 500 acres (2.0 km2) and is located at kilometer 163 on Sukhumvit Road in Chonburi Province. You can get there by bus, taxi, or private transportation. The garden was originally meant to be a fruit plantation but was transformed into a wildlife conservation project focusing on tropical flowers and plants.
Noong Garden has a Cycad Gene Bank and occupies 500 acres (2.4 km2) of the total 600 acres (2.4 km2).