Good Morning everyone, hope you’re all doing OK! Our internet finally got installed last Friday (thankfully), it was the first chance the broadband provider (the only one thats available in the area we’re in) had available to set it up for us as from what the guy who installed it said they’ve been even more busier than usual since the Covid-19 Pandemic and the multiple lockdowns we had to endure, so I’m just grateful that we now have internet, as it means I can get back to doing my courses, but more importantly I can focus on my photography again as some of the work I do when it comes to my camera requires an internet connection, which for the past couple of weeks, up until midday last Friday I had no access to (other than the library which is half an hour away) so I’m rather happy and excited to be able to get back to working on my passion again! Speaking of photography, let’s get on with today’s post which might inspire you to visit some picturesque worthy gardens around the world.

Botanical gardens are magical things. Concrete jungles have increased the innate human desire for all things verdant, and spending time surrounded by the flora of all origins has never been more desirable. Where better to enjoy the wonder of flora than at the best botanical gardens in the world? Nowhere better, that’s where. The best botanical gardens in the world are treasure troves of natural beauty and wonder, while they also double up as tremendously educational excursions. Here is a list of some of the best botanical gardens in the world that would not disappoint any plant aficionado!

Botanical Gardens

Singapore Botanical Garden, Singapore

Located in the Singapore Orchard Road shopping district. This 160-year-old tropical garden has it all: spanning over an area of 82-hectares with a linear distance of 2.5 km (1.6 mi). The tropical garden features a section of the city’s primary rainforest, an orchid garden, a ginger garden, and an exhibition on ethnobotany (looking at how plants are rooted in traditional culture and medicine), plus some wise old trees. It even has a pair of swans from Amsterdam, a national flower called Vanda Miss Joaquim, and its own mist garden.

*It’s open every day of the year between 5 am to 12 midnight, which makes it the only botanic garden to have this entry time and is completely free to enter for every age group except for the entry into National Orchid Garden within the central area.*

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, New York

Those searching for a little peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle of New York City would do well to spend a few hours at this verdant oasis. Brooklyn Botanic Garden features thousands of types of flora, laid out over 52 acres. Each spring, crowds descend on the space for the Sakura Matsuri Festival, during which more than 70 trees bloom along the Cherry Esplanade. But equally impressive are serene spots like the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, the first Japanese-inspired garden built in the U.S., and the Shakespeare Garden, brimming with plants (such as primrose and crocuses) mentioned in Bard’s works.

*Situated in the heart of Brooklyn, It’s open all days except for Mondays with a specific time for different days. On days between Tuesday and Friday, the visiting time is 10 am to 4:30 pm and on the weekend, from 10 am to 6 pm.*
The entry fee is:
Adults– $15 (£12.18)
Senior Citizens(+65)– $8 (£6.50)
Children Under 12 and Fridays Before Noon– Free

Nongnooch Tropical Botanical Garden, Thailand

Nongnooch botanical garden is spread over an area of 500-acre on the Sukhumvit Road in Chonburi Province, Thailand. The garden became open to the public in 1980 and since then, has become a significant tourist attraction in Thailand. The sub-division of the total area is done into various gardens, including a French garden, English garden, variegated plants, butterfly hill, flower valley, and many more.

*The garden is open for tourists from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening.*
The entry fee is:
For Thai adults – 200฿ (£4.67) and free for kids.
For all Non-Thai people – 500฿ (£11.69).

Montreal Botanical Garden, Canada

Spanning over an area of 74 hectares Montreal botanical garden consists of a thematic garden and greenhouses. The wide variety of its collection of flora and the facilities that it offers to its visitors is what make it one of the most extensive botanical gardens in the world. The total area features four major gardens within the main area–The Alpine Garden, The Chinese Garden, The Japanese Garden, and The First-Nations Garden. The botanical garden is a part of the Montreal Space For Life. It has a collection of more than 22,000 plant species and cultivars, 10 exhibition greenhouses, a tree house, and more than 20 thematic gardens.

*It’s open every day with different timings – Saturday to Wednesday from 9 am to 6 pm, and 9 am to 7 pm on Thursdays and Fridays.*

Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, United States

This 79-acres herbarium is best known for the Climatron, a geodesic-dome greenhouse with a rainforest-like climate, dense tropical foliage, and a river aquarium teeming with exotic fish. More than 2,800 plants grow inside, including cacao and coffee. It’s rich in its horticulture displays, which include indoor demonstrations and conservatories, and international gardens. Other notable draws include the 14-acre Japanese strolling garden, one of the oldest in the nation, and an 8,000-square-foot glass butterfly conservatory housing more than 60 species of winged beauties and 100 species of exotic flowering plants.

*The garden holds a series of events and also has some dining hotels for the visitors to enjoy. Some of the gardens within the main premises are- Tower Grove House and Herb Garden, Gladney Rose Garden, English Woodland Garden, etc. The hours for admission are 9 am to 5 pm daily.*
Entry fee:
People 13+ – $14 (£11.36)
Kids under 13 go free

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, South Africa

It’s hard to beat a backdrop that includes Table Mountain, and National Park. Nestled into the eastern slopes of South Africa’s most iconic landmark, Kirstenbosch is one of the world’s most biodiverse gardens with more than 7,000 species of plants, most of which are native to the Cape and southern Africa. The sprawling site contains incredible forms of flora and near-endangered plants that have been cultivated since the early 1900s. Explore at ground level or up above along The Boomslang, a treetop walkway with views for days. Don’t leave without visiting the beautiful sculpture garden, which includes a bust of Nelson Mandela and breathtaking Mambo sculptures carved from opal stone.

*The garden is open throughout the year from 8 am to 7 pm in summers, and 8 am to 6 pm during winters.*
Entry fee:
Children above 6-18 – R10 (£0.51)
Adults – R40 (£2.04)
*Children under six are free to enter the premises.*

Butchart Gardens, British Columbia

The Butchart garden is a private entity of the Butchart family for more than a hundred years till now. The garden displays several bronze statues and ornamental birds from around the world. Throughout the summer, special lighting illuminates the gardens, and musical diversion takes place on the Concert field. During spring, thousands of flowering bulbs meticulously margin the garden and the autumn season is the time for fall colors and Dahlias.

*This 55-acre garden encounters over one million visitors each year for its 900 bedding plant varieties and 26 greenhouses. It remains open throughout the year with different timings for every season, click the link here >https://www.butchartgardens.com/hours/< to know the opening hours.*

New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York

The Bronx’s best-known National Historic Landmark was established in 1891 by botanists Nathaniel Lord Britton and his wife, Elizabeth. Inspired by a visit to Kew Gardens, the couple founded their own botanical paradise on the north side of Bronx Park, close to an old-growth forest and the babbling Bronx River. Nearly 130 years and 250 acres later, that picturesque greenspace has morphed into the New York Botanical Garden, the largest city-based botanical garden in the United States. Its 50 specialty gardens feature more than a million plants and 12,000 species, including lilacs and magnolias. Visitors can also discover indoor rain forests, deserts, a river, waterfalls, and rolling green hills.

Entry fee:
Adults (+13) – $20 (£16.23) on weekdays & $25 (£20.29) on weekends
Children (2 to 12) – $8 (£6.49) on weekdays & $10 (£8.11) on weekends
*NYBG remains open on all weekdays from 10 am to 6 pm except on Mondays.*

Kew Gardens, Kew, London

Kew Gardens may be the most famous botanical park in the world and not just because it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. More than 50,000 plants thrive here, including many you’d never expect to find in dreary-gray England. The glasshouse is carved into zones: one is dedicated to carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps; another to dry tropics such as succulents and cactuses; and a third that is humid and tropical enough to grow Victoria Amazonia, the world’s largest water lilies. The property also has a rock garden with a tiered waterfall and an arboretum with 14,000 trees, including giant redwoods and black locusts dating to the 18th century.

*The Gardens remain open all days, at 10 am and close at 7 pm (entry stops at 6 pm) from Monday to Thursday. From Friday to Sunday and on bank holidays, it closes at 8.30 pm (the last entry is 8 pm).*
Opening time changes throughout the year, for more information, visit the official website https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens

Chicago Botanic Garden, Illinois, United States

This botanical garden is a 385-acre living museum on nine islands in the cook county forest preserves. It displays a wide variety of exhibitions in the form of fine photography and artwork with horticulture displays. The garden includes 27 gardens and four natural habitats–The Aquatic Garden, Bonsai Collection, The Bulb Garden, The Grunsfeld Children’s Growing Garden, The Circle Garden, Crescent Garden, and many more.

*Entry to the garden is always free; you will have to pay for the parking only.*
The garden is open every day of the year at different times, visit https://www.chicagobotanic.org/visit/hours

Jardim Botânico, Brazil

Just under the giant Jesus (Cristo Redentor) at the foot of the Corcovado mountain, you’ll find this UNESCO heritage site. The Jardim Botânico offers a fully immersive rainforest experience in the heart of the city with monkeys, palm trees, and over 140 species of exotic birds. While there are conservatories and curated areas, only 40 percent of the plants here are cultivated, with the rest of the space populated by natural vegetation and organic forest from the mountain. And though it’s the garden’s Avenue of Royal Palms that surfaces repeatedly on Instagram, its rare bromeliads and traditional Japanese garden are not to be missed.

*The opening hours for Mondays are 12 pm to 6 pm, and for other days it remains open from 8 am to 6 pm.*
The entry fee for different age groups lies between 7 to 15 Reals (£1.14 – £2.44).

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia

Sydney’s 158-acre botanic garden, which hugs the harbor between Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair and the Sydney Opera House, is home to nearly 9,000 plant species. Depending on the season of your visit, you might seek out spring peaches and wisteria or tropical orchids and summer lotus flowers. On any occasion, don’t miss descendants of the 200-million-year-old Wollemi pine, a dinosaur of a conifer only discovered in 1994. The gardens are also studded with sculptures from historical statues to modern works by Bronwyn Oliver, Paul Selwood, and Keld Moseholm. The quartz-and-sandstone Wurrungwuri depicts an Aboriginal shield once used by the traditional owners of this land. Tours are offered throughout the year, including a 1.5-hour Aboriginal history tour on the food and medicinal properties of native Australian plants.

*Entry for every age group is free for all the people around the world, and it opens daily from 7 am to 6 pm.*

Desert Botanical Garden, Arizona, United States

Snuggled into the dusty red rocks of the Papago Buttes, the 140-acre Desert Botanical Garden has more than 50,000 arid plants and 4,482 species in its unique collection. Of those, 379 species are rare and endangered. In existence for 81 years, the garden has gotten creative with its programming, offering desert landscaping classes for homeowners and five themed hiking trails that are especially nice for families. Pick up the Sonoran Desert Nature Loop to learn how the region’s Tohono O’odham and Western Apache people used native plants, or hop on the Desert Wildflower Loop to see hummingbirds darting amid the cactuses.

Usual admission fee:
For adults – Prices range from $24.95 – $29.95 (£20.25 – £24.31)
For youth (3 to 17) – Prices range between $12.95 – $15.95. (£10.51 – £12.94
*It opens at 8 am daily with a restriction on the last entry at 4 pm.*

Keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands

Located in Lisse, Netherlands, Keukenhof is the world’s largest flower garden. Its name translates to “Kitchen Garden” in English and is also known as the Garden of Europe. This popular attraction features more than 7 million flower bulbs, which are planted in the garden each year. Keukenhofencompasses 32 hectares of land. Although the garden is open for a short time, it is well worth planning your trip to coincide with this stunning event. This spectacular showcase of 7 million tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Throughout Keukenhof, tourists will find a wide range of different gardens and styles. The English garden features charming winding paths, while the Historical Garden is enclosed and features a variety of different bulbs. Many areas of the park also include water gardens, fountains, and ponds.

*Keukenhof is only open for a few short weeks each year. Typically, the garden opens in late March and closes in the latter part of May. During this time, Keukenhof is open daily from 8AM until 7:30PM, including public holidays.*
Ticket prices:
Adult (18+) – €19.00 (£16.22)
Kids (4-17) – €9.00 (£7.68)
Children 3 and under go free
Day ticket parking – €6.00 (£5.12)

The Dallas Arboretum Garden, Dallas, United States

The Dallas Arboretum garden escalates over 66-acres of land in Garland Road, East Dallas, Texas. It holds the award for being one of the best South Botanical Gardens. It’s the premier place to visit once you enter Dallas and it holds a specialty in organizing a wedding and private events year-round. During summers, you can enjoy outdoor concerts and water features with numerous water displays.

*It opens seven days a week and Wednesday nights until 8 pm between March and October.*
The prices to enter the main garden ranges from $10 (£8.11) to $15 (£12.17) excluding the parking.

Visiting a botanical garden is one of the most breathtaking adventures that one could experience. Taking a walk along the pavilions of botanical gardens has therapeutic effects and provides a good learning experience as well. The gardens also serve as scenic landscapes for photography lovers and the memories created are bound to remain beautiful forever. There are hundreds of botanical gardens around the world, each perfectly unique. The best botanical gardens in the world have green havens for plant lovers to come together, learn about plants, improve their green thumb and just admire the astonishing variety of flora on display. For many people, especially nature lovers there’s nothing better than spending a relaxing afternoon strolling the grounds of a curated botanical garden, immersed in the fascinating plant world.

Thank you for coming to my blog and reading today’s post! I hope you all have a lovely week and get to enjoy the warm weather (fingers crossed it stays sunny the rest of the week), and I shall see you next Wednesday.