Sri Lanka is a garden island set in the Indian Ocean – a fertile isle lush with tropical vegetation and colourful foliage, rolling hills of green tea bushes, valleys flush with trees bearing exotic fruits, and paddy fields of plenty glistening in the morning sun. And in this island Eden, there are many gardens designed by man nurturing nature, the grandest of all being The Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens near Kandy.
The Gardens’ claim to royal status goes back to the reign of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-80) when it was a royal residence and park. It formally became a botanical garden in 1821 when the redoubtable Edward Barnes was governor. The first tea seedlings to be grown in Ceylon were planted there at Barnes’s command in 1824.
The gardens consist of nearly 61ha dedicated to the flora of Sri Lanka with a spectacular arboretum [20] that includes many endemic trees. There are over 110 endemic plants as well as major collections of palms, bamboo [13], and cacti [32], flowers and orchids in a delightful orchid house[29]. There are more than 200,000 dried and preserved specimens in the herbarium [18] collected during the two centuries of the garden’s existence. There is also a biotechnology laboratory engaged in the mass propagation of ornamental, rare and endemic plants. A striking feature is the avenue of Royal Palms [24] begun in 1905. In the medicinal herb garden [12] grow samples of some of the herbs used in Ayurveda medicine.
The entire area of the gardens is embraced by the Mahaweli River, curving around it like an elbow. At an altitude of 550m, it has a mean temperature of around 26 degrees.
A visit there is to experience the tropical tranquillity of nature’s wondrous beauty.
Interactive map of the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, Kandy.
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Sri Lanka Guru Tips
Getting there. By train to Kandy then bus or tuk-tuk (check the price first with several drivers and negotiate until you and the driver are happy); it’s 6.5km south of the station on the Colombo road. By road from Colombo, the entrance to the gardens is on the left opposite the Peradeniya Resthouse.
Getting around. A four-hour ramble makes a pleasant afternoon break when it’s cooler than at the height of the day. There is a cafeteria and a souvenir shop near the entrance. [1]
