Although all of Jamaica is a luxurious and vibrant explosion of tropical plant beauty, however, the Ultimate Jamaica All Inclusive Experience only has to include a visit to one of Jamaica’s extraordinary arboretums. Each of Jamaica’s four Botanic Gardens has its own distinct aura, and each offers the visitor a unique experience. The easiest botanical garden to get to is in downtown Kingston. Hope Gardens evokes postcard photographs of a 1950s public park: chic and slightly suburban and filled with exotics and local favorites like marigolds and lantana. Castleton Gardens, on the other hand, glamorously recalls the golden age of tourism in Jamaica when millionaires arrived on their own yachts before the island of Jamaica gave way to mass tourism. Castleton Gardens is traversed through clever cobbled paths that lead from one side to the other, under tall palm canopies and streamers of hanging orchids. Castleton Gardens is famous for its terraced tropical lushness dotted here and there with ornamental ponds.
The Bath Botanical Garden was established in 1779 on the southeast side of Jamaica. It is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. His first collections were increased during the Anglo-French War with the capture of a French ship sailing from Mauritius carrying a cargo of foreign fruit trees, brindonne, carambola, jackfruit, June plums, cinnamon and other spices. The proudest collection of the Bath Botanic Gardens are the breadfruit trees brought back from Tahiti by Captain William Bligh in 1793, on a second voyage after his first attempt was thwarted by the mutiny on his ship Bounty led by Fletcher Christian. . The Bath Botanic Gardens is located away from Jamaica’s crowded tourist hubs, in a quaint village of ramshackle historic houses that once housed a modern hot springs spa. These springs were originally enjoyed by the likes of the 17th century pirate king Henry Morgan. Entering the Victorian-style iron front gate of the Bath Arboretum, the visitor is immediately struck by the sentinels of royal palms, the Philippine Christmas palm, the Indonesian ylang ylang, two tropical dragon blood trees and a 230 year old tree. Asian Barringtonia. The collection of breadfruit trees is descended from the original 346 trees brought by Captain William Bligh from Tahiti; and since breadfruit is propagated by clones rather than seeds, most breadfruit trees throughout the Caribbean are descendants of these trees. With its fabulous tropical flower gardens, the Bath Botanic Garden is a plant lover’s paradise.
Cinchona Gardens is located at the top of Jamaica, at an elevation of 5,000 feet, and no all-inclusive vacation to Jamaica should miss seeing this fabulous attraction. The clouds sprout from the lower, green and distant tropical valleys. The garden was originally envisioned in 1862 to be a 600-acre plantation of cinchona trees, from which quinine, an anti-malarial drug, is derived. When the East Indies got ahead of this production, the plan was changed to grow temperate tropical plants. Upon entering Cinchona Gardens you are immediately confronted with lovely trimmed beds of begonias, daylilies and geraniums. Walking leisurely through the garden, the visitor is impressed by the coniferous forest of Japanese cedar, and the Lost World Fern Boulevard. Its highly diversified and high-altitude collection makes a visit to Cinchona Gardens an unforgettable adventure.
