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Operations | Structure: A Cursory Glance at Gardening

There are four (4) main botanical gardens in Jamaica, three (3) of which I have been. They are namely:

  1. Bath Botanical Gardens - 1 acre founded in 1779
  2. Castleton Botanical Gardens - 25 acres founded in 1862
  3. Cinchona Botanical Gardens - 40 acres founded in 1868
  4. Hope Botanical Gardens - 200 acres founded in 1873

Most of these gardens are situated in the eastern part of the island. Three (3) of the gardens mentioned are in the parish of St. Andrew; two (2) in hills and one (1) in the Liguanea Plains. The smallest garden, Bath Botanical Gardens, is situated in St. Thomas. These gardens were set up in the 18th and 19th century 'as a tool of colonial expansion for trade, commerce and, secondarily, science mainly done by the British and Dutch in India, South East Asia and the Caribbean.'

According to Wikipedia entry for "Botanical garden",

A contemporary botanic garden is a strictly protected natural urban green area, where a managing organization creates landscaped gardens and holds documented collections of living plants and/or preserved plant accessions containing functional units of heredity of actual or potential value for purposes such as scientific research, education, public display, conservation, sustainable use, tourism and recreational activities, production of marketable plant-based products and services for improvement of human well-being.

I am even more keen on the quote cited by that particular page that states,

A botanic garden is an institution holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education.

Most of these gardens started out as a place to do experiments on plants to find their medicinal value. Since the work of scientists in studying any material require structure and organization, this discipline also fostered the artistic display of the gardens. According to one of the articles describing the Cinchona Botanical Gardens, the garden 'was once a wonderland for many European researchers seeking to explore the many species of plants and their medicinal properties.' As for Hope Botanical Gardens (the most popular in the island), it was an 'experimental station for crops that were grown economically in the 1880’s. Some of the crops that were planted are sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, bananas, pineapple, yam, and sweet potato.'

Even though, these gardens are used for recreational and educational purposes today, the main purpose for their establishment was to stimulate trade and commerce in the areas of medicine and nutrition.


Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden

The most impressive botanical garden seems to be Nong Nooch situated in Chonburi Province, Thailand. The organization and structure is amazing. It is really fulfilling when a garden has structure, aesthetics and meaning in the way it is organized.

Since I have a farm of succulent plants (i.e. Aloe Vera), I would prefer to model my farm garden as a field of cacti and succulent plants where the Aloe Vera is decorated by other desert-like plants.

Cacti and Succulent Plants

Patterns and walkway are important. The farm must have a structure that supports good irrigation and sunlight (even some shading from the sunlight) while maintaining aesthetics for people to see and enjoy.

My main aim is not only to develop the farm-garden to produce nutraceutical products but it must also be a place to accommodate and entertain visitors.

Reference

  1. Jamaica's Botanical Gardens by Rebecca Tortello
  2. Parks & Botanical Gardens by Jamaica National Heritage Trust
  3. Jamaica Protected Area Trust

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