Flower Forest Botanical Gardens is a horticultural park and tourist attraction near the village of Bloomsbury,
Saint Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...
in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
. It is a scenic garden park with attractive
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s and
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
trees
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are u ...
. The property was formerly a sugar plantation.
Flower Forest
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History
Richmond Plantation was redeveloped in the 1980s to become a botanical and tourism resource by a diverse group, notably Don Hill (Barbados Telephone Company), Will Huey (RSPCA), Bertie Graham (Paredos), Richard Coghlan (Layout of the Sandy Lane Hotel grounds, Trevena Gardens), Peter Gilkes (Printersco).
The gardens were purchased from the founding shareholders in 2009 and continue to be a sustainable agricultural development mainly in tourism, privately owned by David Spieler. An amicable transfer, the takeover has allowed many improvements to be initiated.
Botany
Collections of Heliconias
''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...
, ginger lilies, bromeliads
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...
, anthurium lilies, and other tropical flowers presently provide a flowering base underneath tall, indigenous Caribbean Royal palms, which grow wild in the Scotland District of Barbados.
Gardeners
In 2019 Flower Forest employs 4 full-time gardeners, 2 pavilion staff members, and is managed by Angela Hurdle. It is the largest garden in Barbados.[Flower Forest](_blank)
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a plant conservation biology, conservation Charitable organization, charity based in Kew, Surrey, England. It is a membership organisation, working with 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, who ...
See also
* Andromeda Botanic Gardens
Andromeda Botanic Gardens is an botanical garden and a historic cultural attraction in the village of Bathsheba, Saint Joseph in Barbados. It is an authentic garden created by multiple award-winning horticulturalist Iris Bannochie, a female, Ba ...
* Welchman Hall Gully
* Hunte's Gardens
Hunte's Gardens is a botanical garden and significant tourist attraction in the St Joseph Area of central Barbados.
It was created from the 1950s by horticulturist Anthony Hunte in an unusual sinkhole-like gully. It contains a notable recreation ...
* Orchid World
References
Saint Joseph, Barbados
Gardens in Barbados
Parks in Barbados
Botanical gardens in Barbados
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