Sim's Park is in

Coonoor Coonoor (), is a taluk and a municipal town of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 45,494. The town sits at the south-east corner of the Nilgiri plateau, and at the head of the Coonoo ...

, The Nilgiris,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. It is an important tourist place to visit in

, at a height of 1780 meters above mean sea level. Here the maximum temperature goes up to 28 degree Celsius and the minimum falls to 5 °C. The average rain fall of this garden is 150 cm. It extends over an area of 12 hectares of undulating land and possesses a number of natural advantages.

Establishment

This is an unusual park-cum-botanical garden that was developed around the natural contours of the land more than a hundred years ago by Mr. J.D. Sims and Major Murray in the year of 1874. Naturally occurring trees, shrubs and creepers are in the park as are many unusual species of plants that have been brought in from a variety of places around the world. The main event in this park is an annual fruit show and vegetable show held in May.

Collections

This is a natural garden. Inside the park are terraces with colorful flower beds,

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

s and rockeries. Some trees, shrubs, creepers and many unusual species of plants naturally occur; others were brought from a variety of places around the world. The garden as some rare economic trees like Rudraksh- bead tree,

Cinnamomum ''Cinnamomum'' is a genus of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The species of ''Cinnamomum'' have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. The genus contains approximately 234 species, distributed in ...

, Queensland karri pine, a handsome ornamental tree and graceful trees like

Araucaria ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. While today they are largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were glo ...

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

, Phoenix,

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

Turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

, Tree ferns,

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

this is all are as many attractions in this park. There is a glass house housing different ornamental plants and flowers. On the other side of the park rose garden are maintained. This park has more than 1000 species of 255 genera belonging to 85 families widely covering different group of plants.

Features

The Nilgiris has a unique tropical mountain climate, so the garden has the ideal climatic conditions for growing flowers and trees. Temperature variation is less and the rainfall distribution is uniform in the locale, which results in a long flowering season. The garden is visited by thousands of tourists throughout the year and even in winter. The natural shola with winding footpaths all over the higher slopes of the park is the most distinctive and picturesque are the main feature of this park. At the head of the gardens the well kept lawns, the artistically laid out ornamental beds, looking beautiful and lacking no wealth of the flowering plants or shrub in great variety and colour are great feasts to the eyes.

External links

* *

References

{{Coord, 11, 21, 19.3, N, 76, 48, 02.0, E, display=title Botanical gardens in India Tourist attractions in Nilgiris district Protected areas of Tamil Nadu Botanical gardens in Tamil Nadu Coonoor Protected areas with year of establishment missing

Establishment

Collections

Features

See also

External links

References