Saint Vincent Botanic Gardens
Founded in 1765, the oldest botanic garden in the western hemisphere, with a parrot aviary.
The Botanic Gardens lie about a mile from central Kingstown on the Leeward Highway, on ground set aside in 1765 on the instruction of General Robert Melville, then governor of the Southern Caribbee Islands. They were laid out to raise plants of economic value for the region and are generally recognised as the oldest botanic garden in the western hemisphere. The grounds now cover some twenty acres of lawns, avenues and specimen trees, with a curator's house and older stone walls surviving from the colonial establishment.
The gardens are closely linked to the breadfruit, which Captain William Bligh landed here from the Pacific in 1793 aboard HMS Providence for planting as food for enslaved labourers; a tree grown from the original stock is pointed out to visitors. Collections include palms, cannonball trees, orchids and other tropical species. An aviary within the grounds breeds the Saint Vincent parrot, Amazona guildingii, the national bird, and the gardens are used for school visits, guided walks and occasional national ceremonies.
Highlights
- Established in 1765, the oldest botanic garden in the western hemisphere
- Breadfruit descended from the stock landed by Captain Bligh in 1793
- Aviary breeding the endemic Saint Vincent parrot, Amazona guildingii
- Twenty acres of specimen trees, palms and orchids with guided walks
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