Dominica Botanic Gardens
Forty acres of gardens laid out from 1890 below Morne Bruce, used for national cultural events.
The Botanic Gardens occupy some forty acres of sloping ground at the foot of Morne Bruce, on land bought by the colonial government from the Bath Estate in 1889. Planting began in 1890 under the direction of Kew, the aim being to raise and distribute properly propagated seedlings of economic crops to Dominican farmers. The gardens opened in 1891 and remain the largest open space in Roseau, with lawns, avenues of palms and specimen trees from across the tropics.
A yellow school bus crushed by a falling African baobab during Hurricane David in 1979 has been left where it lies as a memorial to the storm. An aviary in the grounds keeps the endemic sisserou, Amazona imperialis, which appears on the national flag, and the red-necked jaco. Hurricane Maria in 2017 destroyed much of the mature planting, and replacement continues. The gardens serve as the main outdoor venue for Dominica's independence and cultural programme each autumn.
Highlights
- Laid out from 1890 on the Bath Estate to supply seedlings to island farmers
- School bus crushed by a baobab in Hurricane David in 1979, left in place
- Aviary holding the endemic sisserou parrot, the national bird
- Main outdoor venue for the annual independence and cultural programme
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
