One of the benefits of traveling to a new place is observing the plants native to that region. With each new environment and climate, welcomes a new exotic flower, and you can bet that every city or town has a botanical garden waiting to be visited. In the spirit of travel and enjoying flowers, we’ve compiled the world’s most beautiful arboretums and greenhouses that are sprawling with acres of antique and marble pathways, ornate water statues, endless rows of wildflowers and other beautiful formations.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The Montreal Botanical Garden is perhaps one of the largest gardens in the world with a sprawling 75 hectares filled with 22,000 plant species separated into gardens, greenhouses, domes and insectariums. As many visitors frequent this landmark in the region’s cool temperatures, the gardens and greenhouses harvest plants suitable to live amongst the cold. For example, the “garden of weedlessness” features hundreds of penjiings, or potted plants, inspired by japanese bonsai traditions.
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
The Desert Botanical Garden dispels myths about lifelessness in the desert. For succulent enthusiasts, this is your mecca, as the garden’s living collections contain more than 4,000 species and approximately 27,650 individual plants. As you may have guessed, the garden is home to many different species of cactus and is the #1 research and conservation center for the plant.
Bogotá, Colombia
The botanical gardens of Bogota, Colombia naturally attracts visitors who wish to study and observe paradise upclose. It features plants from every different altitude, climate and region, including hosting over 5,000 species of America’s most valued home plant, the orchid. The garden also maintains 5 special collections dedicated to the conservation of Andean plants in danger of extinction, including the bromeliads, also known as the pineapple plant species that are shaped like the fruit and also related to the succulent family!
Paris, France
The royal botanical garden in Paris, France is perhaps one of the most frequented places to visit in Paris and one of the oldest in the world. It was built in the early 1600s under King Louis XIII and the gardens and greenhouses are inspired by the garden of eden and the biblical descriptions of paradise. Most recently, a rose garden was added in the late 90s and there are about 190 species of this plant present in the greenhouse garden. Not to mention, there are a dozens of species of the Iris flower, also known as the climbing plant, which serves as the perfect embellishment for parisian structures and buildings we all crave to see at least once in a lifetime. In addition to the beautiful flowers, there are a series of mythical statues on the ground, including the lion fountain which was sculpted in 1854 by naturalist sculptor Henri Alfred Jacquemart.
Na Chom Thian, Thailand Thailand
The Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Gardens in Pattaya City, Thailand is a 500 acres of southeast asian oasis. It is a major research center and home for the cycad plant species, which have seeded long stouts and are endangered to become extinct. These plants are said to have been around for 340 million- that’s older than dinosaurs! Plus, they are attractive to poachers because they are like rare, first edition stamps. One missing plant can have a 10,000 rand (500,000 euro) reward if found illegally. They are durable; they can be left unplanted from the ground for months and replanted, and a long stem can take a millennium to grow. Needless to say, lovers of Cycad plants, the Nong Nooch is your dream garden.
Tokyo, Japan
No other region does japanese gardens better than the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens in Tokyo, Japan. The home to mystical Japanese maple trees, visitors are instantly enamored by the large scale green structures whose thick branches spiral into zigzag formations as they grow. This garden is also home to some of the oldest trees in the world. If you are a fan of the annual cherry blossom festival that takes place in Washington DC, you will be excited to see these white and pink cherubs in their natural habitat.