Hakgala Botanical Garden

On your holiday trip to Sri Lanka, you must visit Hakgala Botanical Gardens situated near Nuwara Eliya. This botanical garden is definitely interesting not only to the botanist but also to the layman. Because of the tropical climate and huge diversity in the topography tropical and sub-tropical trees grow here with abandon. The plentiful underbrush and tall trees of the tropical forest contrast sharply with the arid scrub land and talipot palms of the dry north. You will be able to see varieties like the almost treeless patnas of Horton Plains to the dark forests, wreathed with the Old Man's Beard Moss. Other exotic varieties are Poincianan regia, the white Mesua ferrera and the cherry blossom-like Tebebuia, Vanda and Wesak Orchids. Masses of Na Tree (Mesua nagassarium) and the BlueWater Lily (Nymphaea stellatacas) are found here. The borders of several estuaries and lagoons provide several fishing spots and other resources related to fishery.
Hakgala Botanical Gardens site has a legend attached to it. According to the legend, it was the pleasure garden of King Ravana of the epic Ramayana, and it may have been the place where Sita, the consort of Lord Ram, was hidden. In 1860, the botanic gardens in its present form were founded by the distinguished British botanist Dr. G.H.K. Thwaites.
Hakgala Botanical Gardens is suitable for decorative and more useful temperate zone plants. There is an huge array of pine trees here. You will be able to see conifers and cedars from Australia, Bermuda and Japan, and cypresses from the Himalayas, China, Persia, Mexico and California. The botanical garden has an English oak as well as a camphor tree. Camphor trees are usually found in regions above 12,000m above the sea level.
Hakgala Botanical Garden as an extensive rose garden where you will be able to see and admire the infinite varieties. Montane orchids too have their home in this garden, there are also infinite varieties of orchids here.

Location and climate

Hakgala Botanical Garden is situated on the Nuwara Eliya-Badulla main road, 16 km from Nuwara Eliya. The garden has a cool temperate climate because of altitude is 5,400 feet above the sea level. The mean annual temperature ranges between 16°C to 30°C during course of a year. From December to February it has a cold climate, while the warm climate persists from April to August.

History

Garden established in 1861 as an experimental cultivation of Cinchona, a commercial crop thriving at the time. Once after the Tea replace the Cinchona, it was turned into an experimental Tea cultivation. In 1884 it transformed to a garden since then many sub tropical and some temperate plants were planted in the gardens.

Folklore

In the folklores, it says Sri Lankan demon King Ravana after abducting Sita, kept her hidden in this area and area was offered to Sita as a pleasure garden, the place finds mention in the Ramayana as Ashok Vatika.The area was named as "Sita Eliya" and "Sita Amman Temple" was built on the site.

Visitor attraction

There are over 10,000 species of flora planted here and during the Spring season in Nuwara Eliya thousands of visitors come to see the blooms here. Number of annual visitors is around 500,000.^[The garden is famous for number of species of Orchids and Roses are planted there.