Jamaica's Garden Parish
Friday July 4, 2008
Adapted from St. Ann Chamber of Commerce Travel Guide 2007
Bringing to mind visions of a Utopian Garden, St. Ann is often called the “Garden Parish”. Nature has bestowed its generosity on these lands, displaying throughout the area a myriad of brilliant tropical flowers and foliage.
Upon experiencing St. Ann, visitors often wonder at the diversity of such luxuriant growth. Jamaica is home to over 3,000 different kinds of native flowering plants, of which 1,000 are endemic and more than 200 are species of orchids.
So diverse and rare is much of the plan life that Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden of Miami-Dade County, Florida, conducts extensive research on the island, rediscovering and preserving “lost” plants now found only in Jamaica.
As rare as are many of these plants, so too, is the feeling of enchantment experienced while traversing the lush greenery of the gardens.
A prime example of Jamaica’s unique gardens is the area known as Fern Gully. Dry riverbed once meandered through a canyon near Ocho Rios providing the fertile ground, where, in the late 1800s, nearly 200 species of ferns were planted. Today, this verdant canopy of over 500 species of ferns and other plants often causes visitors to speak in whispers so as not to disturb the mystical feel of the surroundings.
Shaw Park Botanical Gardens, high on a hilltop overlooking Ocho Rios, is a tropical garden not to be missed with lawns and terraces tumbling down the hillside. A sparkling stream complements the vast array of decorative shrubs, roses and native and imported trees.
Located on Jamaica’s north coast at Laughlands in St. Ann, Cranbrook Flower Forest is a special attraction, with eco-tourism s its theme. Exotic gardens, lawns, water pools and a tropical rainforest provide relaxation and discovery in this forest.
Still more breathtaking views await at Coyaba River Garden and Museum, an elegantl sculpted botanic garden. A serene water garden is fed by streams as waterfalls flow through the cool and quiet forest, surrounded by ferns, jade vines, ginger, bamboo and orchids galore.
Be sure to visit Turtle River Park, in downtown Ocho Rios, a delightful spot for kid’s parties, family outings and wedding ceremonies.
As one wanders amidst the vivid flora and dense greenery that make up the fertile gardens of this area, it comes as no surprise that St. Ann is known as the “Garden Parish”.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]