Baldha Garden is an enriched botanical garden which spans 3.15 acres of land located at Wari in the old part of the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is one of the oldest botanical gardens established in this part of Bengal by a private individual. Baldha Garden is a attractive tourist destination of Dhaka not only for enjoying the prodigious beauty but also for rich collection of 672 species of plants. Although relatively small in size, it is an exciting place for naturalists and tourists to visit.[1] The Baldah Garden is now managed as a satellite unit of the National Botanical Garden by the Department of Forestry.
History
The naturalist, philanthropist and poet Narendra Narayan Roy Chaudhury, landlord of the Estate of Baldah, established the garden on his own property in 1909. It is divided into two units. The larger unit is named Cybele after the Greek nature goddess of fertility. It is roughly rectangular, with the northern side slightly cutting a corner, and measures about 136 meters in length and 76 meters in width. The smaller unit, Psyche meaning 'soul', is approximately 100 meters long and 45 meter wide. Chaudhury passionately enriched the garden with rare plant species collected from different parts of the world until his death in 1943, when further expansion of the garden came to a halt. This situation continued until 1962, when the garden was handed over to the government of East Pakistan and the Forestry Department took charge of managing the garden. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the Department of Forestry of the new government began to work with renewed vigor for its improvement, with the result that most of its past glory has now been restored with the addition of two new greenhouses and modernization of civil amenities inside the garden.
collection
The collection of the garden is classified into seven categories - orchids, cacti, conservatory plants, aquatic plants, roses, rockery and wall plants, arboretum, and miscellaneous flora. The garden houses 2,500 orchids, 3,200 cactuses, 3,000 ornamental trees, 2,200 aquatic plants, 400 creepers, 5,800 bushes and 500 trees. It also has some rare varieties of plants.. The garden has about 15,000 plants representing 672 species. Many of these are exotic and rare plants; perhaps the richest collection of exotic plants in the country is housed in the Baldah Garden.
Features
The flora of the garden represents collections from over 50 different countries. The garden has among its attractions the 'century plant' which is believed to flower only once in a hundred years, and was seen in bloom a few years back. The Adansonia digitata tree which adorns the garden is historical. Central African aborigines used to seal their deads in holes dug into the cavity of the tree in order to mummify the body long before the days of the Pharaohs.
There is a big sundial in the Cybele unit of the garden which shows the time of the day with precision on sunny days and is still a surprise attraction to the visitors, particularly children. To enjoy the floristic beauty of the garden a rest house-cum amphitheatre, called the Joy House, was built in the garden. To enjoy the floristic beauty of the garden a rest house-cum amphitheater, called the Joy House, was built in the garden. It has been visited by many celebrities, including the poet Rabindranath Tagore whose poem 'Camellia', a plant introduced from Japan, was actually written while he was staying in the Joy House. The Psyche unit of the garden houses several varieties of the aquatic plant Nymphea pubescens, the national flower of Bangladesh which is called 'shapla' in Bangla, maintained in a section of the garden known as the 'Shapla House'. The rose garden in Cybele is famous throughout the subcontinent for its rich collection of roses. One of the two greenhouses has rich collections of orchids, aroids and conservatory plants.
Apprehension
Nowadays Baldha Garden stands threatened because of pollution, sunlight obstruction by high rises around and negligence of the authorities. A number of high rises, some are still under construction, obstruct the sunlight from reaching the garden, arresting the growth of and causing damage in rare plants. The stairs of the lily pond, pathways, and two-storey tower house inside the garden are in a poor state. Litters dropping from the high rises near by also clog the drainage system during rainy season.[4]
Visit
Baldha Garden remains open between 8 am and 4 pm. Public entry to Psyche is restricted. Ticket price for individual is Tk.5/- only.
Comments