INTERESTING GARDENS OF THE CARIBBEAN

On our little tour we visited two islands with particular interest in gardens of the Caribbean. This would include Grenada known as the "Spice Island" because of its nutmeg,mace,vanilla,cocoa and other spices. St Kitts which has really become a resort destination and has over taken its sugar crop which was its traditional crop dating back to the 17th century.

We will start with Grenada which is the most southerly of the windward islands and has a gorgeous mountain interior and has many lush forests,and cascading rivers. If you are a hiker or a nature lover you would enjoy the trails in the national parks everything from dry tropical forests,mangroves on the coast and lush rainforests. However on this day my wife and I and a few friends decided to visit one of the beautiful gardens of the Carribbean known as Sunnyside Gardens.

This I believe is one of the best kept secrets of the islands and since we were on a cruise this beautiful garden of the Carribbean was located approximately twenty minutes from the ship by van.It is a very easy trip to arrive at SunnySide Gardens but the gardens are not open to the general public and either you make reservations through your cruise line or through one of the tour operators located on Grenada.

As you enter the garden one of the most striking aspects is the array of well placed shrubs and flowers surrounding a palm tree setting as shown here on the left. We were met by the son of the lady who is responsible for the results found in the gardens of the Carribbean.

She was apparently not available so the son was a stand in for the mother. I must say he did an admirable job but was a little short on being able to identify some of the unique flowers and plants in the garden. I will briefly acknowledge some of the ones that were identified and you can just enjoy the pictures of the rest of the garden.

This palm has acquired its name from the amount of water held in the stalks of the palm tree. The gentleman demonstrated this by poking several holes in one of the very tall stalks and then proceeded to pump it like one would pump an old fashion well pump. The water spew out as if it were coming from a faucet. I guess if you were in need of water this definitely be a great find.

Now here is a very curious design attribute using Zoysia grass in the gardens of the carribbean. This grass is grown throughout the garden and in most cases is kept short but here it was allowed to grow into mounding heaps of soft yet beautiful grass resembling flowing waves of grass and even taking on the thought of a knot garden which I have discussed in a previous area of this site. see more information regarding knot gardens Zoysia grass is apparently very drought tolerant and very lush and velvety with a low maintainence requirement. I was even surprised to find out it is quite tolerant of cold weather and able to endure temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees. I doubt they need worry about that on Grenada but it does make a great contrast in the lawn. This Pictured below.

The African tulip tree is very well known throughout the tropical world. It is native to West Kenya and Uganda but is found here in the flowers of the caribbean in the Sunnyside garden. The major attraction of this plant is its large softball like bell shaped orange and red flowers. These beautiful african tulip tree flowers are at their best during late winter. This tree grows as wide as it grows tall and can reach heights of sixty feet in its homelands. The height elsewhere is not as large and can only be grown in the warmer parts of zone 10. It is sometimes referred to as the fire tree,flame of the forest or fountain tree. It certainly is quit a speciman in this Carribean garden spot.

These other excellent views of the flowers of the Caribbean in the Sunnyside gardens of Grenada a great and inspiring place to visit. If you are going to book a trip to this part of the world and enjoy viewing other type garden designs and flowers then this place is for you.

We had the opportunity to take a two and half tour of a rainforest on St Kitts including some additional gardens of the Caribbean. It was an interesting tour with a very knowledgeable guide. This walk was not for the faint of heart since it included navigating on rocks across several streams. It was very difficult to take notes or even camera shoot under these circumstances but nevertheless some shots were managed. The interesting thing about the whole tour was the lack of bugs or mosquitoes as we tramped through the forest.

Here,before entering the rainforest,we entered a small garden and I do have to point out the white poinsettia bush which is a rare and highly unusual variation of the normal bright red ones we are used to seeing around. The orchid pictured here was slowly climbing the fence and what is referred to as a Terrete Vanda-Vanda orchid which is a native of Thailand and Malaysia.

It is very interesting to note how the vines twist and wind through the rainforest. In one location the vine traveled along a small creek for more than thirty feet and then submerged itself into the creek like some long and slithering snake. As can be seen from the other St Kitts rainforest photo the vines hanging down from the trees. It is said that if the vines were properly anchor to the tree it could support the swinging of a human in excess of one hundred pounds. In fact these were used for just that purpose hundreds of years ago. The proof that Tarzan does live!

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