Northern Thailand has many attractions that would be of interest to horticultural and botanical enthusiasts. Just outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand's 2nd largest city and the gateway to the northern provinces, are two outstanding botanical gardens - Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden and Bhubing Palace and Garden, one of the estates of the royal family. The best time to go is immediately after the end of the rainy season in early November, when many flowers are in Bloom.
Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden
In the Mae Sa Valley, a popular recreational area, a mountain just 45 minutes - 1 hour drive from Chiang Mai - Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden is 960 hectares (2372 acres) is by far the largest and most important botanical garden in Thailand. If you have a botanical enthusiast, No trip to Thailand is complete when you finally are planning one or two days to visit this fascinating plant. Because there is so much ground to cover here, II suggest that you stay at one of the beautiful mountain lodges in the vicinity of the Garden in Mae Sa Valley, as opposed to a hotel in Chiang Mai.
Opened in 1993, this garden was created as a botanical research center and for visitors who wanted to learn more about the plants and flowers from Thailand. Believe me, QSBG huge. When I visited the gardens for about 2 years I did not have enough time to thoroughly tour the property, maybe next time. There are a number of interesting botanical trailsand crisscross the hilly surroundings of the property with prominent displays of tropical plants and flowers. A route will lead you to adopt Thai plants and local medicinal plants, another route offers climbers and vines. Or maybe you want to take a hike to a small waterfall on the way you will pass by the Thai rock garden. This path ends at the Thai Orchid Nursery, home to over 350 native orchid species is. Although, I did not have enough time to explore one of these ways, Itells me every road takes 40-60 minutes.
While I was there, I visited the greenhouse conservatory, which houses the rainforest exhibit. Complete with an electrically powered artificial waterfall, this exhibition offers many of the plants that thrive in the rainforest - gingers, anthuriums, ferns, cicadas, impatiens, begonias and other species. There are a number of temperature-controlled greenhouse on the hill, each with a different grouping or categoryplants and flowers. One of the greenhouses features an amazing collection of begonias; another one features mostly Thai medicinal plants and herbs. The most unusual and exotic plant that I encountered there was the Bat Plant (Tacca chantrieri), which is indigenous to Southeast Asia. The greenhouse exhibit featuring an eclectic variety of water lilies and lotuses was most impressive. Check out the stark contrast between the very unique and austere marble planters and the large black pots (see Picture). Factoid - The water lotus is a sacred plant in the Buddhist religion.
Bhubing Palace and Park
Bhubing castle and garden is the winter residence of the royal family. When Her Royal Highness, Queen Sirikit, their visits to the season, Northern Thailand sets out to any number of community projects to work, she always comes back Bhubing place to rest.
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