Ornamental Horticulture

Government Botanic Gardens, Ootacamund (Tamil Nadu)

Government Botanic Gardens, Udhagamandalam (Tamil Nadu)

This garden is situated at an altitude of 2,175 - 2,280 m above MSL in the Nilgiris Hills of Tamil Nadu. It actually started functioning in 1848. The garden covers an area of 20 hectares in ascending terraces.

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The Garden has around 1000 species of plants which includes shrubs, trees, ferns and herbal plants. In the centre of the gardens lie a fossilized tree trunk estimated to be 20 million years old. The gardens consist of several lawns, ponds with lilies, beds of flowers and ferns laid out in an Italian style, several plots of flowering plants and variety of medicinal plants.
The garden is the pioneer in introducing potato, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, beetroot, etc., and many fruits in the Nilgiris. It is also a pioneer in introducing Cinchona and different species of Eucalyptus in this region. Many essential oil yielding plants were introduced by the garden, out of which scented geranium is the most important.