This garden which is located in a serene atmosphere sprawls over an area of 47.70 acres, harbouring a diverse and rich wealth of native and exotic flora.
Coimbatore: The 113-year old Botanical Garden of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore which was established in 1908 is one of the important gardens in Tamil Nadu and also the foremost of the Institutional gardens in India.
It is the ‘second largest garden’ in Tamil Nadu after the Government Botanic Garden, Ooty. The garden serves as a valuable centre to educate the concepts of floriculture and landscaping to the students and scholars of educational institutions besides serving as a treasure house for garden enthusiasts, nature lovers, botanists and the general public.
This garden which is located in a serene atmosphere sprawls over an area of 47.70 acres, harbouring a diverse and rich wealth of native and exotic flora. In the present era of climate change wherein the world is facing an unprecedented loss of biological diversity, environmental protection and plant diversity conservation are gaining great momentum and Botanic Gardens all over the world play a very crucial role as centers for rescue, recovery and rehabilitation of threatened plants and other valuable plant genetic resources.
Here are some of the salient features of the renovation drive
TNAU Botanical garden is a ‘tropical botanic garden’ with a wide collection of plant species and various types of garden components to its credit. Renovation of this 113 years old garden was taken up with the objective of giving a contemporary touch while maintaining its heritage, educational, scientific and recreational values. The renovation drive aimed at improving the existing components, besides adding new components such as wider diversity of plant species, rare plant species, garden maze, bird rearing, etc. so as to ultimately improve the aesthetic, educational and economic values of the Botanic Garden.
Also the TNAU Botanical Garden has a large collection of flora, both native and exotic, with wide ranging diversity, use and interest. About 800 species and varieties of different plants representing 70 natural orders embellish the garden. Various plant categories including exclusive collections of jasmine, rose, tuberose, crossandra, anthurium, orchids, chrysanthemum, bougainvillea, hibiscus and nerium are also conserved in the garden and utilized for educational and research purposes. Medicinally important plants and aromatic plants are conserved in the herbal park and medicinal plants unit situated inside the TNAU Botanical Garden.
Some of the unique and rare ornamental plants conserved in the TNAU Botanical Garden include Hyphaene thebaica (Branching palm), Diallum indum (Velvet tamarind), Terminalia arjuna (Arjuna tree), Adenanthera pavonina (Red Bead Tree), Pongamia ovalifolia (Moulmein rosewood), Pterygota alata (Buddha’s coconut), Sterculia foetida (Java Olive), Kigelia pinnata (Sausage tree), Crescentia cujete (Calabash tree), Combretum constrictum (Powderpuff combretum), Capparis horrid, Gyrocarpus americanus and Corypha elata (Talipot palm). A recently renovated plant conservatory harbours around 400 species of unique ornamental plant species.
A bambusetum with around fifteen different species of bamboo has been established. A ‘bamboo tunnel’ to demonstrate the versatile potential of bamboo species to absorb carbon dioxide and release over 30% more oxygen into the atmosphere compared to an equivalent mass of trees is under establishment. A palmatum with diverse palm collections to emphasize the significance of palm species has been established and the species have been scientifically labeled.
One of the most noteworthy aspects of the renovation drive with respect to strengthening of plant components is expansion of the area under lawn grasses which aimed at improving the overall greenery of the garden. These lawns have been established with a variety of turf grass species including Korean or Japanese grass, Mexican grass, Carpet grass, shade grass and G2 grass.
The entire garden is being given a facelift in the ongoing renovation drive. The major facelift activities include strengthening of the formal garden in the frontal area, popularly known by the name ‘two-level garden’, relaying of the vast stretches of lawns in the frontal area on either side of the main drive, planting of flowering shrubs in a symmetrical manner on either side of the main drive, redesigning and layout of the cascade, sunken garden, rock garden, Japanese garden, formal garden in the rear part, four-lawn area and the plant conservatory.
A new ‘herbal garden’ and an ‘aroma garden’ have been established which have been planted with valuable collections of medicinal and aromatic plants and these are proving to be star attraction components in the renovated garden.
The children’s park has been upgraded and embellished with safety ensuring flooring and walkways, newer and safer play stations, planting of attractive shade trees and incorporation of educative concepts through creation of bird and rabbit rearing cages. Infrastructure for plant propagation and sale of nursery plants has been given a facelift to facilitate production of more number of good quality planting materials to cater to the requirements of farmers and urban garden enthusiasts.
New features added to the Botanical Garden are gazebos, island park, fountains, pergolas and pavements. Two gazebos have been built with aesthetic as well as eco-friendly architecture with ponds on either side for accommodating attractive and indigenous aquatic plant biodiversity including lotus and water lily collections. Another innovative and eco-friendly initiative incorporated in the garden is provision with an aesthetically designed solar panel lighting system with the objective of providing aesthetic lighting as well as to conserve power.
Attractive and informative signages have been placed in appropriate places for guiding the public in effectively touring around the vast area of the garden. All the plants including trees have been labeled using QR coding systems for better learning by students and the public.
The basic amenities required for ensuring safety and comfort of the visiting public and the workers of the Botanical Garden have been taken care of by establishment of facilities for providing safe drinking water, newly constructed rest rooms and relaying of roads and pathways.