Leisure
Botanic Gardens
College Park,
Botanic Avenue,
BT7 1LP
Botanic Gardens is home to the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine.
Palm House has a tropical plants, hanging baskets, seasonal plants and some birds of paradise. It is an example of Victirian glasshouses made from curved glass and iron.and is one of the earliest examples of a glasshouse made from curved iron and glass.
The building was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, who also helped design parts of nearby Queen’s University. The foundation stone was laid in 1839 and the two wings were completed in 1840 by leading ironmaster, Richard Turner. The dome was added in 1852.
The Tropical Ravine contains some of the oldest seed plants around today, as well as banana, cinnamon, bromeliad and orchid plants.
Like the Palm House, it shows how technology allowed gardeners to cultivate unusual species in a greenhouse .
Botanic Gardens was established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society, in response to public interest in horticulture and botany. Originally known as the Belfast Botanic Garden, the site contained exotic tree species and impressive plant collections from the southern hemisphere, many of which can still be seen in the park.
The site was eventually sold to the Belfast Corporation (now the Belfast City Council) and it re-opened as a public park, known as Botanic Gardens, in 1895.
Today, the park is popular with residents, students and tourists and is an important venue for concerts, festivals and other events.
The Tropical Ravine will close from Monday 17 November 2014 for the restoration work to begin on the building.
It’s a great spot in the summer.
I would like to see more things for kids to do.
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