Gibraltar Botanic Gardens

Gibraltar Botanic Gardens
La Alameda Gardens
The Dell in the heart of La Alameda Gardens
Type	Botanical garden
Location	Gibraltar
Coordinates	36.1313°N 5.3511°W / 36.1313; -5.3511
Area	6 hectares (15 acres)
Created	1816

The Gibraltar Botanic Gardens or La Alameda Gardens are a botanical garden in Gibraltar, spanning around 6 hectares (15 acres).

History

The gardens were founded in 1816 by Governor of Gibraltar General George Don in order to provide a recreational area for the Garrison at the time. Serving that purpose for many years, the gardens fell into disrepair in the 1970s until the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens project, funded by a firm of environmental consultants and managers, Wildlife (Gibraltar) Limited, came about in 1991. Since 1994, the Gardens contain also a zoo: the Alameda Wildlife Conservation Park.

In the Second World War the gardens were a popular meeting place for the thousands of homosexual soldiers and sailors that passed through Gibraltar on their way to the various fronts. In the later years of the war the Military Police regularly raided the gardens to enforce the ban on homosexuality in the British and American armed forces and Merchant Navy.

The Eliott Memorial

General Eliott bronze bust in the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens.

General Don had commissioned a memorial of George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield in 1815, which did not materialise in the form initially requested. A colossal statue of General Eliot, carved from the bowsprit of the Spanish ship San Juan Nepomuceno, taken at the Battle of Trafalgar was created in lieu. The statue was taken to the Governor's residence, The Convent, where it stands today, being replaced by a bronze bust in 1858.

Plants of the gardens

An evening stroll in the 19th century at the entrance of the Alameda Gardens.

Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria), a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine in the genus Wisteria, in the gardens.

The plants of the Alameda Gardens are a combination of native species and others brought in from abroad:

• Dracaena draco (Canary Islands Dragon Tree), a subtropical Dragon Tree native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, Azores, and locally in western Morocco. The oldest dragon tree in the gardens is about 300 years old.
• Stone pine (Pinus pinea), a species of pine native of southern Europe, primarily the Iberian Peninsula.
• Wild Olive (Olea europaea), a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae.
• Celtis australis (European Nettle Tree), a deciduous tree that can be among 20 to 25 metres of height.
• Grevillea robusta (Australian Silk Oak), the largest species in the genus Grevillea. There is only one specimen of this tree in the gardens.
• Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis), a large palm native to the Canary Islands off the Atlantic coast of north Africa.
• Washingtonia filifera (Washingtonia), a palm native to the desert oases of Central, southern and southwestern Arizona, southern Nevada, extreme northwest Mexico and inland deserts of southern California.
• Howea forsteriana (Kentia palm), endemic to Lord Howe Island.
• Solitaire Palm Ptychosperma elegans
• Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), an evergreen shrub native to East Asia.
• Bougainvillea, a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province).
• Asteraceae (daisies), the second largest family family of flowering plants.
• Pelargonium, a genus of flowering plants.
• Succulent plant, water-retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions.

See also

• Gibraltar candytuft
• Alameda Wildlife Conservation Park
• Grove
• Poplar avenue

References

• "Welcome to the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens". The Alameda Gibraltar Botanic Gardens. http://www.gibraltargardens.gi/. Retrieved 2007-11-27. 
• "Gibraltar Botanical Gardens "The Alameda"". Government of Gibraltar. http://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/. Retrieved 2007-11-27. 

External links

• Official website
• Alameda Gardens in the site of the Government of Gibraltar