The Garden continues to Grow
| May eleventh was a milestone for the Botanical Garden. On that day, we were able to open the Garden to our members! All of us were so glad to see visitors again and quite a few of you came out that first day. We remain open to Members and their guests from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday – Saturday. Bring your own water since our store is still closed. Please sign in at the sign-in table, take a map if needed, and enjoy. |
| Hopefully, we can open to the general public soon, once we feel comfortable that we can keep everyone safe. While we were closed for the COVID-19 virus we built beautiful new planters and benches at the Bodine Visitors Center’s front entry. I dedicated them in one of my weekly videos since it wasn’t possible to have an in-person event to celebrate. We hope you have been enjoying the videos on our YouTube channel, Facebook, or website. We continue to put photos up on our Instagram account. By now the plants planted in the planters have passed through their maximum transplant stress and are beginning to show signs of perking up. I have been like a new parent checking on them each day to see how things are going. The species are from all over the world but we have favored islands since our garden is on an island. We have also been working on projects that are better done while fewer visitors are on the grounds such as maintenance on the Three Tiered Fountain. It was losing water and needed to be drained, resealed, excess water hyacinth plants removed and refilled. It will hopefully be up and running by the end of the month. |
Plant of the Month: Jamaican Rain Tree
The Jamaican Rain Tree (Brya ebenus) is one of the most effective landscape plants for the Caribbean. This one is blooming with its yellow flowers, as the name implies after a rain, in my garden. Being native to Jamaica as well as Cuba, it is very adaptable to our island. We have a beautiful specimen in the botanical garden. The weeping form is very striking as an ornamental.
