The Medellin Botanical Garden

The Jardin Botanico Joaquin Antonio Uribe occupies a large block beside the metro in the north of Medellin and is one of the few substantial green spaces in the city that costs nothing to enter. There is a lagoon with turtles and herons, a palm collection, a desert house, a butterfly enclosure and a well-kept orchid collection, and iguanas move around the lawns as though they own them. The centrepiece is the Orquideorama, a shelter of tall timber and steel units shaped like flowers that filter the light onto the plants below, and which fills with the orchid show during the August flower festival.

History

In the late 19th century the land was a recreation estate, the El Edén baths, owned first by Víctor Arango and then by the sisters Emilia and Mercedes Arango, and rented to families of a city of some 40,000 people. On 11 August 1913 the Centenary Forest of Independence was created here, later known simply as El Bosque, and for half a century, until about 1963, it was a place of recreation for the people of Medellín. A private non-profit foundation then set up the botanical garden, named after the Antioquian naturalist Joaquín Antonio Uribe, which opened on 19 April 1972 during the 7th World Orchid Conference; a complete renovation began on 1 March 2005, and the renewed garden was handed over on 1 December 2007 (Spanish Wikipedia, Jardín Botánico de Medellín).

What you'll find

• The Orquideorama - a timber canopy of flower-shaped units sheltering the orchid collection.
• The lagoon - turtles, herons and iguanas around open water.
• The palm collection - mature palms and tropical trees on open lawns.
• The butterfly house - a small enclosure of native species.

When to go

Open year round and free, so it fits any gap in a Medellin day. Mornings are cooler and the birds are active. The garden is at its busiest and its best during the August flower festival, when the orchid show fills the Orquideorama. Rain arrives in the afternoon for much of the year, so plan a morning visit.

Good to know

It is a pleasant city garden rather than a major botanical collection, and a serious plant enthusiast will get through it in an hour. Labelling is patchy and mostly in Spanish. On weekends and holidays the lawns fill with picnicking families and it is more a park than a garden. Some sections, including the butterfly house, charge separately or close without notice.

Nearby

Parque Explora and the planetarium are next door; the metro reaches the centre in minutes.

Key facts