Baldha Garden is an enriched botanical garden which spans 3.15 acres (1.27 ha) of land located at Wari in the old part of the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It has a collection of 672 species of plants. The Baldha Garden is now managed as a satellite unit of the National Botanical Garden by the Department of Forestry.
Baldha Garden is one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in Bangladesh. It was established by Narenda Narayan Chawdhury. Currently located at Wari, in the Old part of Dhaka city, the traditional Baldah Garden is a satellite unit of the National Botanical Garden situated in Mirpur. The garden is enriched with rare plant species collected from different parts of the world.
History
This Botanical Garden was established in 1909 by a private individual Narenda Narayan Chawdhury, a poet, philanthropist, and naturalist. He was the landlord of the state of Baldah, and he established this garden on his own property. Chawdhury passionately collected rare species of plants from different parts of the world until his death in 1943. After his death the further expansion of the garden came to a halt. This situation continued till 1962, when the Forestry department of the Government of East Paksitan took charge of managing the garden. After the creation of Bangladesh the garden was handed over to the new government. The Department of Forestry of Bangladesh began to work for the improvement of the garden with renewed vigor. Most of its past glory has been restored, and in addition to that two new green houses were made. And the civil amenities inside the garden were modernized.
Architectural significance
The 3.36 acres garden is divided into two units. The larger unit is named Cybele after the Greek nature goddess of fertility. The smaller unit, Psyche means “soul” in Greek language. The Cybele is roughly rectangular with the Northern side slightly cutting a corner. It measures about 136 meters in length and 36 meters in width. The Psyche is approximately 100 meters long and 45 meters wide. The Psyche has a a large pond in the middle. To enjoy the floristic beauty of the garden a rest house-cum amphitheatre, called the Joy House was built in the garden. It has been visited by many celebrities, including the poet Tagore whose poem ‘Camellia’, a plant introduced from Japan, was actually written while he was staying in the Joy House. There is a big sundial in this unit of the garden which shows the time of the day with precision on sunny days and is still a surprise attraction to the visitors, particularly children.
Present condition
The collection of the garden is classified into seven categories – orchids, cacti, conservatory plants, aquatic plants, roses, rockery and wall plants, arboretum, and miscellaneous Flora. The garden has about 15, 0000 plants representing 672 species. Many of these are exotic and rare plants; perhaps the richest collection of exotic plants in the country is housed in the Baldah Garden. The flora of the garden represents collections from over 50 different countries. The garden has among its attractions the ‘century plant’ which is believed to flower only once in hundred years, and was seen in bloom a few years back. The Adansonia digitata tree which adorns the garden is historical. Central African aborigines used to seal their deads in holes dug into the cavity of the tree in order to mummify the body long before the days of the Pharaohs. The Psyche unit of the garden houses several varieties of the aquatic plant Nymphea pubescens, the national flower of Bangladesh which is called ‘shapla’ in Bangla, maintained in a section of the garden known as the; Shapla House;. The rose garden in Cybele is famous throughout the subcontinent for its rich collection of roses. One of the two greenhouses has rich collections of orchid, aroids and conservatory plants. The Baldah Garden, although relatively small in size, is an exciting place for naturalists and tourists to visit.
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