Pietermaritzburg Botanical Gardens

On 3 March 1874, the Pietermaritzburg Botanical Garden was founded. It was run by the newly formed Pietermaritzburg Botanical Society until 1969, when it was taken over by the: 'National Botanic Gardens of South Africa'. In 1991, the Botanical Research Institute and the National Botanical Gardens combined to form the National Botanical Institute. The NBI is now the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) – the present custodians of the garden.

The original objectives of the Garden:
*Growing plants, primarily trees, for distribution in the Colony of Natal
*Collecting indigenous plants for exchange
*Accumulation of plants of beauty, value and rarity

The City is not known as: 'the City of Flowers'- for nothing! Private Gardens and Public Parks in Pietermaritzburg are filled with lush vegetation and seasonal blooms of particularly Bougainvillea's. (They thrive in the intense heat of this part of the world.) It is fitting that one of the most beautiful National Gardens thrives in this City.

During the early period (1874-1910), the lower part of the Garden was laid out in a geometric pattern and planted with tightly packed specimens of timber trees. The upper part, or hillside, was planted with various Conifers. Many thousands of plants (mainly wattle and eucalyptus) were distributed from the Garden. Present-day KwaZulu-Natal probably owes much of its tree heritage to the generosity of the Garden in its early days.

Unfortunately this generosity meant that curators of the Garden did not stay long, as salaries were low. Two notable curators were G.W. Mitchell, who was curator from 1889 to 1900 and W.E. Marriot, who planted the now famous avenue of plane trees in 1908. Mitchell connected the 2 halves of the Garden in 1894. This enabled the public to climb the hillside, from where, it was claimed, one had “the best view in Southern Africa!”.

Amongst our more famous visitors was President Kruger, who planted a: 'Camellia Japonica', in April 1891. From 1892 onwards the Garden provided flowers for exhibition at local flower shows. Azaleas were very popular and grew well in the Garden. Sand and shale were extracted from the Garden and sold. Some of the shale was probably used to cover the paths in the Garden and sand was sold for building purposes.

Zwartkop Road and the path linking Church Street to the Garden were very poor dirt tracks and only in 1899 was Zwartkop Road hardened. Transport to the Garden at this time was by rickshaw, but these were expensive at a return price of 3 shillings. In 1906 a tramline was constructed to the Garden, at a more affordable 8 pence for a return journey from the City Hall.

“The great improvements that have taken place in the last 2 years are rapidly raising the Garden to a position second to none in South Africa, and it is a matter of amazement that so much could have been accomplished in so short a time... a veritable lung of the city, soothing to the eye and brain, and appealing to the sense of all that is beautiful and good and noble.” – A quote from: 'The Natalian', 11 October 1907

Walks provide an opportunity to hear updated and reliable information on the flora and fauna that thrive in the Garden. They also connect visitors with Mother Nature.

Guided tours are offered to the public and schools on weekdays and weekends, between 09h00 and 15h30. The SANBI Botanical Gardens offer a designated braai area equipped with five large braai stands.