I visited one of the most beautiful Botanical Gardens. The Peradeniya Gardens are about 3 miles west of the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka. In 2016, the garden was visited by 1.2 million local Sri Lankans and 400,000 foreign visitors. The gardens are near the longest river in Sri Lanka named the Mahaweli River. It famous for its collection of orchids. The garden includes spices, medicinal plants orchids, and palm trees. The "National Herbarium of Sri Lanka" is also located here in the botanical gardens.
Sri Lanka's largest garden is beautiful and massive (147 acres). You should allow yourself plenty of time to walk around Peradeniya's gorgeous avenue of Royal Palms and the other "Avenues" of trees. There are several beautiful avenues in the River Drive: Cabbage Palm Avenue, Cook's Pine Avenue, Palmyra Palm Avenue, Double Coconut Avenue, and the Royal Palm Avenue. Incredibly there are 4,000 different types of species of plants at the Royal Peradeniya Gardens.
The Botanical Gardens date back to 1371 when King Wickramabahu III kept court at Peradeniya located near the Mahaweli river.
The Botanical Garden at Peradeniya was established officially in 1843. Plants were brought from Slave Island, in the capital of Colombo, and the Kalutara Garden in Kalutara.
One item with a significant history is the Cannonball Tree that was planted in 1901 by Queen Mary and King George of the United Kingdom. It is often laden with fruit, which look a lot like cannonballs.
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