Kirstenbosch National Botanical Centre

This botanical garden has many themed gardens within it. Themed gardens like Fragrance garden, Medicinal garden, Water-wise garden, Peninsula garden, and Useful Plants Garden are some of the gardens available in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Centre.

The medicinal garden has plants whose leaves, stems, roots, and flowers are used for medicinal purposes. These plants are also used in preparation of certain foods, and for aromatic purposes too. Different cultural groups found in South Africa have been using and are still using these medicinal plants for these purposes. In this medicinal garden you can find different plants along with some brief information about that plant and how it is used. One of the popular herbs in this medicinal garden is the rooibos which is used to prepare the rooibos tea which has not caffeine content in it. This is used to relieve of stomach cramps, insomnia, and allergies. There is also a Useful Plants Garden which is an extension of the medicinal garden.

The fragrance garden as the name indicates is full of plants and herbs that are used mainly for their aromatic properties. To enable the visitors to feel and smell those plants they are raised in waist high bed. The plants information is found in the labels in the guard rails near the plants. To enable people who are blind to know about the plant information in Braille format is also available in that label.

The water-wise garden is a place where you can find information on how to grow the normal plants with less water than they need. This garden is aimed at providing information to the gardeners on how to preserve water in this way. Not only water, maintenance is also less with this type of garden. In this garden you will learn the basics on how to grow this type of garden. Basics like soil preparation, creating shade, mulching, lawn care, and grouping plants according to their consumption of water are some you will learn in this water-wise garden.

The Peninsula garden is one where you can find the plants species that are found in the Cape Peninsula. About 2500 species of plants are found in this Peninsula garden. The plants like Fynbos which are found in this garden is nowhere found on earth!

The Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden has a Botanical Society Conservatory that has different types of plants that is not possible to grow outdoors. Plants found in deserts, hot and shady forests, and mountain peaks are all found here. A large baobab tree is found in the main house of the observatory which is one of the popular one among the tourists. Plants from the Protea family are found in the Protea garden and plants from the reed family are found in the Restio garden. The oldest part of the Botanical garden is The Dell.

You can reach the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden from Cape Town through the regular buses that ply between these two places on working days. The best time to visit the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is from mid August to mid October. Between September and March the garden is open from 8am to 7pm and during April to August it is open from 8am to 6pm. The entry fee for adults is R35 and for students of South Africa with ID cards the entry fee is R20. For children from 6 to 17 years the entry fee is R10. For children below 6 years the entry is free. Senior citizens of South Africa can enter the garden for free on Tuesdays if it is not a public holiday. If you want to stay nearby you can find accommodation in Constantia and Simonstown.