When I was in Costa Rica last year, I scheduled a visit to Wilson Botanical Gardens, Costa Rica’s largest botanical gardens. Located at an elevation of about 4500 feet above sea level in Costa Rica’s southwestern mountain range in close proximity to Panama, these gardens were designed by the world famous Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle-Marx .

In order to get there one has two choices - to drive by car through the rugged Talamanca Mountains takes a good 7-8 hours or so; the alternative is to take an early morning flight of about 50 minutes in duration on Sansa Air, a regional carrier to Coto Brus. As I was pressed for time, I opted for the flight. After being picked up by a local taxi at the landing strip, I was transferred to the gardens and the lodge. In the lowlands of southwestern Costa Rica, banana is king; driving towards the gardens, we passed by miles of banana plantations as well as some very large banana packing plants. After passing thru the dusty, hot and nondescript town of Neily, we finally started our ascent into the mountains on a winding switchback highway. About 40 minutes later, we arrived at Wilson Botanical Gardens and headquarters of Las Cruces Biological Station. The comfortable climate here was quite a contrast to the stifling wet heat and intense sun of the nearby lowlands

The gardens were fascinating and the natural terraced landscaping was superb. With the aid of a nice map-leaflet provided by the lodge, I took a self-guided tour of the compound and gardens. In particular, I was quite impressed with the garden’s collection of marantas with their very showy, exotic leaves. Some of the patterns on the leaves of the marantas looked so intricate, that it looked liked someone had painted them on. More commonly know as the prayer plants, marantas are popular as indoor ornamentals. Wilson’s collection represents 80 of the 400 species worldwide. When in bloom, the marantas bear small but very exquisitely beautiful flowers. Hummingbirds are the most important pollinator for the marantas.

There was a small group of avid birdwatchers were staying at the lodge; every morning after an early morning breakfast, they would spend 4-5 hours walking the forest reserve and gardens adding new species to their life history list. Wilson is one of the most popular birding destinations in Costa Rica; as far as visitors go. it seems that birders far outnumber the botanical enthusiasts . To my credit, while walking thru the ‘natural gardens”, my eagle eyes spotted a blue crowned Motmot.

The accommodations were very large, rustic but comfortable with a large outdoor patio, meals were buffet style, but very wholesome and tasty. No complaints from this happy camper!

Wilson Botanical Gardens is the featured attraction on our Botanical Group tour to Costa Rica, Nov. 22-Dec. 03 .

Costa Rica

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