Lankester Botanical Garden.

The Lankester Botanical Garden is named for Charles Lancaster, man who lived and created this garden for himself.  He spent many years, photographing orchids and other flowers.  When he died in 1969, his family decided the property should be used by other so several groups got together and arranged for the University to take it over in 1973.  Today it is known as one of the foremost research facilities in the world.

This display of orchids is just inside of the entrance.  The botanical garden has over 1000 species of orchids here.  Most of the orchids re epiphytes which grow on trees without causing them harm.  Most orchids bloom once a year.

Costa Rica grows over 1,500 species of orchids out of 30,000 species found world wide. The garden grows both regular sized and miniature species all are so different from each other.

Some are what we think of when we hear the world orchid while others seem so different.

The garden has several small bodies of water with lily pads, running water that cascades down small falls, and all sorts of plants.

Sprinkled through the gardens, there are several stands of bamboo ranging from the size of those in the above picture to a strand with bamboo 4 inches in diameter.  The larger ones made a musical sound as they swayed in the wind.

One part of the garden is dedicated to cacti and succulents.  They have plants from both America and Africa.  There are also cactus plants from the Costa Rican rain forest in here too.

I have no idea what type of plant this is but I thought it was pretty.  Its quite small and on the ground, hard to see if you didn't look down.

The flowers are members of the Zingiberales.  Zingiberales consists of 8 different families of tropical plants such as the bird of paradise, ginger, bananas, and others.  I noticed that some of the colors were pinkish and others were yellowish.

I found lots of these beautiful pink bananas sprinkled throughout the whole garden.  The plant that produces these bananas is not very tall and the stalk goes up instead of hanging down like in the regular banana.

Again, I have no idea what type of plant this is but I thought it was beautiful.  I strolled through the 11 hectare place snapping pictures and enjoying things.  

I found these at the bottom of another plant.  Then look almost fake in that they don't have the sharp distinctive parts most flowers have.  

According to the tour guide, the pineapples that we eat are actually the flower of a specific bromide.  I thought the pineapple was the fruit of the pineapple plant but I am not a botanist.  I could have spent more time, just enjoying it but we only had a bit longer than an hour to wander through the place.  

This facility is known throughout the world for its work on orchids and other plants.  Each year, new material is published with the latest scientific findings.  Scientists come here to research and learn more.

The botanical garden also had a grassy area with picnic tables in a shaded area where families were enjoying their lunch and children played.  If you go to Costa Rica and get a chance to visit the garden, please visit it.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.

Tomorrow, I'll share some things that didn't fit anywhere else and then I'll be back to normal.  Have a great day.