The gardens later developed collections of sub-tropical trees, palms and orchids. The Durban Botanic Gardens remains a classic botanic gardens, reflecting the universality of the plant kingdom. It has, for over 100 years, had a fine mixed arboretum of African, Asian and American trees.
The Gardens are a few minutes walk from the bustling Warwick Triangle, site of one of the largest retail medicinal plant markets in the country. The Gardens hosts approximately 500 000 visitors per year, many of whom are foreign tourists.
At Durban Botanic Gardens, they have an extensive palm collection of more than 130 species from 58 genera. The beautiful Palm Walk was established in 1889 and today contains a majestic stand of palms lining the avenue.
Durban Botanic Gardens Shop, situated at the east end of the Gardens, offers a wide variety of gifts, both for overseas and local visitors. Zulu baskets, beadwork and specialist books on South African flora and fauna are our speciality.
The best flowering times for orchids are spring and autumn..... Bromeliads are used to augment the absence of orchids during the non-flowering times.
There is a separate Species Orchid House for species orchids, which have smaller blooms but have the perfume that the other hybridized orchids lack.
The Durban Botanic Gardens has a lot of birdlife, especially water birds which can be seen around the lake area.
