Lal Bagh Garden

Bangalore is called the Garden City because of the ubiquitous trees (the majority seem to be Rain Trees, chosen for their immense size and the amount of shade they can provide) planted all over the city as well as the many public parks and gardens, great and small. The greatest among them is Lal Bagh Garden, a 240 acre space commissioned by King Hyder Ali in 1760. He favored trees with red blossoms and that is what "Lal Bagh" translates to: red flower.

I went there with the same driver who took me to Bull Temple. I paid 20 rupees for my entrance fee and 10 for the car, so my entrance costs were about $0.75. This driver was yet again concerned that I would be fleeced into an over priced tour and he instructed me to take the 1-hour tram ride around the gardens for 100 rupees ($2). Of course, much like in the Bull Temple, the minute I stepped out of the car I was approached by a man offering a tour. This man, however seemed to speak very good English, he had an official looking badge, and he told me up front that the tour would cost 450 rupees per 30 minutes and would probably last 90 minutes. This would mean paying about $30 for a private tour of the gardens and this time I was very happy to pay. My driver was very disappointed in me but, you can't please everyone!

The guide was wonderful! Either that, or a very convincing liar who could make up a lot of plausible, Latin-sounding names for plants. But actually, everything he said that wasn't completely new to me squared with what I'd already read, except for one thing. He told me that one of the reasons Hyder Ali built the garden was that he wanted a beautiful place to go jogging. Jogging!! Never, have I ever heard of royalty jogging before 1970! Anyway, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. It is only because of him that I have anything to say about the pictures I took.

There is a Watchtower on top of a rock near the entrance to the garden. It sits on top of a large rock which is one of oldest rocks on earth: 3000 million years old.


Here's a view of the city from the top of the rock:


35 meter pine tree:



My guide called this a "No-Monkey" tree. He gave me a twig that had fallen on the ground to touch, and it was very, very, sharp. Monkey's can't climb these trees because of the shape and arrangement of the needles:


A mango tree!! I still haven't had a fresh mango here...


Not a great picture, but I wanted to include it because it's called an "Elephant Apple" tree. The fruit is larger than any apple and elephants like to eat them:


This cotton tree is 800 years old:


This is a tamarind tree. Tamarind trees are the coolest to sit beneath:


The lotus flower is India's national flower:


This is called a "People" tree. It is common to find one outside of a temple:


Plumeria trees. I think these flowers are what leis are typically made of in Hawaii.


Some school children on a field trip. Kids have a half-day on Saturday in India.




The lake:


Some gates:




Statues of some traditional Indian dancers:


Statue of a scary dinosaur about to eat 2 cute little bunnies:


http://www.horticulture.kar.nic.in/lalbagh.htm