Cargando...
For some people, the orchid is the flower of the devil; for others is one of the symbols for seduction. For everybody is one of the most wonderful creations of nature. Its reproduction is not easy. It just survives when it is spoiled by the environment and has careful treatment. If we talk about treatment with great care, Cubans have a space where hundreds of orchids have grown for decades: Soroa’s Orchid Garden, an institution located on the highest place in Artemisa province that before was proud of the western province of Pinar del Rio.
The legend says that before the painful loss of his wife and daughter, the rich Spanish Tomas Felipe Camacho found consolation building a garden to honor them. He tried to make a replica of the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and although he did not manage to do so, he left the Cubans that space that has international fame.
The works at Soroa’s Orchid Garden started in the 1940s. By then, specimens began to arrive from all over the world, Malaysia, Guatemala, Philippines, Brazil, France, Holland, Belgium, England, and so on. He planted them in the area where Pilila Ranch is, as it was then called. He also planted fruit, ornamental and precious trees that are still preserved.
In the 1950s the original construction is finished, the garden was growing in its extension and Camacho constructed a building that later became a library. After the death of its creator in Spain in 1960, the institution became state patrimony.
At present, once it has been repaired after the affectations caused by hurricanes Ike and Paloma (2008), it has more than 20, 000 specimens in its 35, 000 square meters. It has 700 different specimens of orchids, 128 of them are Cubans, and some of them are endemics, what permits to consider it as the greatest Orchid Garden of Cuba and one of the most important worldwide.
There is also a lab where they reproduce these plants and shades where they cultivate specimens in need of special care.
From the garden it is promoted the scientific activity, the job on Environment Education and also the healthy enjoyment in direct contact with Nature.
