(5/29/2006) Located just 1.2 kilometers from the center of Ubud, Botanic Garden Ubud has opened its doors offering a beautiful natural new attraction for Island visitors and a unique setting for incentive and conference special events.

Situated at an elevation of 300 to 400 meters above sea level on the banks of a river gorge, Botanic Garden Ubud is a study in tropical flora abundance featuring both endemic and imported plant species. Situated in the village of Kutuh Kaja, the Garden faces the Bird village Petulu, home of the famous white egrets.

Privately funded and built on land leased from local villagers for 30 years with the hope that local villagers will see the value of the park and preserve its legacy. Explains Stefan Reisner, who founded the Gardens with his gardening partner Faizah, "our botanic garden is like a palace with the sky as roof and many different rooms, secret chambers, galleries and staircases. The visitor wanders through changing vistas experiences, encouraged to trespass into nature. This is message of our Garden."

And, in the best traditions of an eccentric English garden, the garden is a study in separate and creative flights of fancy organized around individual themes reflected in their names: • The Great Fountain • The Fern Garden • The Chocolate Grove • The Heliconia Hill • The Fragrant Floors • The Meditation Court with Ancient Banyan Tree • The Bamboo Grove • The Titan/ Rafflesia • The 3 Orchids Houses • The Water Lily Pond • The Herbal Garden • The Rain Forest Observation Post • The Bromeliad Garden • The Maze ( Labyrinth ) • The Palm Hill • The Indonesian Orchard • The Islam Garden • The Succulent Garden / Dragon Fruit • The Alang Alang Trail

Plans are underway to also build a children's garden cum botanic school.

Two Partners with a Gardening Vision

The realization of a lavish dream on a shoestring budget, Botanic Garden Ubud is the vision of a German expatriate – Stefan Reisner and his companion Faizah, who originally hails from East Java.

Stefan says he draws his inspiration from Pückler who created the Royal Gardens in Potsdam and Berlin, enterprises that bankrupted the fabled German gardener. A man with a varied and interesting past, Stefan has published two novels, poetry, plays for children, worked as a journalist with leading magazines, and as an hotelier before happening upon his current incarnation as the creator of a whimsical tropical garden.

Faizah - a self-confessed orchid enthusiast and a former hotelier like Stefan, was raised in a farmer's family in East Java near Surabaya. After running her own business in Jakarta for 12 years, Faizah moved to Bali in 1998, where she managed a Hotel in Petulu until 2004.

Stefan and Faizah discovered a stretch of unused land in Kutuh Kaja, close to Ubud, and eventually convinced the local village to endorse the idea of a Botanic Garden. Working non-stop since February 2005, the pair have moved mountains, excavated rivers, and introduced thousands of plants brought in from around Asia.

The results?

Judge for yourself from the collection of pictures featured on balidiscovery.com

Photos from the Botanical Garden Ubud (Click to Enlarge)

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