Andromeda Botanic Gardens

There was a botanic garden up the road from our guest house in Bethsheba, Barbados and I HAD to check it out. There were some amazing tropical plants and the whole garden was so jam packed I felt like I was on the set of Lost or Jurassic Park! Below are a few of my favorites.

Barbados means, "Bearded Ones"  or "los Barbados," as aptly named by the Portuguese for the abundant Bearded Fig Trees native to the island. Its massive aerial roots, I guess, look like beards?

 

If any tree should have "bearded" in the name it's this next tree. The "Old Man Palm" is covered in thick, wool-like fibers that resemble human hair. The braids are courtesy of the garden's visitors.

 

There were amazing orchids growing out of coconut husks. 

 

And a ton of critters! Caterpillars, lizards and toads. Oh my!

We ate this a lot during the trip, Breadfruit. It's like a potato, starchy, and used the same way in say fries, soups, scalloped, baked or in the local "cou-cou" dish. It grows everywhere on the island.

 

Lastly, the grand daddy tree of them all, was the Talipot Palm. It's the largest fan palm in the world and only bears fruit once in its life, usually between the ages of 25-50 years old. It also bears the largest inflorescence, or flowers, in the plant kingdom! (In the picture the flowers are the huge white, fuzzy-looking palms). After one year of blooming and seeding this massive palm dies and we were lucky enough to see it in bloom!!  Checked it off the bucket list :)

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I highly recommend Barbados. We booked on Jet Blue and stayed at a beautiful and cheap guesthouse, Sea-U. Go. Everyone go to Barbados. If these pictures haven't made you want to go, the locals told us Rihanna will be there on September 5th.