West Palm Beach, Fla.—Tour
Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden and save yourself a plane ticket to Brazil.
Gene Joyner started his botanical garden in 1970 with the intention of making
it into a self-sustaining rainforest. It is situated on 2.5-acres of land, with
a one-mile path, and a collection of over 2000 plants, 150 of which are
tropical fruit trees.
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| Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, Tropical Rainforest, West Palm Beach, Fla. Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey |
I’m walking with a
diverse group of people, on a warm May afternoon, through a thick forest of plants with Joyner. Mulch crunches underfoot and the only other sounds are those of Joyner as he points out plants telling us about their histories, growing challenges
and tips.
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| Gene Joyner of Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, Tropical Rainforest, West Palm Beach, Fla., Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey |
Grabbing hold of a thick piece of bamboo he says, “Indian bamboo can grow 80 feet in one season.” Many people in
our group have questions, which he answers with ease.
“A lot of these plants haven’t seen fertilizer
in 25 years,” says Joyner. He adds he only gives fertilizer to new tree
plantings. And as for pesticides, he uses none except for lizards. “They are
very good at controlling pests,” Joyner says with a smile.
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| Bamboo grove, Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, West Palm Beach, Fla. Copyright 2016 Helen A Lockey |
The soil was originally
sugar sand but with years of mulching and allowing the plants to naturally decompose
their leaves and other parts, the land now has a rich layer of dark topsoil. “I’ve
built up six inches of topsoil in 30 years,” said Joyner.
Some of the results are a 80-foot
tall Kapok Tree, a 40-year old cashew Nut Tree, a 40-year-old Baobab Tree and a
35-year old bamboo stand started from a single section of bamboo.
Joyner has travelled the
world to source his plants for his garden. Now he also travels to educate
people about plants.
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| Sausage Tree pods at Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, West Palm Beach, Fla. Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey |
At the front entrance there is a large Sausage Tree with large, brown colored, hard shelled sausage shaped
fruits hanging from long chord. These are inedible for humans, Joyner says but
in Africa where the tree is from Giraffe and Hippos love the fruit. And the
local women use it in the fermentation process of their honey beer.
If you want to go to the
garden it is open to the public on the second Tuesday of every month and costs
$10 a person.
But if you want to visit at
any other time you have to call the garden 561-242-1686, and leave a message
for a reservation.
The Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden is located at 470 63rd Trail N, West Palm Beach, FL
33413.
Parking is limited so if you
can car pool then do so. They have mosquito spray and water available at the
kiosk where you pay to get in.
