Chico Mendes Botanical Gardens

Top photo: Anderson Bianchi

This is a park covering 90,000m², with more than 300 catalogued plant species, divided into 20 botanical collections, such as Amazon and Atlantic Forest, hardwood, 65 species of palm trees and endangered species. This diversity can be appreciated on a guided tour. The park offers a playground, as well as 100 meters of paved, well-lit paths, marked every 100 meters, facilitating sports activities. It also has wooden benches and tables, ideal for looking out over the three lakes, home to tilapia and carp, with frequent visits by aquatic birds. Work on the park began in 1925 in the old Municipal Nursery Gardens, located beside Santa Casa hospital, where City Hall gardeners planted the first seedlings and cuttings. In 1973, this work began to be carried out in the current grounds, in Bom Retiro, which then became the Botanical Gardens in 1994, when it started to offer conservation programs, especially for native Atlantic Forest species.