At the Boscowen area you will find cycads, bromeliads, local flowering plants (recently planted) and a butterfly exhibit (coming soon).

The history of the Boscowen collection is not fully known. What is known is that the Boscowen family gave to City Park, a large collection of bromeliad plants. This was housed in a special sheltered area near the Bowling green and for many years has been inaccessible to the public. There used to be a Ksh 1/- fee to enter this collection area.

Palms, cycads and bromeliads of the original collection. Photo by cngarachu

There are many species in the Bromeliaceae family, the best known being the pineapple. They are originally from areas of tropical America.  Of the original collection only a small remnant remains.

Pollinator garden

To improve the Boscowen, an area will be replanted with a variety of flowery plants and shrubs, which being local will be more attractive to pollinators like bees, butterflies and birds.  We wish visitors to enjoy the flowers and pollinators and learn why pollinators are so important.

However, the collection area though having some maintenance, still required many inputs:
The doors were rotten at the bottom and needed new locks, a shaded area needed new roofing, the water taps needed replacing, and the wire mesh needed to be stretched and rebound where there were unwanted spaces.  The short flower-bed walls needed scrubbing and sections needed repainting.

The right pollinator plants needed to be found and many thanks to Celia Hardy and Plants Galore nursery who assisted and donated all the plants of the first planting in June;  take a look at the first planting and make-over effort.

Pollinator garden area ready to re-plant with pollinator-friendly plants. Photo © cngarachu

First phase of pollinator garden showing good progress © cngarachu

Butterfly exhibit

A small butterfly exhibit will also be housed in the Boscowen area and consist of a small netted walk-in butterfly space, of about 75 sq. metres. It would display the foodplants, caterpillars, pupae and free flying adults of different species each season, concentrating on whatever is common at the park at the time.

Do let us know if you can assist, with materials, with time, or with gardening!

Funding for the improvements and setup of the pollinator garden and butterfly exhibit has been kindly provided by the Rufford Foundation.