BOTANY IS BLOOMING IN KIBBUTZ EIN GEDI

BOTANICAL GARDENS – AN OASIS IN THE DESERT

A botanical garden is a garden hosting a collection of living plants for the purpose of research, conservation, education or just simply display. In Ein Gedi, an internationally recognized botanical garden and the only one of its kind that is inhabited, boasts an exuberance of color, species, shapes and sizes. The garden was established on the desert mountain plateau, overlooking the stunning Dead Sea lake, in 1956. The kibbutz – an intentional community created in 1910 for the purposes of establishing the Land of Israel – held a communal meeting within weeks of their arrival at the Dead Sea. Whilst tilling the land for agriculture self-sufficiency as well as income for the community, and gathering funds for building homes and communal facilities, the young people thought it of great importance to establish the ground rules for living in the remote, dry arid and extreme climatic region, the land must be cultivated,

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people should live in a well maintained, clean and functional area.  So over the years, the gardeners, who were in their late teens at the time, dug and raked, planted and watered, sang and spoke to, cared and loved every single root that was embedded in the desert soil. Countries from across the globe donated plants, trees and bushes for the good of the cause and here we are 67 years on with a garden that explodes lusciousness, opulence and lavish greenery from all over the world. A botanical garden that does credit to a camera lens and is well worth a visit.