The parque botánico

The parkland presents a unique opportunity for a living extension of the Museum’s architecture, exhibits and program. As a public space in a popular location it will provide a beautiful, inviting oasis for a variety of experiences:  shade and shelter, a quiet safe place to observe nature, a place to learn, and a place to celebrate.

A cross between a typical urban park of lawn and trees and a wild natural park, it will be new to Panama.  Rather than attempt to recreate nature, the landscape elements of the park will present a selection of native Panamanian plants, 287 varieties of them, in two hectares of stylized settings designed to emphasize the individual beauty of trees, shrubs and groundcovers appropriate for the urban garden. 

Every plant will be chosen for its natural beauty, its appropriateness for the site and the story it has to tell.  Stories of Panama’s history, food and shelter, symbiotic relationships, fruit and flowers. They will attract wildlife. They will invite people. 

The Educational Message and the Information Stations

The park’s stories will be based on anthropomorphism: every living thing, including people, has much the same basic needs. These educational tales will be told in two ways:  passively, with signage; and interactively, by storytellers (park guides).   

Every visit will offer a new observation. In eight locations placed throughout the park, eight central concepts will be presented.  A plant or animal whose story relates to our own lives and experiences will represent each concept.  The location of each station will correspond with its message as well as providing a sheltered spot to sit and relax, to observe and to learn.

The concepts presented will be symbiosis, ethnobotany, co-evolution, morphology, survival, behavior, habitat and water conservation.

The Plantings of the Park

When a plant is removed from the competition of the wild and placed in the care of a garden it can develop in a way that people respond to as more beautiful. 

A cross between nature and total artifice, the park will be planted as such a garden.  Simple, emphatic combinations of textures and colors will draw attention to the inherent beauty of Panama’s incredible plants and they, in turn, will provide a home for wildlife.

Careful maintenance, using sustainable, organic methods, will make each plant realize its full potential as a landscape specimen.  New possibilities for the landscape will be presented to Panamanians and the entire gardening world.