Peradeniya Royal Botanical garden is situated about 5km west to the city of Kandy in the Central province of Sri Lanka. It is located about 108 km away from Colombo and about 25km away from Green Leaves Garden, Mawenelle. Annually, more than 3 million people visit this place including foreigners as well as local natives. This botanical garden is considered as the largest botanical garden in the country. The total area of the Peradeniya botanical garden is about 147 acres and it consists with more than 4000 species of plants, including spices and medicinal plants. This place is world renowned for its collection of orchids.
The origin of the Royal Botanical Gardena in Peradeniya dated back to 4th century A.D. Earlier, it was a place where royal court was kept. During King “Wimaladharmasooriya” the 1st, a temple was constructed at this place. Later on, it was destroyed by the invaders. Thereafter, the foundation for a botanical Garden was led by the Alexandra Moor in 1824 A.D. The garden was officially established in 1842 with plants brought from various gardens in all over Sri Lanka. This royal Botanical garden was more expanded during the late 19th century A.D. In 1922, this garden came under the administration of the Department of Agriculture.
Among the items planted in the garden, the Cannonball tree planted by King George V and Queen Mary of United Kingdom is significant. It was planted in 1901 A.D, in order to memories their visit to Sri Lanka. During the world war two, the premises of this botanical garden used by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Commander General of the allied forces in south Asia, as the headquarters of allied forces in South East Asia. However today It has become one of the prominent tourist destinations in Sri Lanka
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