St Eustatius / Special Interests / Flowers & Gardens

St Eustatius offers a typically exuberant array of Caribbean flora that includes the rare and endemic Statia morning glory, a purple-flowered vine that blooms between December and April and which is now zealously protected. The island is also home to 18 species of orchids and a variety of cacti. On the negative side, the island is plagued by the apparently unstoppable spread of corallita, also known as Mexican creeper, a vine that cloaks and chokes everything it covers. At present the only way to destroy it is to dig it up and burn it – a battle that seems unlikely to be won.

Miriam C. Schmidt Botanical Garden

A half-hour drive from Oranjestad, travelling on narrow potholed roads that not all taxi-drivers will negotiate, lies a brave botanical project established in 1998 in the remote southeast of St Eustatius. Slowly expanding, this showcase for Caribbean plants has 13 acres (5.3 hectares) of gardens including arbours devoted to the five senses, a bird observation trail, shade house and palm garden. It is open daily from sunrise to sunset but there are no visitor facilities – take a picnic and enjoy the fine views to St Kitts.