Tsoying Indigenous Botanical Garden Ecological, Educational and LeisureA Multi-function Metropolitan Garden 左營原生植物園─生態、教育、遊憩多功能
It seems as if a spirit of bright green spring is in the air welcoming newborn after hibernation. After renovation, the botanical garden located on Chung-guang Road, Ao-tzu-ti, Tsoying District, reveals its new appearance.
A brand-new garden
The Indigenous Botanical Garden is Kaohsiung City's professional botanical garden. Its size is 4.66 hectares and it was set up during 1993-94. This garden which has various kinds of indigenous plants seems a back garden for the leisure uses of the people living near Tsoying District, many of whom get to know the indigenous plants. In several years, this garden had experienced damage from storms, winds, and rain. The explanation boards inside the garden were becoming old and damaged. With the enthusiastic winning over of Maintenance Construction Office of Kaohsiung City Government, in 2001, this department handed in a plan of improvement to the Council of Agriculture's Forestry Research Institute and Construction and Planning Administration of Ministry of Interior─two divisions of the Council of Agriculture that were already subsidizing one of two local botanical gardens (the other being Jen-shan Botanical Garden in I-Lan County). Their initial subsidizing fee for the Indigenous Botanical Garden was NT 36,000,000 dollars. The renovation of the whole area include improving growth of the plants, increasing management of services, renewing facilities for explanation, and adding public facilities for leisure. After its renovation, the garden is much improved in its educational and leisure functions.
Brightening by landscaping
As to details of renovation, the original facilities and plants are included in the corporate plan. If the original special types of plants are in short supply, more will be added. Also, other various plants are being added and raised in order to increase biological variety and enhance metropolitan botanical function. According to the chief of the third section of Maintenance Office of Public Works Department, Chief Hsu, in order to brightening appearance of botanical garden, the whole design of the Indigenous Botanical Garden highlights the characters of the South's plants. Indigenous plants include Pistacia chinensis, tavingad, cuban bast, kamaya, and so on. They not only show the characters of coral reefs of Shoushan, showing the variety of plants in low elevation above sea level, but also show how to make use of landscaping to let the public enjoy an excellent botanical environment (instead of inflexible paths among the plants). Within the garden, there are squares with leisure facilities, streams, an ecological area, an aquatic plants area, a large coral reefs area, an information center, a landscaped garden of the Venerable Tsao Water Channel, mangrove, a walking path for viewing the coral reef, a botanical walking path with poetic guide, an Explanation Board, and so on.
Continuous management & education
In order to increase the intimacy between this garden and the citizens, the project of the Indigenous Botanical Garden especially pays attention to introducing and explaining the plants. In order to make visitors fully understand, besides adding the plants explaining system and printing educational information, this present garden has an information center transformed from the original public toilet. It includes a service and consultation center; libraries; multi-media studios; administrative offices; offices for printing and distributing folded guide handbooks, and for arranging the groups of administrators and trained guides in charge of different spots. Additionally, some inhabitants in neighboring communities have come together and organized the Association of Chuang-chia for helping look after this botanical garden and being volunteer helpers. The whole plan for the indigenous botanical ecological resource should be convenient for the public─making visiting easy and providing rich outdoor teaching activities.
The Indigenous Botanical Garden is scheduled to open in summer vacation. It will become an ecological, educational and leisure multi-functioned metropolitan-type garden for the Tsoying Area and more widely for the Great Kaohsiung Area in the future.
Traffic Bus 17, 217 & 301
就像冬眠後迎接春天的新生，充滿了綠意盎然的朝氣。位於左營區凹仔底重光路旁原生植物園重新換妝後，以全新的風貌迎風招展。
原生植物&嶄新風貌
原生植物園為高雄市專業的植物園區，面積為四點六六公頃，設於民國八十二至八十三年間。原生植物園內闢建種植各類原生植物，彷若是左營附近社區住民認識原生植物、休憩運動的後花園，然多年來歷經風吹雨打，園內解說牌逐漸損壞及老舊，在高雄市政府養工處積極的爭取下，於九十年底向農委會林業試驗所、內政部營建署提出改善計劃，成為農委會全國兩處補助地方級植物園之一(另一處為宜蘭縣仁山植物園)，補助經費共計三千六百萬元，全區整建包括加強園區內植栽成長、增設服務管理、更新解說設施，增加休憩等公共設施，整建後大大提昇高雄市凹仔底原生植物園的教育性及遊憩等各項功能。
景觀手法&活化樣貌
改造換裝後的原生植物園，除了就舊有設施、植栽作一整體性規劃，原有植栽缺株補植，另增植其它原生植物及撫育，以增加生物多樣性，並加強都會型植物園功能。據養工處三科許科長指出，為了活化植物園的樣貌，原生植物園整裝設計更凸顯了南部原生植物特色，原生植物包括黃連木、刺桐、黃槿、毛柿等，不但把壽山珊瑚礁岩環境特性引進，展現低海拔植物樣貌，並以景觀手法融入，讓民眾在遊憩中可以感受到園區主題，不再只是硬梆梆的植物動線，重新享有優良的植物園環境。內部設施有演化廣場休憩設施，溪流生態區，水生植物區，隆起珊瑚礁岩區，解說中心，還有曹公圳景觀改善，紅樹林、珊瑚礁觀察步道，植物文學步道，解說平台等完善的植物園功能。
解說教育&永續經營
為了使原生植物園與市民的互動更加親近，原生植物園改善工程特別著重於植物解說，除了現場增設植物解說系統並印製原生植物解說教育資料，使遊客能得到充份的了解，並將原有之公共廁所闢建為解說服務中心。解說中心設有服務諮詢處、圖書閱覽室、多媒體放映室、行政辦公室、印製園區導覽摺頁、發放手冊，也將籌組駐點管理人員及培訓解說人員，此外，由附近社區居民結合組成的創價協會亦有意認養植物園，作為植物園志工，完整架構義工導覽原生植物生態資源，以利民眾前往參觀或戶外教學豐富的生態導覽。
原生植物園已於五月底完工，預定暑假正式啟用開放，未來勢必會成為左營，乃至大高雄地區一處兼具生態、教育、休憩多功能的都會型植物園。
交通路線：17, 217 & 301。