The garden was established in 1861 as an experimental cultivation of Cinchona, a commercial crop thriving at the time. Once after the Tea replaced the Cinchona, it was turned into an experimental Tea cultivation. In 1884 it transformed to a garden. Since then many sub-tropical and some temperate plants were planted in the gardens. There are over 10,000 species of flora planted here and during the spring season in Nuwara Eliya thousands of visitors come to see the blooms here. Numbers of annual visitors are around 500,000. The garden is famous for number of species of Orchids and Roses planted there.