By 1860, when the first part of Lawrence Gardens had been laid out, the site had become a wilderness, partly used as a menagerie and the rest as a pleasure ground for badminton, archery and cricket. The first tree planted in the garden was in January 1862 and that same year Lawrence Hall was constructed for holding public meetings and theatrical entertainment.[6] In 1866 Montgomery Hall was also completed and in 1868 the site enlarged through the purchase of land to the south of the gardens. By 1876 the garden contained 80,000 trees and shrubs of 600 different species including trees from the plains of India, Austria, Syria, and southern Europe.[6]
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lawrence Garden began selling plants it had grown to the general public. Fruit trees were imported from across the British Empire, including grapes and mulberries from Kabul, peaches from Agra , and plantain from Calcutta.[6] In 1904 the Department of Agriculture became responsible for maintenance of the garden and since 1912 approximately seven acres have been managed by Government College University, Lahore.[6]
The gardens are currently situated within 141 acres (0.57 km2). The site was originally larger, consisting of 176 acres (0.71 km2), however part of the land was given to Lahore Zoo, and for local development.
Botany
Pterygota alata in Bagh-e-Jinnah
It has almost 150 varieties of trees, 140 types of shrubs, 50 types of creepers, 30 palms, almost 100 succulent and about same indoor along with almost all varieties of annual flowers. The garden has a good name in Chrysanthemum shows, it was the first institute that started growing chrysanthemum and maximum no of varieties for it. It has 3 nurseries, 4 hilloaks in it.
Information and services
Bagh-e-Jinnah has two libraries, Quaid-e-Azam library and Darussalam in it.
Regarding collection of trees, shrubs and climbers a book has been published by Ch. Muhammad Tariq (DDA Jinnah Garden, Muhammad Ramzan Rafique (Agricultural Officer) and Dr. Muhammad Afzal (Instructor). (Flora of Jinnah Garden) This book contains common name, botanical name, flower time, type of plant (deciduous or evergreen), flowering colour of each plant along with its picture. Furthermore, this book contains selective pictures from the palm garden, annual flowers in this garden. This book can be obtained from the office of Jinnah Garden.
The park receives a nostalgic mention of the 1970s and 1980s life in Bano Qudsia's Urdu novel Raja Gidh.
The Park has a Tomb of a saint named Peer Sakhi Abul Faizul Hassan commonly known as Baba Turat Muraad Shah, with a heavy number of visitors.
Bagh-e-Jinnah park is a famous cricket ground since 1885, built for the entertainment of government officers and civil servants.[10]Lahore Gymkhana Club had regular fixtures here. The ground played host to friendly matches, competitive fixtures and host to Pakistan's first unofficial Test against the West Indies in 1948. A few more unofficial Tests later, Bagh-e-Jinnah became a Test venue when Pakistan took on India in 1954–55. New Zealand[11] and West Indies[12] also played a Test here before Bagh-e-Jinnah lost its Test status as it played second fiddle to Gaddafi Stadium but still hosts tour matches involving visiting nations, especially England.[13]
^ abcdeREHMAN, ABDUL. "CHANGING CONCEPTS OF GARDEN DESIGN IN LAHORE FROM MUGHAL TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES". Garden History, vol. 37, no. 2, 2009, pp. 205–217. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27821596. Accessed 19 February 2021.
^Yaqoob Khan Bangash (7 December 2014). "The unfortunate Lawrence". The News on Sunday. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
^A profile of the Quaid-e-Azam Library, 25 December 1984, the then President General Mohammad Ziaul Haq officially inaugurated the Quaid-e-Azam Library
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