A private Chiang Mai botanical garden, Dokmai

Dokmai Garden is a private Chiang Mai botanical garden, providing a gateway to the understanding of the nature and culture of northern Thailand. Our Swedish botanist Dr Eric Danell and the Thai family Seehamongkol live in this private 4 hectare (10 acres) botanical garden. After the introduction you get from us we believe you will be better prepared to understand other Thai gardens, local food markets and nearby national parks where thorough information and English and scientific names may be scarce. Multilingual information signsare placed at points of interest around the garden.

"Dokmai" means flower, and we have over 1000 species, but we focus on all living beings, including birds, fish, butterfliesand mushrooms. You are very welcome to enjoy our Thai botanical garden!

“Great time at Dokmai Garden.”

รีวิวเมื่อ 29 เมษายน 2010

Spent a few hours here under the guidance of Eric who described to us many of the species of flora in this wonderful garden. In addition to his vast knowledge of plant species he was also very knowledgeable about different species of insect who also inhabit the garden. Although it was dry season when we visited there was plenty to see, touch and even taste, we were encouraged to sample the many edible fruits and herbs grown there. We look forward to returning on our next visit to Chiang Mai to see if the plans made for the garden have come to fruition.

Restaurant

The Dokmai Garden Restaurant in Chiangmai is proud to serve you high quality Thai dishes. Many ingredients come from our own organic garden. We cook slowly and from scratch, but in return you will have a full-flavoured dish free from monosodium glutamate and pesticides. We serve wine, beer, water, sparkling water, juices and home-made rosella drinks (Hibiscus sabdariffa is an African plant). Head of the kitchen is Sakchai Seehamongkol, but all members of the family are experienced cooks. Would you like to join them in their cooking? Absolutely, join our cooking school! As you will see from our blog, we have many interesting Thai dishes.

Organic fruits and vegetables for sale

Dokmai Garden produces organic fruits and vegetables which we hitherto have used ourselves or for our restaurant. In total we have over 350 edible plant species, most of which are grown for display only. However, since our garden grows rapidly, there is now room for sharing some of our crops with you.

Following a Californian model suggested by Mark Bleadon in Chiang Mai, we offer our supporters a share in a harvest. You buy a share in advance, 500 Baht, and you tell us which products you are interested in. Then we alert you by e-mail when the time has come for harvesting, which you do yourself. In the e-mail, we state how much you can harvest at that time. If you are not interested in harvesting when alerted, you need to tell us or the product will be spoilt which is the same as buying it. You can keep harvesting small amounts over a period of time until you have reached the amount of the share, which you can renew again. Please note that the number of shares are limited, and that some products are only available once a year.

As a share holder of a crop you are assured of organic and fresh products straight from the farm. We are also happy to provide you with cooking suggestions.

These are our fruits:

Banana, Gluay Nam Wa. 25 Baht per hand
Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) 100 Baht per fruit
Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) 200 Baht per kg
Lemon, yes, real lemons (Citrus x limon) 20 B/fruit
Longan (Dimocarpus longan) 25 Baht per kg
Malay gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus) 200 Baht per kg
Mango (Mangifera indica) Nam dokmai 25 Baht per kg
Mango (Mangifera indica) Kiao sawauy 25 Baht per kg
Forest mango (Mangifera caloneura) 50 Baht per kg
Papaya (Carica papaya) 10 Baht per kg
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Nang lae (dessert) 20 B/fruit
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) Galae (cooking) 20 B/fruit

These are our vegetables:
Camembert leaf (Acacia pennata) cha om 10 B/bundle
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) 20 Baht/kg
Cassava, boiled (Manihot esculenta) 100B/kg
Basil, Sweet (Horapha) 10 B/bundle
Basil, Yira 10 B/bundle
Sweet corn (Zea mays) 10 Baht per ear
Curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) 1 Baht per leaflet
Eggplant, green round (Solanum melongena) 20 B/kg
Greater galanga (Alpinia galanga) 3 heads 20 Baht
Gliricidia sepium blossom 10 Baht per dl
Makrut lime leaves (Citrus hystrix) 1B/leaf.
Neem flowers (Azadirachta indica) 10 B/bundle
Spring onion (Allium fisulosum) 5B/onion
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) 100 Baht per kg
Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata) 10 B/bundle
Water mimosa (Neptunia olearacea) 20 Baht per fistful

These are our spices:
Rosemary 20 B/bundle

These are our fish: Nile Tilapia 80 B/kg

These are our mammals:
Wild Boar piglets 1500 Baht/each (not entirely organic since they also get kitchen food).
Currently sold out.