Outside the San Agustin Museum is a little garden called Fr. Blanco’s Garden. This garden was named after Fr. Manuel Blanco who is considered the father of Philippine botany. He was the first to compile a list of Philippine flora. There is a statue off to the side of the garden dedicated to him, of course with his potted plant in hand. The ruins by the garden seemed to have been turned into the parish hall. Although the new building is much more usable, the old ruins are now forever lost.
The garden itself isn’t really special either, I remember the garden to be much more spacious but it seems to be much smaller now. Apparently, they have removed the ruins to make way for a better structure. It doesn’t look that bad since it is designed with Spanish era aesthetics, but you can’t really compare it to a centuries old ruin. The plants are still thriving at the garden but seems that there isn’t really much care being put into the garden as it used to. Nevertheless, the garden is still a favorite place for wedding receptions. There is no shelter though so better mark sure there won’t be rain.
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