La Vega is much more than a business venture to owner, Bertram Manhin, whose lifelong love affair with plants and nature led him to purchase the estate in 1983. An avid plant collector, Manhin soon established a nursery which he stocks with plant material from both local sources and his travels around the world.

Also a great lover of fruit, Manhin has successfully introduced and cultivated a wide variety of rare and exotic fruit in Trinidad. Among his favorites are rambutan from Malaysia, giant dongs and sweet carambola from Taiwan, abiu and giant peewah from Brazil and Costa Rica.

With all this growing and blossoming going on, a garden centre was set up in San Fernando in 1986. As time went by and yet more growing and blossoming, it was soon time for a retail outlet at the estate itself. The Additional stucture was built in 1988 but has more than quadrupled in size and continues to expand on what seems like a weekly basis.

Yet still, Manhin continues on with his search for the best rose, the best anthurium, the best hibiscus, the best bougainvillea, the best orchid, the best palm, the best fruit, the best ... and our collection grows and grows! Did we mention that he has had to hire the entire family to support his passion?

True to form, not satisfied with just a nursery and two garden centres, Manhin decided to create a "garden" at La Vega. Hello, Bamboo Nursery! Needless to say, many gardens, two ponds, one humongous lake and thousands of happy visitors later, we are now in the process of planning log cabins!

Some of our visitors claim that "La Vega is heaven on earth" and we wouldn't have it any other way...