The World Cup is already well underway, and keen gardeners will have noticed the evocation of Brazil's rich natural heritage in the opening ceremony.
People dressed as plants and trees marked the occasion, while children danced up and down on giant water lilies. Named in honour of Queen Victoria, the Victoria Amazonica lily has a leaf of up to 3m (9.8ft) in diameter – a bit bigger than your average garden pond variety.
It's been an eventful tournament so far for football fans, with plenty of talking points. While in 2010 watching England was only marginally more exciting than mowing the lawn, they put in a robust performance against Italy and hopes are high they could get a couple of decent results against Costa Rica and Uruguay.
Latin America has a rich biodiversity and is home to some spectacular gardens, so it's worth taking a look at some of these while the tournament's taking place.
Visitors to Mexico City can enjoy the floating gardens of Xochimilco. Known as Chinampas, they date back to a period before the Spanish arrived in the Americas, during the Aztec Empire.
The inventive gardening practice involves constructing rafts on Lake Xochimilco and adding lake mud and soil to the top, creating a fertile base on which crops can be grown. While the tradition is not as common as it once was, around 5,000 chinampas still exist.
As well as containing an abundance of flowers, the gardens are situated within a canal system in a part of the country that is home to a huge range of wildlife, including the endangered Axolotl salamander.
If you fancy paying a trip to Costa Rica, the La Paz waterfall gardens nature park and wildlife reserve provides a breathtaking experience.
Orchids, heliconias and bromeliads can be seen alongside the clear rivers and waterfalls, while the butterfly garden and hummingbird garden allow visitors to view many different species from different areas of the country.
Visitors to Brazil, meanwhile, have the chance to view the Sitio Roberto Burle Marx in Guaratiba, near Rio de Janeiro. More than 3,500 species of plants grow at the location, the site of a former banana plantation.
The 365,000 sq m estate contains specimens obtained from expeditions the famous gardener undertook in the rainforest, along with botanists, landscape architects and other researchers.
An alternative to the rainforest-dominated plants can be found near Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the Estancia Dos Talas ranch.
Covering 1,500 hectares, the gardens were designed in 1908 by the French landscape architect Charles Thays. They are home to over 50 species of trees, brought from far-flung places all over Argentina and Europe.
The ranch is located on the pampas and people who are lucky enough to visit are able to ride with gauchos, walk around the grounds and enjoy fine food and wines.
Gardening might not be the obsession it is in the UK, but the Latin Americans certainly manage to create some spectacular gardens using the natural resources available to them. If you're into gardening and football, it sounds like paradise.
