Jardin Botanique de Tours

The botanical garden in Tours is the town’s most ancient public garden, created in 1843 through the initiative of the chemist Jean Anthyme Margueron (1771-1848) on the ancient bed of the Saint-Anne river.
An animal park and orangery were installed in 1863; Louis Madelin added greenhouses  – hot, temperate and cold – in 1890.
The botanical garden comprises of different parts:

- South, an English-design arboretum, its extremity separated by a pool of water with a “garden of simples” as in medieval gardens,
- North, regular parterres along an avenue of magnolias, with water lilies and lotuses floating in a pond,
- West, heathland plants, a peat bog, a Mediterranean area and an alpine garden
- East at last, a rich collection of bulb plants, rhizomatous plants and hardy perennials, as well as a garden of vegetable evolution.

The orangery and the exhibition greenhouses separate the garden from the technical courtyard where the reproduction greenhouses are.The richness of the collections, the diveristy of its points of interest, the originality of presentation make this scientific garden an outstanding walking destination.