Caen Botanical Garden: A Green Escape in the City

The Caen Botanical Garden, also known as Jardin des Plantes de Caen, offers a serene escape into nature within the bustling city. Its history dates back to 1736 when it was created as a university botanical garden to support the teaching of botany in medical and pharmaceutical studies. Over time, it transformed into a municipal park after the French Revolution in 1803.The garden is divided into two main sections. The lower section showcases a diverse collection of plants, including around 1,000 species of native Normandy flora, a medicinal garden with 600 plants, 700 varieties of horticultural collections, 1,500 dwarf rockery specimens, and an arboretum featuring 500 species of trees and shrubs. A greenhouse houses approximately 1,500 exotic species. The upper section serves as a public landscape park, inviting visitors to stroll and relax amidst remarkable trees like the Sophora japonica, Sequoiadendron giganteum, and Cryptomeria japonica.During World War II, the garden suffered significant damage, with greenhouses and a botanical institute being destroyed. However, the garden was revitalized with new greenhouses built in 1988. Today, the garden continues to serve an educational role, offering advice from gardening professionals and hosting workshops. The garden is committed to environmental issues, even offering ladybug and lacewing eggs to local gardeners in the spring to promote biological gardening. The garden is recognized as a Jardin Remarquable (Remarkable Garden).