Jardin des Plantes de Rouen

Rouen, France, France

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The Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is an 8-hectate municipal botanical garden located at 7 rue de Trianon, on Rouen’s south bank of the Seine, that combines French and English garden styles and is open daily without charge.

Dating back to 1691 when Louis de Carel built a walled garden and pavilion on forest land, Scottish banker John Law purchased it in 1719, the city of Rouen bought the site in 1832 for its botanical garden, and it opened to the public in 1840 as the Jardin des Plantes.

Today the garden houses over 5,600 plant taxa representing 600 species, including an exceptional collection of 991 fuchsia varieties, plus a 1,300 m² rock garden, 450 m² iris and daylily garden, 670 m² rose garden, medicinal plant squares with 60 plants, an orchard, and collections of aromatic and carnivorous plants. 

The garden features historic buildings including a 17th-century pavilion, an orangery, a central greenhouse built 1839–1842 (now a listed historical monument), seven additional greenhouses including a palmarium, and tropical greenhouses built 1936–1938 that house the Amazonian Victoria Regia lily. It also contains statues of local writer Eugène Noël and a runic stone from Norway placed in 1911, and offers year-round workshops, festivals, exhibitions, and cultural activities.