The Jardin botanique de Metz (4.4 hectares), also known as the Jardin botanique de la Ville de Metz, is a botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 located at 27 ter, rue du Pont-à-Mousson, Montigny-lès-Metz

Montigny-lès-Metz

Montigny-lès-Metz is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It is the largest suburb of the city of Metz, and is adjacent to it on the west.-External links:*...

, Moselle

Moselle

Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, Lorraine

Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is open daily; admission is free.

The garden was originally known as Frescatelly Park, an estate of Philippe d'Aubertin of Bionville, whose summer pavilion (built 1719) currently houses the directorate of the Department of Parks. It was purchased by the city of Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

 in 1866 and landscaped primarily in the English style by city architect Demoget. Its greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s were originally built on the city's esplanade in 1861, during the World Fair, and moved to the Botanical Garden in 1880.

Today the garden contains a rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 garden (80 varieties), fragrance garden, collection of grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es, flower beds, and a mature arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 with Aesculus flava, bald cypress, Diospyros virginiana

Diospyros virginiana

Diospyros virginiana, commonly called the American persimmon, common persimmon, Eastern persimmon, "'simmon" and "possumwood", is a persimmon species known by a variety of names including. It ranges from New England to Florida, and west to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas...

, Fagus sylvatica asplenifolia, ginkgo, Melia azedarach

Melia azedarach

Melia azedarach is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, that is native to Pakistan, India, Indochina Southeast Asia and Australia...

, sequoia

Sequoia

Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae . Common names include coast redwood, California redwood, and giant redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 12001800 years or more...

(140 years old), and Sophora japonica, as well as a large stand of hardy bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 (Phyllostachys aurea

Phyllostachys aurea

Phyllostachys aurea is a bamboo species in the genus Phyllostachys native to China and introduced in Japan. It is also a garden ornamental, and the most commonly cultivated bamboo in the United States, where they grow very aggressively in the southern, warm and moist climates.-Vernacular...

). Its greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s (1,000 m2) contain about 4,500 plants representing 80 botanical families

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

, including orchids, cacti

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

, and palm

Arecaceae

Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

s.

The garden also contains three ponds, numerous winding paths, a bronze statue of an eagle (1866) by Metz animalier

Animalier

An animalier is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists...

 Christopher Fratin

Christopher Fratin

Christopher Fratin , also known as Christophe Fratin, was a noted French sculptor in the animalier style, and one of the earliest French sculptors to portray animals in bronze....

, and a toy train railway that circles through the site.