The Botanical Garden of Rennes is celebrating its 229th anniversary this year, and its 155th anniversary in its present form with a central plan. Its original origins are even older, as it is the more or less direct successor to the medicinal plant garden of a powerful abbey founded there in the early Middle Ages.
At the same time a precious testimony to the history of botany, a scientific and educational tool and a place of calm and relaxation, this botanical garden is part of a vast and prestigious horticultural complex: the Parc du Thabor, the third most visited park in France.
Despite limited human and material resources and the vicissitudes of two World wars, this botanical garden has managed to preserve its old-fashioned charm while remaining relevant to the present and future. Thus, some part of the old collections and their presentation has been preserved, but these collections are constantly evolving, both in terms of their content and their nomenclature.
The Botanical Garden of Rennes currently holds over 3000 plants from all over the world in its collections but with an increasing focus on regional flora. Working in close contact with other botanical gardens, it also manages a large seed bank and publishes an annual Index seminum.
The Botanical Garden of Rennes no longer uses any phytosanitary products since 2005.