Tours Botanic Garden

Laid out between the Loire and the Cher, the botanical garden is the perfect place for a good walk. To the south, the arboretum contains hundreds of tree varieties in a scientifically fascinating garden. At the botanical garden of Tours, more than 150 genera and species of trees and shrubs are presented between the main entrance and the play areas to the south. Some trees are remarkable for their size, foliage or age. Let us first mention, at the entrance to the garden opposite the Hospital, on the left, an exceptional copy of Ginkgo biloba, "the tree with 40 ecus". Present from Doctor Bretonneau, a great lover of botany, it was planted in 1845. It is a male foot on which a female branch was grafted at the beginning of the XXth century. The animals were introduced into the botanical garden in 1856 to attract the public to this new public space. At the time, it was an acclimatization garden with animals such as monkeys or lions from circuses or the zoo. The best known of them remains Bobby the seal, which delighted the public until 1996. At present, the animal collection of the Botanical Garden to which the locals are still attached, is traditionally oriented towards exotic species: wallabies share their enclosure with emus. In the center of the garden, an aviary shelters parrots and parakeets.

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