Welcome
The Gothenburg Botanical Garden differs in many respects from most traditional botanical gardens on the European continent. It was conceived and planned by the municipality of Gothenburg (Göteborg) in the 1910's as a botanical garden with an extra emphasis on horticulture, and with a broad scope in the Swedish community life. It remains a public garden to this day. For a long time our garden was administered by the city of Gothenburg, but nowadays it is part of the larger Region Västra Götaland.
The area in total is 175 hectares (ca 430 acres), of which most constitutes a nature reserve including our arboretum. The garden proper is about 40 hectars and we are growing something like 16,000 different species and cultivars in various parts of it. Our Rock Garden is (to put it mildly) famous and has received three stars in Guide Michelin. Other fascinating parts of the garden are The Rhododendron Valley and The Japanese Glade, just to mention a few.
In the Greenhouses you will find about 4,000 various species and cultivars, including some 1,500 orchids, a remarkable travertine department and the rare Eastern Island Tree. Every summer there is some interesting exhibition going on in the Greenhouses.
Rewarded for it's beauty
In 2003 our garden was awarded as just that! And this in the very first year that the contest was arranged in Sweden. Furthermore, in a contest 2006, "The most beautiful garden in Europe", we placed an honourable 3rd. You are welcome to come and investigate yourself, in real or virtual reality, what you think about that.
From Gardens of Europe (Garden Art Press, Antique Collectors Club), 2007, by Charles Quest-Ritson:
»Gothenburg's botanical garden is Sweden's biggest and best. It is regularly voted the country's most popular garden and, if you visit, you will understand why: it combines botanical breadth with horticultural enthusiasm and sets out to please and delight its visitors. It has never been an academic garden, yet it has over 16.000 taxa, and its enormous rock-garden has received three stars in the Guide Michelin. It is a natural rock-garden that merges into the indigenous scrubland at the top, with many different habitats (including areas for woodland- and peat-loving plants) and a sequence of cascades, ponds and streams.
Plants are arranged geographically (Europe, Asia and America) and include everything from Swiss Edelweiss to hardy cacti from Canada. The sheer number and beauty of well-grown plants is inspirational. (...) The Japanese Glade is a large garden around a lake designed in the Japanese style, though the plants (all Japanese, too) are allowed to grow freely: the magnolias, azaleas, cherries and cercidiphyllums are especially colorful.
The extensive Rhododendron Woodland valley, best from mid-May to early June, is also outstanding – one of the largest collections in Scandinavia. (...) Spare some time to wander round the arboretum and, if you visit in late April or early May, through the Wood Anemone Valley, where the native Anemone nemorosa covers the slopes like snow.«