Nantes was a port that traded with the Americas and the Indian Ocean, and captains were once required to bring seeds home. The garden grew out of that, and it still holds serious collections — camellias in particular, which arrived through this port before anywhere else in France.
It is seven hectares of glasshouses, ponds, a magnolia collection and long lawns, immediately beside the main railway station.
Claude Ponti, the children's author, has installed enormous whimsical sculptures through the garden — a giant sleeping child in a flowerbed, a bench that has eaten a tree. They are permanent and they are free.
It is next to the station, so it is the right place to spend a spare hour before a train.
Jardin des Plantes in pictures
