Old Botanical Garden, Kiel

The Old Botanical Garden in Kiel[1] (German: Alter Botanischer Garten Kiel) (2.5 hectares), also known as the Old Botanical Garden on the Fjord (Alter Botanischer Garten an der Förde), is a former botanical garden and arboretum located at Düsternbrooker Weg 19, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

The Old Botanical Garden began as the private park of tobacco manufacturer Abraham Christian Brauer, who in 1825 created a garden with curved walkways, differentiated woody plantings, a swan pond, and excellent views of Kiel's fjord landscape.

Upon his death in 1868 the site was acquired by the University of Kiel, and from 1878 to 1884 was refashioned by botanist Adolf Engler as a botanical garden, introducing geographic plantings of exotic species while preserving the landscape aesthetics.

Its fence and pavilion were extensively restored from 1984 to 1994, and since 1998 the cottage has served as the Literature House of Schleswig-Holstein.

Today the garden contains more than 280 species of diverse herbaceous flora, with an interesting collection of trees that includes one of the largest ginkgo trees in Schleswig-Holstein, two specimens of Metasequoia glyptostroboides said to be the oldest of their kind on the European mainland (planted circa 1948 from Arnold Arboretum seeds), and mature specimens of Amur cork tree, Juniperus rigida, Sequoia sempervirens, and Taxodium distichum.