At his funeral, the oration recognised him for having "built the new gardens, summerhouses and summer palaces so splendidly",[a][3] while his obituary, by Philipp Menzel,[b] referred to the irrigation schemes and fragrance of exotic flowers.

[4][2] Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1595–1612) immediately commenced plans to expand the existing structures and commissioned Joachim Camerarius the Younger (1534–1598), a physician and botanist, to supervise the project, which was implemented from 1597.

The Prince-Bishop's love of nature was probably not the only decisive factor in laying out the garden, the complex with the precious and exotic plants was also a representation of his princely power.

He mentions how he; ... went into eight gardens around the castle, which is situated on rock ... all of which are arranged differently with flowerbeds, flowers, especially beautiful roses, lilies, tulips ... some of which are embellished with painted rooms and summerhouses, including in one room a round ebony table, the leaf and foot of which are inlaid with silver engraved flowers and insects ... the gardens are all going to be turned round as well and levelled with each other around the castle.

[10] The Prince-Bishop had a belvedere balcony (altane) constructed in front of his room full of plants and small trees in containers, visible through the glass windows.

This led to a complex irrigation system of pipes, pillars and a brook bringing water to the entire garden.

[14] One of the reasons that the garden became famous was the variety of what were then considered exotic plants, including potatoes, sunflowers and tomatoes,[c] tulips and figs.

[17] The reconstruction was based on the account by the French botanist Gérard G. Aymonin in the 1988 facsimile edition of the Hortus Eystettensis.

[20] The project was led by Bernd Ringholz[21][22] and the planning and layout as well as procurement of historical varieties and heir planting took almost five years.

The current garden occupies about 1500 sq m. and is laid out in the shape of an open book, as a tribute to Besler, and as in the Hortus, is organised by season.