Xu Garden is a partial calque of the Chinese name written 煦園 in traditional characters or 煦园 in simplified ones, both spelled Xù Yuán in the pinyin transcription of their Mandarin pronunciation.

When the forces of Hong Xiuquan occupied Nanjing during the Taiping Rebellion (1851–64), the residence became the Heavenly King's Palace and the park its West Garden.

After the Xinhai Revolution, while the provisional government of the Republic of China was being set up in Nanjing in January 1912, the garden was used as the office and residence of the provisional president Sun Yat-sen. After the ROC government was formally established in April 1927, the garden housed the offices of the National Revolutionary Army, the Military Affairs Commission, and the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China and its adoption of Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Policy, Xu Garden was designated a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level along with the rest of the Former Location of the Heavenly King's Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

A 14.5-meter (48 ft) gray stone boat engraved to mimic timber woodgrain sits in the garden pond.