Botanical Garden
Johannesburg
The Johannesburg Botanical Garden, administered by Johannesburg City Parks, grew out of a large rose garden that was established in 1964 and subsequently expanded from 1969 to cover an area of around 81 hectares.
The land was bought in 1886 for its mining rights as it was hoped that the Confidence Reef would extend into his farm but it did not. In 1933, 13 hectares of the farm were donated to the City of Johannesburg for parks and recreation.
Today there is a collection of more than 3.500 pressed plant specimens of both exotic and indigenous flora and an extensive horticultural reference library of about 4.000 volumes, open for researchers. The Botanical Garden is involved in a seed exchange programme with 300 other gardens worldwide.