The New Orleans Botanical Garden has its roots in the Great Depression as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Originally known as the City Park Rose Garden, the garden opened in 1936 as New Orleans' first public classical garden. It is one of the few remaining examples of public garden design from the WPA and Art Deco Period remaining today as a showcase of three notable talents: New Orleans Architect Richard Koch, Landscape Architect William Wiedorn, and Artist Enrique Alférez.

Reborn as the New Orleans Botanical Garden in the early 1980s, the garden's collections contain over 2,000 varieties of plants from all over the world set among the nation's largest stand of mature live oaks. The site contains the Conservatory of the Two Sisters, the New Orleans Historic Train Garden, the Yakumo Nihon Teien Japanese Garden and theme gardens containing aquatics, roses, native plants, ornamental trees and shrubs and perennials. The garden also encompasses the Pavilion of the Two Sisters, the Garden Study Center, and the Lath House.

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