The Carlos Thays Botanical Garden occupies a triangular site in Palermo and preserves one of the most important historic landscapes in Buenos Aires. Designed by French-Argentine landscape architect Carlos Thays, it brings together plant collections from several continents, greenhouses, sculpture, buildings and paths within dense urban fabric. The garden functions simultaneously as a botanical institution, a landscape composition and a living archive of species adapted to very different conditions.
Planting is organised partly by geographical origin. Trees, shrubs and other plants from Argentina, the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania form sectors in which foliage, bark, flowering and growth form can be compared. This arrangement turns the route into a botanical map constructed through living organisms.
Native Argentine species occupy a central place. Plants from subtropical rainforest, temperate woodland, wetlands and dry regions reveal the country’s ecological breadth. Bringing specimens from distant environments close together makes adaptations to temperature, rainfall, soils and seasonality visible.
Mature trees determine much of the atmosphere. Their crowns create deep shade, reduce temperature and filter traffic noise. Trunks of different diameters, colours and textures reveal varied ages and species, while roots and branches make a long history of growth perceptible.
Bark functions as an identifying feature. Smooth, rough, scaled or fissured surfaces change with moisture and light. Some species retain pale tones; others display brown, grey, green or reddish colour. These details reveal diversity even outside flowering periods.
Historic greenhouses introduce an architecture of iron and glass. Their light structures enclose controlled environments in which temperature and humidity can differ from the exterior. Repeated metal profiles, reflection and transparency contrast with the mass of trees and shrubs.
Inside the greenhouses, plants are distributed according to particular needs. Large leaves, fleshy stems, climbing plants and sensitive species form denser or more humid landscapes. Light passes through the glass and produces an atmosphere different from the irregular shade of the open garden.
Paths organise circulation through curves, crossings and small openings. Some pass through densely wooded areas; others border lawns, collections or buildings. The layout allows species to appear gradually and prevents the whole garden from being reduced to one view.
Sculpture and monuments add an artistic layer. Classical figures, busts and decorative pieces are distributed among vegetation and paths. Their relationship changes with plant growth, leaf fall and the direction of light, making every work part of a variable landscape composition.
The principal building preserves architecture connected with the scientific and administrative role of the garden. Terraces, stairs, openings and walls establish a direct relationship with nearby collections. Its presence recalls a period when botanical gardens combined research, teaching and civic representation.
Labels turn the planting into a documented collection. Scientific names, families and origins connect every specimen with systems of classification. The garden therefore shows that observing a plant also means placing it within an evolutionary and geographical history.
Flowering transforms particular sectors throughout the year. Flowers, fruit and seeds appear at different moments and change colour, fragrance and insect activity. Some species concentrate their visual presence within brief periods; others maintain a constant structure through foliage, bark or form.
Birds, insects and smaller organisms use crowns, trunks, flowers and ground. Pollinators, urban species and fauna associated with mature trees turn the collection into an active habitat. Biodiversity depends not only on the planted specimens, but on the relationships they create.
The garden maintains a constant connection with Palermo. Buildings, avenues and traffic surround the grounds, but dense vegetation filters many views and sounds. The transition from street to path produces an immediate change of scale, temperature and light.
Water adds another ecological layer through ponds and damp sectors. Aquatic plants, reflected light and wet edges support organisms different from those of drier beds and lawns. Even small variations in water availability produce noticeably different plant communities.
The triangular city block shapes the layout. Curving paths absorb awkward corners and narrow edges, turning the rigid geometry of surrounding streets into a more fluid internal landscape. The garden’s design therefore transforms an urban parcel rather than ignoring its constraints.
Horticultural work remains largely invisible but essential. Irrigation, pruning, soil management, propagation, plant labelling and greenhouse control keep the living collection coherent over time. The garden is not a static park but an actively managed scientific and educational landscape.
The Carlos Thays Botanical Garden is defined by the union of science, landscape and architecture. Geographical collections, mature trees, greenhouses, sculpture, labels, ponds and paths form an inseparable whole. Its distinctive quality lies in preserving within Buenos Aires a living botanical map where species from many regions coexist with the history of the city’s landscape design.
