The garden was established in 1822 as the Romberg family's
English landscape park around their mooted castle Brünninghausen (). Weyhe visited the site twice per year to inspect the work, to determine trails and the lake with an island, a bridge and the Bastei which remains. The leading gardener was , who later became director of the municipal gardens in
Cologne. The building within the park were designed by architect , who continued Reinking's after his death in 1819, and te Stroet. The property is located in the south of the city, adjacent to the zoo. In 1926, it was acquired by the city, which transferred its botanical garden from close to the inner city to the larger property. With city planning director Richard Nose, it was enhanced by a small
herb garden. The park was badly damaged by bombing in 1944 during World War II, and the castle was destroyed. In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, officers of the
Gestapo murdered almost 300 people in the Rombergpark and the nearby forest . The victims were mostly forced labourers and prisoners of war from several European countries, as well as previously imprisoned opponents of the Nazi regime. These events are commemorated today at the
Mahnmal Bittermark, and by a memorial plaque at the park, which is planted with white roses, alluding to the
Weiße Rose resistance to the Nazis. Beginning in 1950, director Gerd Krüssmann rebuilt the park as an
arboretum, adding some 4500 species. Four
greenhouses were built in 1958, with an integrated cafe. A garden of
medicinal plants was added in 1985. Today the garden contains a historic English landscape park with monuments, an arboretum containing thousands of species of woody plants, including some of the largest trees of some species in
North Rhine-Westphalia, a terrace with
palm trees, and four greenhouses with a total area of 1000 m2 for
cactus and
succulents,
ferns,
tropical plants, and
camellias,
jasmine, and
lemons. A large lake is home for fish, turtles and water fowl. A smaller lake is surrounded by water cypress. The lakes are fed by "red" creeks rich in iron minerals. A linden alley was planted in 1888. The blooming of
rhododendrons is an annual attraction. The greenhouses with the cafe, and the park as a whole are listed monuments. == Gallery ==