The garden Linnaeus encountered had known better days. Founded in 1655 by Olaus Rudbeck, it was Sweden's first botanical garden, eventually housing approximately 1,800 species by century's end. Then came the catastrophic Uppsala fire of 1702, which destroyed much of the city. The garden survived but fell into abandonment. For nearly three decades, what had been a center of botanical learning became an overgrown relic. When Linnaeus arrived as a student, he found opportunity where others saw only decay. His demonstration of botanical mastery to Celsius that spring day set him on a path that would lead to a professorship, and from there, to one of the great intellectual projects of the Enlightenment.

Under Linnaeus's direction, the collection doubled in size, but the original site had a fundamental problem: the ground was too wet for many species. Carl Peter Thunberg, Linnaeus's successor, approached King Gustav III with a solution. The royal castle in Uppsala stood on higher ground, with formal gardens that could be converted to botanical purposes. Gustav III exceeded all expectations. He not only gave the requested land but added another plot south of Norbyvägen, then paid for the landscaping himself. He laid the foundation stone for a new orangery and remained personally involved until his assassination in 1792. After his death, funds dried up, and the orangery didn't open until 1802.

Gustav IV Adolf, the next king, made his own peculiar contribution. In 1802, he donated items from his grandmother Queen Louisa Ulrika's collection - she had been a significant patron to Linnaeus during his lifetime. But Gustav IV Adolf's most memorable gift was alive: a lion, housed in the new orangery. Based on the scientific understanding of the time, the caretakers fed it live chickens. The lion did not thrive. It died from unknown causes in 1803, a reminder that even royal enthusiasm cannot overcome the fundamental challenges of keeping African predators in Swedish captivity. The university continued displaying zoological collections in the orangery until 1856, when they moved to the Gustavianum.

Today, Uppsala University maintains three botanical gardens, each tied to Linnaeus's memory. The original 1655 site survives as the Linnaean Garden, maintained to Linnaeus's recorded design - a living reconstruction of how he organized his botanical world. Linnaeus Hammarby, his family's summer home, offers another window into his life. And the main Botanical Garden near Uppsala Castle, born from royal generosity and scientific ambition, continues as a center for public education. The shift from university research site to public recreation mirrors changes in botanical gardens worldwide during the 19th century. Since the late 1800s, public funds have supported its maintenance.

The significance of Uppsala's botanical garden extends far beyond Sweden. Here, Linnaeus developed and refined the binomial nomenclature system - genus and species - that scientists still use to name every organism on Earth. Every plant and animal you've ever read about, from Homo sapiens to Tyrannosaurus rex, carries a name structured according to principles Linnaeus formalized while walking these paths. The garden where he proved himself to Celsius, the collection he expanded from neglect to world prominence, the royal land where his successors built the modern institution - all of it represents not just botanical history but a fundamental shift in how humanity understands and categorizes the natural world. The labels in gardens everywhere echo what began here.