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The Ramon Margalef i López Ecologist Gardens, formerly the Acclimatization Gardens, were built in 1930 by Rubió i Tudurí, the year following the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929, on the land where the pavilions had been located 'Italy and Sweden. The aim was the acclimatization of foreign species from the five continents that were brought for the exhibition extended until 1937 and interrupted by the Civil War. In 1945 the architect Lluís Riudor and the botanist Joan Pañella resumed planting work until the 1980s. This garden houses around 230 species of plants. The trees are sufficiently separated from each other to be able to know the possibilities of development in Barcelona's climate.
The surface of the gardens is divided into two large levels connected by stone steps. On the upper level, very shady, there are stone pergolas for climbing species.
The paths are paved with benches. Many specimens are identified with the scientific name, the common name and the area where they originate.

vegetation
There are remarkable spaces, either because of their rarity, or because of the exceptionality of the foot. The most noteworthy is an immense specimen of sapindal ( Koelreuteria paniculata ), located near the entrance to the garden, a large ginjoler ( Ziziphus jujuba ) and those included in the Catalog of Trees of Local Interest in Barcelona as a specimen of white Siris ( Albizia procera ) ; a molle or columbine ( Schinus longifolia ) ; or Eucalyptus tuart ( Eucalyptus gomphocephala ) .
Among the unique or almost unique specimens are the saffron tree ( Elaedendron crocem ); the Australian willow or mint tree ( Agonis flexuosa ); the excellent piconia ( Ealeodendron capense ), with fruits that look like olives; the coral tree ( Erytrina cristagalli ); Chilean peppermint ( Acacia caven ); the wax tree of Japan ( Toxicodendron succedaneum ); Dot's sophora ( Styphonolobium japonicum ); the pendulous pittosporum ( Pittosporum angustifolium ), a shrub that in this garden over the years and pruning have given it an arboreal look, and the Natal plum tree ( Carissa macrocarpa ). In the gardens there are also exotic conifers, such as the Turkish pine or Cyprus pine ( Pinus brutia ).
As for the climbing plants, we should highlight the giant honeysuckle ( Lonicera hildebrandiana ), with its spectacular orange flowering, the Coutter's poppy ( Romenya coutter ), and climbing up the columns of the pergola, a large specimen of Pereskia aculeata . This is a climbing cactus that looks woody because it suberifies the stems, makes leaves and has clusters of spikes at the nodes that you have to be very careful with!

Art and architecture
At the proposal of the NGO Projecte dels Noms, the AIDS Memorial inaugurated in 2003 and designed by Lluís Abad was inaugurated in this garden. An olive tree, a symbol of peace and eternity, stands in a parterre with elongated stone slabs inside, where a poem by Miquel Martí i Pol has been inscribed.

history
This garden is one of the most important acclimatization trials carried out in Barcelona from the 1930s to the 1980s, with the aim of diversifying the city's flora. It was created by Nicolau M. Rubió and Tudurí the year following the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition on the plot that had been occupied by the Italian and Swedish pavilions.
The first plantings were made with specimens from the five continents that had landscaped the exhibition grounds, and until 1937 Rubió added new ones.
After the end of the Second World War, in 1945, Lluís Riudor, director of public green spaces in Barcelona, and Joan Panyella, botanical technician and teacher at the city's School of Horticulture, restarted the plantings, which lasted until at the end of the 80s. During this period, specimens obtained from the seeds of the Index Seminum de Barcelona were also planted in the Acclimatization Garden.

More information in The Atlas of Biodiversity