Neff developed the first plan of the garden in the spring of 1882, set up the nursery and built a house for himself, starting construction in 1884. Acacia trees were originally planted, flowerbeds were shaped, a small artificial lake was built and this all was fenced with a hedge of oaks and hawthorns. The nursery produced saplings that met the needs of the city and were also sold to the citizen. Acacia trees were most widely produced together with mulberry trees, trumpet flowers, elm trees, plane trees and others. The nursery was shaped as a garden in 1885 and had an area of 300,000 m² in 1886 with four main alleys.