The Ansbach Residence has its own court garden with an orangery, although it has almost always been separated from the palace by other buildings. The orangery was built from 1726 to 1743 with a parterre in front of it and two avenues of lime trees on either side. Running parallel to the façade is the main axis of the garden with two double rows of high lime hedges.
In spring and summer the parterre is planted with a wide variety of flowers in designs based on baroque pattern books. In the summer the orangery produces an assortment of lemon, Seville orange, olive, pistachio, laurel and fig trees grown in tubs.
There are monuments and commemorative plaques to the botanist Leonhart Fuchs, the poet Johann Peter Uz, the margravial minister Freiherr von Benkendorff and the foundling Caspar Hauser, who was murdered in the court garden in 1833. In 2001, to mark the 500th birthday of Leonhart Fuchs, an interesting garden containing many different varieties of medicinal herb was laid out.
References:Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.
The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.
These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.