Fletcher Moss Park is part botanic gardens and part wildlife habitat. Stretching to the River Mersey in one direction and Stenner Woods in another, there is potential for long walks through pleasant surroundings as well as the more obvious educational aspect of the botanic garden.

Celebrated for their beauty, the gardens contain an interesting selection of trees and shrubs, including Chusan palms, tulip tree, mulberry, dawn redwood, swamp cypress, Chinese dogwood, Adam's Laburnum, common walnut, Oxydendrum arboreum, a collection of dwarf conifers and many others. Part of the gardens is a rockery originally created by Robert Wood Williamson. It is protected by walls and has proved to be a microclimate well suited to growing plants such as Abutilon and other marginally hardy species which may be hard put to resist the winters in less amenable sites. The gardens are aesthetically organised, mainly on a south-facing slope which facilitates the growth of less hardy species.

The gardens and rockery were sold by Mr. Williamson, together with his house called The Croft*, to Alderman Fletcher Moss, in 1912. Alderman Moss subsequently donated Fletcher Moss Gardens to the people of Manchester in 1919.

A puddled-clay pond at the foot of the rockery supports several terrapins and fish, and is edged by an assortment of royal ferns, marsh marigolds, skunk cabbage, Gunnera and some species of Iris. A stream that meanders down the rockery slope feeds it and there is a naturalness that belies the man-made background to the site.

A meadow edged by pleasant woodland extends from the gardens to the quarter-mile distant River Mersey, offering some interesting walking potential to the more energetic visitor.
Warden-led wildflower planting by school groups regularly takes place in the meadow, and the subsequent growth of biodiversity in the area is proving of interest to the naturalist as well as the gardener.

A bowling green which fell out of use has been converted into a pergola garden: wooden arches planted with climbers lead from each corner to a centrepiece of species roses and the surrounding lawns are interspersed with groups of bedding plants and heathers. This exemplifies the way in which the garden is continually evolving, so that subsequent visits inevitably yield new riches.

Fletcher Moss Gardens have held a Green Flag Award since 2000, the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales and benchmark of excellence in recreational green areas.