Arboretums have been used for decades for scientific, educational, horticultural and aesthetic purposes. Recently, climate change concerns have renewed the interest of the scientific community for these invaluable experimental forest systems. Here, we report a dataset from eight scientific arboretums planted in three contrasted French metropolitan bioclimates: Oceanic, Mountain and Mediterranean. In total, 92,236 trees were planted in 3,678 different plots. Originating from a worldwide range of ha-bitats, from sea-level up to 3,670 m in elevation, the collection spans 711 forest tree taxa (species, subspecies and varieties) from 177 genera. Taxa often include several geographic sources (so-called provenances), often simultaneously in different arboretums, making within species analyses possible. Cool-climate temperate Pinaceae (pines, firs, spruces, hemlocks, etc.) are well represented in the Atlantic and Mountain arboretums while Mediterranean arboretums are particularly rich with genera from the Myrtaceae (mostly eucalypts) and the Pinaceae (mostly pines). Data include survival, growth (height and diameter) and health status. Planted between 1969 and 1976, 338 taxa had survived at time of assessment and occurred as at least one individual in one plot. Data can be used to assess species suitability for ecological restoration and afforestation, and to help improve functional niche modelin