Tag archive for: Jardin des Plantes
As we do every year, the Jardin des Plantes team invites you to explore the garden and its hidden treasures through a series of free guided tours open to everyone. Click here for the schedule and details on how to join these tours!
The 18th edition of Primavera will take place on Sunday, March 19, 2023, at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier. Exhibitions, lectures, and a sale of rare plants will be held there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
1. A golden opportunity to acquire an exceptional plant
Primavera’s sale of rare plants is sure to delight both plant enthusiasts and hobby gardeners alike. Just imagine: being able to enjoy a little piece of the Jardin des Plantes in your living room or garden every day. Green is going to be the decor trend this spring!
2. A Day of Learning
The 3 must-see talks:
- 2:30 p.m.: “Plant Nomenclature: From Pre-Linnaean Authors to the Shenzhen Code” by Pierre COULOT, pharmacist and biologist, founder and
president of the Botanical Society of Occitanie, and specialist in the Fabaceae family. - 3:30 p.m.: “The Mysteries of the Labyrinth” by Andrée LAFON. With a passion for literature, theater, and psychoanalysis, she has written books
that place a strong emphasis on depth psychology. - 4:30 p.m.: “The Restoration Project for Pierre Richer de Belleval’s Intendance and Its Maze” by Professor Thierry LAVABRE-BERTRAND, Director of the Jardin des Plantes.
3. A blend of art and nature
Anne Tassin, a ceramic artist, invites you to visit her exhibition, “Inspiration from Plants”
4. Come see the recently renovated Rabelais monument!
Sculpted by Jacques Villeneuve, the monument—dedicated to Rabelais and the pleasures of life—was unveiled on November 6, 1921, by President Alexandre Millerand. The monument was a gift from the students as part of the celebration marking the 700th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine, where Rabelais studied in 1530.
The University of Montpellier, the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine, and the Montpellier Botanical Garden Corporate Foundation contributed to the restoration of this monument.
5. It’s spring!
Who doesn’t love strolling through the paths of the Jardin des Plantes in the spring? It’s the perfect time to see the garden’s lush flora come back to life after winter. Spring is a great excuse—if you need one—to discover or rediscover Montpellier’s Jardin des Plantes.
Did you know? The Jardin des Plantes is home to many unique features. Among the most recent is a permaculture vegetable garden. Created two years ago on the initiative of Jean-François “Jeff” Fauveau, a member of our team of botanist-gardeners, this permaculture plot is now the winner of the prestigious national vegetable garden competition, organized by the National Horticultural Society of France ! A source of immense pride for our Faculty and the teams at the Jardin des Plantes. At the awards ceremony held on November 30, we met Jeff, who told us about this project.
A project born out of post-lockdown reflection
It was in 2020 that the idea of creating a permaculture vegetable garden at the Jardin des Plantes first took root in Jeff’s mind. Intrigued by current events at the time, our gardener had noticed that many people were turning to permaculture as a response to political and economic challenges.
Inspired by the Jardin des Plantes’ mission to raise awareness, Jeff hopes that this garden will encourage the people of Montpellier to reconnect with agriculture and take back control of their food. To that end, he has designed his project around plant varieties that are best suited for our balconies, terraces, and gardens in our region’s Mediterranean climate.
A permaculture garden: what’s that all about?
When we ask Jean-François to explain what a permaculture garden is, he responds on two levels:
- The technical aspect: Permaculture draws on practices shared around the world, focusing on understanding soil chemistry to minimize human intervention in the soil and its structure. The goal is to combine specific plant varieties—primarily perennials—to create symbiotic systems, thereby avoiding the use of chemical inputs such as pesticides or fertilizers.
- The values framework: According to Jeff, permaculture is more than just a practice; it is based on a system of values aimed at “protecting the earth and people, and sharing the surplus.”
All in all, a permaculture garden is a garden designed with sustainability in mind, based on careful observation of biological ecosystems. Cultivated with respect for nature, the seasons, and people, it allows plants to be grown without the use of chemicals.
The permaculture garden at the Jardin des Plantes: a place of plant diversity, open to the public
Launched in 2020, the permaculture garden can be found in Plot No. 4 of the School of Systematics at the Jardin des Plantes. Covering an area of nearly 200 m², the garden features over 250 species of plants, all of which are edible. Among the cultivated species, Jeff tries to balance so-called “classic” plants with more “unique” ones. You’ll find tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, apples, grapes, and corn, as well as Daubenton cabbage, Rocambolle garlic, stevia, peanuts, and bissap. Edible flowers are also on hand to delight the taste buds of even the most discerning gourmets.
This permaculture garden is tended by Jeff, who also works to introduce it to the people of Montpellier through guided tours between March and November. Jeff takes this opportunity to offer advice on permaculture and to share the fruits of his labor by giving visitors some fruits and vegetables to taste when the season allows!
An innovative project, winner of the 2022 National Vegetable Garden Competition
All this variety and these educational initiatives have undoubtedly helped make this project one of the winners of the national vegetable garden contest!
After submitting an entry in June in Category 4, “Educational Garden or Plot,” the teams at the Jardin des Plantes welcomed the competition judges in September for a two-hour visit, during which they asked our gardener a variety of technical questions.
A few weeks later, Jeff was delighted to learn that his garden had been selected as one of the 60 finalists in the competition for the Grand Prize for France’s best educational vegetable garden!
Jean-François and Emmanuel Spicq, head gardener at the Jardin des Plantes, received the award during a ceremony held on November 30, 2022, in Paris. A source of great pride for Jeff:
“This is a wonderful surprise. I’m very happy—this project and this competition allow us to step outside our usual scope. It gives us the opportunity to connect with other national institutions and reach out to the wider world. I look forward to exchanging ideas with the other participants and winners to take this project to new horizons!”
More to come on the Garden's projects
In addition to putting our garden in the spotlight, this contest is indeed an opportunity to build new relationships and partnerships with other gardeners, gardens, and/or institutions and organizations.
“I hope to gain new insights from these discussions that will help me apply permaculture principles to other projects. After the vegetable garden, I’d like to work with fellow gardeners at the Jardin des Plantes to explore the possibility of creating a new permaculture plot focused on drought-tolerant plants!” Jeff tells us enthusiastically.
The plot, which has already been identified, will be located on the Dunal Dellile hill, another section of the School of Systematics. We therefore wish our teams at the Garden the very best of luck with this new project, which may provide an opportunity to enter this competition in a different category!
Practical information:
- Visit the Jardin des Plantes: self-guided tours available year-round
- Guided tour of the Permaculture Garden, led by Jeff Fauveau: May through November (growing season). Book your free tour here.
