The Jardin des Plantes' hidden Alpine garden, a nugget worth discovering

Have you ever passed this superb alpine garden, visible below the walkway between the Menagerie and the Grandes Serres in the Jardin des Plantes? All year round, we often see people milling around without ever finding the entrance. And with good reason: its access is totally hidden inside another garden. In fact, you have to pass through theBotanical School's Jardin de simples, located in the heart of the Park.

Once in the middle of the garden, you'll see an underground path leading to this hidden alpine garden. Open daily, free of charge , from 8.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., this garden is a real nugget to discover. Thanks to its confidential and hidden aspect, it is less frequented than the others and proves to be a real cocoon for a bucolic break.

The Jardin Alpin, as it presents itself to us today within the Jardin des Plantes, was created in the 1930s on the initiative of André Guillaumin (1885 - 1976), botanist and assistant to the chair of Culture at the Muséum. With the help of Camille Guinet and Mariska Heklova, he redeveloped the carré des couches, which had been used as an experimental area since the 18th century. Its location, half-shaded and protected by a patch of forest and sunny below, makes it the ideal spot for these high-altitude plants, which find themselves sheltered from wind, frost and heatwaves. The aim of this garden? To reveal the flora of the Alps and the Mediterranean.

As a reminder, in France we call these gardens"Jardin Alpin", gardens that bring together wild mountain plants, mainly collected in the Alps. The Jardin des Plantes brings together no fewer than 2,000 species of mountain plants and 32 rock gardens differentiated according to geographical areas (Alps, Caucasus, Himalayas, etc.) and reconstituted mountain environments (peat bogs, screes, megaphorbia, etc.).

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This corner of paradise covers 4,000 m2. Throughout the year, one bloom follows another, changing the scenery. Sometimes you'll find yourself in the undergrowth, skirting a mini-thrush, sometimes on a mound admiring the tiers of rockeries, or at the foot of the superb trees that adorn this green space. North-facing areas enjoy a constant temperature with little thermal variation, while south-facing areas are subject to significant temperature variations. The plants that adorn the Jardin Alpin come not only from France, but from all over the world. There are plants from Japan, Morocco, Palestine and the Himalayas.

Note that this garden has been classified as a Historic Monument since 1993, and for us it's the ideal setting for admiring plants that we're not necessarily used to seeing in the city. That said, on fine days, you can also admire superb rhododendrons and majestic wisteria. There's also a lovely well and a lily pond nearby.

Let's go and discover this hidden garden!