Exploring Greenhouses

My Green Thumb

Everyone knows someone who 'has a green thumb' or as the French would put it 'avoir la main verte' (literally to have a green hand). In our family I would say it's my mum and I, although we are still learning. When I was growing up we didn't have a very large garden. First we lived in a little cottage with almost no garden at all and after when we had a reasonable sized garden my sister and I insisted on having a 'summer house' so we could 'move' into it temporarily and play with our dolls all day in peace (the house consequently taking up most of the garden space). As a result the plants we took care of were pretty basic... hydrangeas,  geraniums, lavender etc. and the extent of our gardening was pulling up weeds with mum and watching Dad mow the lawn. We also had a Jack Rusell called Mylo at this point so any nice plants were destroyed by him urinating on them anyway. I didn't really realise how much I enjoyed gardening and being surrounded by nature until a) we moved into our now, current house and b) I moved away to Paris.                

The cottage we lived in was the 4th from the right (shown by the arrow), it's so small and covered with hanging baskets you can barely see it but that's where I lived for the first 4 years of my life :)

I suppose I never realised how lucky I was to live in Devon until I moved to Paris. We live in the South-West of England and are physically enclosed by the coast on one side and the countryside on the other. We live a maximum of five minutes from the beach (with a view of the sea from the house) and only a twenty minute drive from Dartmoor National Park. My sister and I went to a school that was in the middle of nowhere and to quote the website is placed in the foothills of Dartmoor yet in the heart of Devon’s glorious countryside. Moving away  makes you realise what you had and how grateful you should have been for it! The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Paris was the lack of green space and if I hadn't discovered Jardin des Plantes I may not have stayed. It sounds dramatic but when you are so accustomed to having so much green around you the city's polluted, grey air is not a welcome sight. 

Finding Green Spaces

As most of you know I've been visiting the Jardin des Plantes for a long time now and I've had a year pass (the zoo included) for the past 2 years. I love the garden itself and the zoo even more so but recently I have to admit I've thought about cheating on the JDP with another garden...quel horreur. I don't want to become bored of the JDP so we're having a break and while the weather is nul I've decided to visit some other parks and greenhouses, starting with the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil.

Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil

I've wanted to go to this garden ever since I read about it on Time Out Paris, a website you should really have a look at if you haven't before (it updates you,  in French or English comme tu veux, on all current events and exhibitions worth seeing/doing in Paris http://www.timeout.fr/paris/en). Anyway I won't digress as I have a habit of doing that. This Wednesday I finally had time to go to the garden. The garden itself is a botanical garden set within a major greenhouse complex in the 16th arrondissement, close to Bois de Boulogne. The metro is Porte d'Auteuil on the Line 10 and while you're there you can also glimpse the famous site of Rolland Garros and the equally as famous Hippodrome.

The garden is very big and reminded me a lot of London with wide open spaces, huge trees (even a conker tree!) and park benches. The only downside for me was that it was incredibly close to the road which was a little disappointing, it's hard to relax entirely and feel 'away' from Paris when you can hear cars zooming past to join the Peripherique, mais tant pis. It's one of the oldest gardens in Paris existing since 1761, with the greenhouses existing since around 1895.  You can see that the greenhouses have existed for a long time because apart from the large, central greenhouse the others look very dated and the door handles are so old and low it's sometimes difficult to enter inside! However, the greenhouses themselves, especially the main greenhouse is unbelievably beautiful inside.

The main greenhouse is full of different plants, mostly tropical and unusual, it also has a man-made pond with Japanese carp and other fish and a bird cage with budgies, love birds and others. The other greenhouses are all designed based on different climates and are often linked to a specific continent. There is only one main greenhouse but at least ten other 'hot' houses. There were cactus plants, cocoa, apples, palm trees and much more and according to their statistics the greenhouses produce around 100,000 plants each year! Another advantage (which you don't have at JDP) is that the information is also displayed in English, yes sometimes I like to be lazy, but it's nice to have a summary in English as it's not exactly everyday French they are using!




















Overall, I really liked the park and absolutely loved the main greenhouse. There were even small tables and chairs where people were reading or drawing which is what I would probably do if I went again. If you're a fan of greenhouses and just need a day away from central Paris this garden is perfect. I also recently went to Parc Floral close to Vincennes which despite the horrible weather was also a great park, even including a Bonzai and Butterfly house (although the latter was closed). I imagine Parc Floral is much better in Summer though, under the rain the big open spaces and lack of cover are not ideal. Anyway, come rain or shine get out of the centre of Paris and visit one of the amazing gardens Paris has to offer. You might even discover you have a green thumb!