Les Jardins Suspendus
Le Havre, France, Apr 2025
The Hanging Gardens – this is from a tourism blog, has interesting info about this garden, the plants, and its history.
We spent a couple of hours wandering through the various regions of the world represented by flora in this old fort converted into a botanical garden.
Bought a ticket (some 2 EUR) & got a map of the place.
THE GLASSHOUSES
We started our visit indoors with the glasshouses. The writeup and description of the glasshouses is from the brochure.
They are a home to many fragile plant collections. Conservation and valorization of plants are the main missions of a botanical garden.
This conservation is essential, as it allows us to:
- Preserve our planet’s diverse vegetation.
- Extend our research into the functioning of numerous worldwide ecosystems in order to better protect them.
- Safeguard a social, historical and cultural heritage, that bears witness to the relationships between plants and humans.
- Raise public awareness of these issues with living examples.
Glasshouses and Collections:
- Poivre glasshouse
Resources plants - Commerson glasshouse
Coffee and other drinks - Adanson glasshouse
Tropical understories - Bonpland glasshouse
Epiphytic plants - Plumier glasshouse *
Begonias - Lamarck & David glasshouse
Non-flowering plants
- Cayeux glasshouse
Tropical wetlands - Tournefort glasshouse
Plants of the tropical rainforest - L’héritier de Brutelle glasshouse *
Macaronesia plants - Dombey glasshouse
Dry-climate plants - Trial squares
- Educational space
* Collection labeled by the Conservatory of Specialized Plant Collections
Now for the pics of the flowers, leaves and plants that caught my eye.
Thematic Gardens
The botanical garden has 10 thematic outdoor gardens laid out in a square inside the fort. We didn’t have time to explore all. Here are the descriptions from the brochure:
1. The garden of contemporary explorers
The discovery of the ancient bastion is a real delight: look out for views of the sea and town from the peak. This garden pays homage to the explorers of the 20th and 21st centuries who are still traveling the world, by presenting plants recently discovered or introduced since 1975.
2. The Robinsons’ garden
Access to this young garden is via two tunnel staircases, testimonies of 19th century military architecture. This space offers a stroll that is both intimate and playful, alternating between closed and open spaces, where you can discover the art of plants and different living willow structures.
3. The north american garden
Species from the north american prairies and forests flourish in this garden, protected by a screen of greenery. You will also admire a few beautiful tree stumps which date back to the war. The first space offers different views onto the courtyard.
4. The east asian garden
Nested within the walls of a bastion, this is the steepest of the themed gardens. Take a stroll through the kingdom of asian plants, where a serene atmosphere awaits. Chinese and Japanese twining wisterias flourish. At the far side of the bastion, you will delight in a panoramic view of the upper town.
5. The southern lands garden
In this garden, you will find the architectural remains of ancient military batteries. This area of the site has been transformed into a corridor of resistance to the wind where Australian and Tasmanian landscapes flourish. Take in the contrasts within the vegetation and discover three plants defying the spray of the Channel.
6. The Cayeux garden
At the foot of the southern lands garden, between the fortifications and the foothill, this garden, warm and colourful, pays homage to Henri Cayeux and his son Louis, two horticultural breeders from Normandy. Along this walk, discover the different varieties they created: hydrangeas, roses and cannas punctuating your visit.
7. The green carpet and its delicate fragrances
In the centre of the courtyard, scented plants decorate this great carpet. Sheltered from the wind, your sense of smell will delight in the different scents the flowering plants give off depending on the time of day.
8. The powder magazine
Don’t miss this historic spot in the old powder store. In the corridor you will find photographs and explanations on the reconstruction of the fort and its military past. The powder magazine now houses a chapel transformed into a church during the reconstruction of Le Havre and decorated by Arthur Lenue, an artist from Le Havre. It’s one of the highest points in the Pays de Caux!
9. The rose garden
This garden, dedicated to the queen of flowers brings together 350 varieties of the “La France” rose, altogether around 1500 rose bushes. The walk takes the visitor through centuries, retracing the world of rose cultivation throughout the world.
10. The pollinarium
In this space, local plants whose pollen is allergenic are brought together. The objective is to observe them daily and to send a message beginning the end of pollen emission and so transmitting information to people treated for pollen allergy. Their treatment will thus be better adapted if started before the first symptoms appear, that is as the pollen emission has ended.