The gardens of the Herboretum,
ambassadors of biodiversity

The 5 thematic gardens

The thematic gardens are gardens to display the plants used by Man. These « resource plants » illustrate the goods supplied by biodiversity. Each garden is organised according to 5 squares or 5 spaces.

The Garden of the Symphony

Enclosed by tall walls and closed at its ends by ancient railings, this French style garden, the original design of which has been kept, is organised around a central statue, La Symphonie Printanière, created by the Antwerp artist Hélène Jakubowitz.
True discovery space, it gathers nearly 500 different plants sued by Man.
5 squares lined with box-tress have been sketched : health square, beauty square, better-being square, spells square and fibres and colours square.

The health square
The medicinal plants are used in phytotherapy. This traditional medicine which used the active principles of some plants raises nowadays a renewed interest in the public.
Plants still have many more secrets to reveal to us; research still isolates regularly new molecules to fight against diseases.
Nearly 200 different medicinal plants are shown in this square: digestives (fennel, liquorice, wild thyme, sage, etc.); respiratory (mullein, thyme, hyssop, elecampane, etc.); vascular (lady's mantle, butcher's broom, purple loosestrife, etc.); sedatives (California poppy, violet, goose grass, etc.).
The beauty square
The use of plants in the beauty cares goes back to the remotest antiquity.
This long time experience helps phytocosmetic to make the good choice of plants as « safe values » and use a vast number of many medicinal and aromatic plants such as cornflower (soothing and softening), Mary’s Thistle (antioxidant et anti-redness), la great burdock (root and leave) astringent and purifying, soapwort (tonifying and purifying), sage and rosemary (antiseptics), etc. Extracts are made of these plants to use their active principles for the skin and body cares.
The better-being square
The plants of the « better-being » bring their benefits to Man. They are most of the time used as food-supplements. Borage and soy seeds, red clover (flowering aerial parts) and evening primrose (seeds) are effective in the pre-menstrual troubles. Valerian (roots) or hops (female flowers) will bring unwinding and relaxation, while curled dock (roots) or winter cherry (fruit) give energy and tonus.
The spells’ square
With a reputation of « kind fairies » or « dark witches », the so-called « magical » plants (bryony, hemlock, columbine) escort humans since the remotest times. In the Middle-Age, these plants (and the famous mandrake) allowed those who used them to uncanny powers which could influence, rightly or wrongly, the course of events. To day, some are still at the base of our modern medicines (fox glove, belladonna).
The fibres and colours square
This square is dedicated to the plants to be woven (line, hemp…) which gave the first textiles, and to the tinctorial plants (madder, weld, dyer’s wood, etc.) which are the source of natural colouring matters used since centuries by all the civilisations on earth to dye vegetable fibres.
Displayed under the shape of a painter’s palette, the tinctorial plants are regrouped according to the colours obtained by the whole plant or by each different part (roots, bark, leaves, fruits, seeds).

The Flavours Garden

At the beginning of the 20th century, menus showed above 500 different species of vegetables, while nowadays, only a few dozens are to be seen.
The Flavours Garden shows a traditional orchard, but also scarce and forgotten vegetables.

The square of the herbs and spices
A condiment (tarragon, sorrel, chive, etc.) is a substance which is added to food to enhance their flavour ; a herb (thyme, rosemary, basil, etc.) is a vegetal able to flavour the food while showing medicinal virtues ; as to the spice, it is an aromatic condiment of an exotic origin.
The vegetables of the market square
According to the categories, the part of the vegetable eaten may be the leave (cabbage), the flower (artichoke), the fruit (tomato), the root (carrot) or the stem (asparagus).
Auxiliary plants are associated to the edible plants as they act as repellent of the undesired insects, avoiding the use of chemical pesticides.
The forgotten vegetables square
With the evolution of taste, some vegetables, very common in the Middle Age, have little by little deserted the kitchen gardens : parsnip, rutabaga, Jerusalem artichoke, etc. But, for the greatest delight of our palates, they are coming back thanks to modern cuisine.
The « Nouvelle cuisine » flowers and vegetables square
The « Nouvelle cuisine » adds to the plate a decorative dimension thanks to the edible flowers such as borage, marigold and Indian cress, etc.
The cereals and oil producing plants square
In this Beauce square are gathered all the vegetal species cultivated in the open fields (oat, wheat, rapeseed, corn, barley, spelt, buckwheat, rye, soybean, etc.).

The Temptation Garden

The Temptation Garden is organised around an orchard in which one finds about forty apple-trees varieties, thirty pear-trees, various other fruit trees (medlar tree, quince tree, walnut tree, etc.) and a wide variety of red fruits.
The variety of the vines exposed evokes the wine tradition of the Loire river banks.
All these species have been planted to show the diversity of the individuals and the selection work made by Man.
« Allied plants » have been seeded on the fruit trees plantations to attract bees to favour pollination and welcome auxiliary insects in the fight against parasites.

The Regeneration Garden (project)

Illustration of the ecologic services provided by biodiversity, a large space shall be reserved for the plants having depolluting properties on air, water and soil.

The Fragrances Garden (project)

Being redeveloped, the Garden of Fragrances will offer a wide choice of fragranced plants and plants for perfumes, which will exhale subtle scents according to the seasons and during the day and night hours.

The 5 ecologic gardens

In the Herboretum domain, 5 ecologic gardens have been preserved.
They represent natural habitats which regroup wild plants perfectly adapted to their environment (humid or dry soil, calcareous our acid soil, in the shade or on a sunny side, etc.) . These plants constitute vegetal associations, characteristic of a habitat in which some plants, named indicative are well represented.

The Mint Meadow

This cool and sunny habitat shelters its cortege of plants adapted to this environment (fragranced mint, great nettle, burdock, etc.).
Some plants have even developed strategies to survive in very humid habitats such as the bald cypresswhich produces excrescences at the earth level, called cypress knees or pneumatophores, to tap the air which misses to its roots.

The Orchid Ash tree garden

This forest habitat stands on a calcareous soil, structured by the presence of ash trees and shelters a shrubbery of viburnum and honeysuckle under which live in the herbaceous layer the plants specific to that environment : black bryony, hellebore, etc. and some scarce orchids (fly orchid) without forgetting the stinking iris.

Cardamine Riverbank

Along the banks of the river Mauves grow spontaneously the species adapted to this habitat liable to flooding: alder, carex, common comfrey, periwinkle, meadowsweet, coltsfoot, etc. and two species on the verge of extinction: narrow-leaved bitter-cress and adder's tongue.

Burnet Meadow

This meadow, semi-humid, also called mesohygrophile is a carpet of gramineae among which numerous flowered plants come to grow, showing their flowers during all the good season: cowslip, daisy, etc. then buttercup, great burnet (a small plant with purple flowers), etc.

Cornflower and Poppy Field (harvest plants)

This cereal field has been recreated with its accompanying “harvest” plants, because they live at the rhythm of the harvests: cornflower, field poppy, corn cockle, etc.
This kind of a landscape has practically totally disappeared of our countryside because the herbicides have eliminated these plant species.

The 5 eco-fauna observation sites

In order to help the development of the small fauna of the gardens, 5 spaces have been organized or protected to favour it.
These observation sites shelter indicators which allow to follow the evolution of biodiversity, letting the Herboretum participate, as a voluntary observatory, to a “citizen science”.

The Butterflies Meadow

A flowered meadow has been installed just next to a nettle field in order to attract butterflies.
Its flowers are shaped in such a way that the butterflies may access the nectar and, to encourage their reproduction, the nettles, adapted for feeding their caterpillars have been left standing.
It has become indispensable to take measures to safeguard butterflies the species of which, even the most common ones, become so scarce that they disappear in some places. Butterflies play a very important role in the pollination of flowered plants.
The Herboretum registers the butterflies present on the domain and participates to the Garden Butterflies Observatory launched by the Association Noé Conservation, with the collaboration of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle.
Actual surveillance net for the common day butterflies species, the Garden Butterflies Observatory allows to follow the evolution of the populations and to better understand the ecologic dynamics, related to the global warming for instance.
The Observatory focuses on 28 of the most common day butterflies species. Among the most beautiful butterflies observed at the Herboretum figure the old world swallowtail, the scarce swallowtail, the silver-washed fritillary, the comma, and the peacock butterfly.

The Bird Island

Between the two branches of the river, a small island, uneasy to reach which preserves its quietness, has been organised as a Bird Island in order to provide them with a space where they can easily eat, reproduce and live peacefully.
The planting of shrubs which will bear fruits all along the year favours their stay and allow them to be prepared for tough winters.
This project is led with the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux which, recognizing the nature valorisation approach of the Herboretum has granted the status of LPO Shelter to the Birds Island.
More than twenty different species have been identified, among which the middle-spotted woodpecker, black woodpecker, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, blue tit, coal tit, long-tailed tit, etc. and water birds such as heron, common kingfisher, wagtail.

The Amphibian riverside

Frogs, tree frogs (of a nice tender green), precious auxiliaries and to day protected, share the various habitats of the Mauves river banks that the male songs animate at the love season. The amphibians are to day sharply diminishing because of the degradation of the humid biotopes.

The Bees Island

5 beehives have been installed to house bees colonies. These pollinating insects are indispensable to harvest the many fruits of the orchard. A « bees’ meadow » has been planted to provide them with a diversified source of food and may be a survival as to day bees are exposed to massive extinctions.

The Bat Cave

Guided by their ultra-sounds, the bats fly towards the insects they eat. These very useful species are becoming scarce and are included in the protected species. 6 species have been observed on the site, among which a particularly scarce and threatened one, the rhinolophe (bat wearing a horse shoe shaped appendix on its nose).

The 5 harmony alleys

Alley of Harmony

Alley of Murmurs

Alley of Silence

Alley of Sighs

Alley of Songs

The 5 lyric bridges