Primavera returns to Montpellier's Jardin des Plantes!

On Sunday March 19, 2023 from 10am to 6pm, the Jardin des Plantes at the University of Montpellier will host the ^18th edition of "Primavera". After a 3-year absence, Montpellier's plant and spring festival is back, with conferences, stands and sales of rare plants. An opportunity to stroll and learn in an exceptional setting: France's oldest botanical garden.

An annual rendezvous for botany enthusiasts

Since 2004, the annual Primavera event (open to all) has attracted an average of between 6,000 and 8,000 visitors. Numerous plant sales stands will be present on the day, as well as ten association stands, including "Sauvons le jardin de la Reine" (Let's save the Queen's garden), created following a citizens' mobilization, and "MOHICANS", which offers walks accessible to disabled people to discover biodiversity and heritage. The event will also be an opportunity to talk to professionals at nursery stands presenting, among other things, vegetable, aromatic, medicinal, indoor and succulent plants...

Primavera festival day program

The day begins at 11 a.m. in the Orangerie du Jardin des Plantes, with a welcome address by Pr. Laffont, Dean of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine, Professor Lavabre-Bertrand, Vice-President of the University of Montpellier, responsible for historical heritage and Director of the Jardin des Plantes de Montpellier, Mr. Jouault, Deputy Mayor, responsible for urban nature and biodiversity, and Mr. Belllanger, Deputy Mayor, responsible for the central district and historical heritage. Then in the afternoon, a series of lectures will be held in the Flahault amphitheatre of the Institut de Botanique, including :

• 2:30 pm : " Plant nomenclature: from pre-Linnean authors to the Shenzhen Code " by Pierre Coulot, pharmacist and biologist, founder and president of the Société botanique d'Occitanie.
• 3:30pm: " The Mysteries of the Labyrinth " by Andrée Lafon, passionate about literature, theater and psychoanalysis.
• 4:30 pm : " Pierre Richer de Belleval's Intendance restoration project and its labyrinth " by Professor Thierry Lavabre-Bertrand, Director of the Jardin des Plantes.

Throughout the day, visitors will also be able to discover the "Inspiration Végétale" art exhibition by ceramic artist Anne Tassin.

A few words about the Jardin des Plantes at the University of Montpellier

The Jardin des Plantes is the oldest jewel in the crown of the Faculty of Medicine. The complementary nature of these institutions stems from a common objective: the knowledge, exaltation and preservation of living things - human beings in the case of the Faculty of Medicine, the plant world in the case of the Botanical Garden.

In 2022, Montpellier's Jardin des Plantes was awarded the "Remarkable Garden" label by the French Ministry of Culture, which distinguishes gardens and parks, whether public or private, of cultural, aesthetic, historical or botanical interest. Last year, it also received a 3.4 million euro grant from the FDJ as part of Stéphane Bern's heritage mission (an initiative to safeguard numerous emblematic sites in France) to fully restore the Maison de l'Intendance.