A new look at the Jardin des Plantes
Since last December, Montpellier residents have been able to rediscover one of their favorite places from a new perspective. After being closed for more than twenty years, the Portail d'Honneur has reopened onto the upper part of the Jardin des Plantes. We take a tour with John De Vos, the director, who shares the main goals of his mandate. Listen to the full audio interview.
UM: So here we are in front of the new gate to the Jardin, which reopened last December.
JDV: This gate was built in the mid-19th century, in 1841. It has a distinctly 19th-century style, being both solid and featuring very fine ironwork. It opens wide onto the Garden when you arrive from Peyrou. We were very disappointed to have to close it about twenty years ago due to dilapidation and safety issues. It has been completely renovated and can now be opened as soon as the garden is open to the public.
UM: Who participated in this renovation?
JDV: It was mainly funded by the University, the metropolitan area, and the State. It opens up a new perspective on the Jardin des Plantes that the people of Montpellier will be able to discover.
UM: Can you describe what we see from here?
JDV: The initial plan was for visitors to see the Orangery, one of the garden's most iconic buildings, once they passed through the gate. That's what you can see in winter, but over the years, trees have grown and as soon as spring arrives, they block the view of the Orangery. So it's a view that changes throughout the year!
UM: Let's go inside... You took over from Thierry Lavabre-Bertrand in September 2024 as director of the Garden. What are your plans?
JDV: First of all, to continue what Thierry Lavabre-Bertrand started, particularly in terms of heritage. He inaugurated the Martins greenhouse and renovated the Orangery. These were very important projects, which are greatly appreciated as we regularly host exhibitions and events in the Orangery while maintaining its core function: sheltering plants in winter to protect them from frost. We continued with the Gate of Honor, and in the future we will focus on renovating the Intendance.
UM: Is there also a project for signage?
JDV: Yes , alongside this aspect of building heritage, there is the Garden. We need to continue to develop it, make it more visible, and stabilize the team of gardeners, who are very dedicated. To better showcase the plants, we are launching a signage initiative that will begin by naming all of the plants. There are more than 6,000 plants of over 3,000 different species, so it will be a major labeling project that will begin this year. We also plan to install signage to indicate the exit and the different areas, and above all, educational panels to explain certain aspects such as biodiversity issues or certain plant families.
UM: As you said, it's a big job. Who is in charge of it? Researchers? Students?
JDV: The plants have already been identified. Didier Morisot, the head botanist at the Garden, knows them all. For the educational aspect, we will call on expertise within the Garden, because there is a lot of it, but also on students and teachers from other departments of the University, such as the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Education.
UM: With the systematic school, we rediscovered another dimension of the Garden. How would you define its role?
JDV: The Jardin des Plantes is like a Russian doll. It has many aspects that fit together, which is part of its charm. For many Montpellier residents, it is a very peaceful, lively park where you can hear birds and animals and see plants. But it is also, and this is the primary function of a botanical garden, a place that is home to a very wide variety of plants, particularly wild plants. If there are roses, they are mainly wild roses, not cultivars. Its role is therefore to raise awareness of this diversity of plants.
And then there is the historical aspect, with its highly romantic features: the faux ancient arches, the old wells, the busts that remind us that the Garden's history spans more than 400 years. Last but not least, there is the literary and poetic aspect. A number of authors have strolled through the garden and written either poems or parts of books there.
UM: Paul Valéry has a bench there, I believe?
JDV: Paul Valéry, André Gide, and many others walked and sat in this garden!
UM: What is your favorite place in the garden?
JDV: It's a tree nicknamed "the wishing tree" or "the tree of wishes." It was planted by Pierre Richer de Belleval, or one of his contemporaries, and is therefore over 400 years old. It's a broad-leaved filaria, and just looking at it with all its crevices, you can sense its age and wisdom. It's like a character, an old wizard, but a benevolent one, looking down on us.
UM: Do you know what happens to all the little pieces of paper?
JDV: Sometimes I joke that the Garden team works hard to make them, but in practice, to prevent the tree from turning into papier-mâché, the gardeners remove them regularly.
UM: We're arriving at the Intendance. What's the status of this renovation project?
JDV: The financing has been secured. The building permit is being finalized, and work will begin this year or next year. This building will house a museum space, educational areas for schoolchildren where workshops can be held, offices for management, and finally the seed library, i.e., the index seminum, which brings together all the seeds harvested each year and makes them available to the garden's gardeners, as well as gardeners from other European and even global botanical gardens.
UM: Are there any new plants coming into the garden today? We imagine it as a kind of plant museum...
JDV: The Garden is by no means static. Of course, the trees don't move, but plants regularly die and others replace them. There are annuals that need to be resown every year and perennials. New bushes and even new trees are planted regularly.
UM: The astronomy pavilion has also been renovated. When will the inauguration take place?
JDV: Yes, the astronomy pavilion or observatory was completed last spring. It will be inaugurated this spring, on April 9. It was built in the mid-19th century against the advice of the director of the Jardin des Plantes at the time, Charles Martins [...]. It had a telescope that was, at the time, state-of-the-art technology for observing the stars. It was used for this purpose until World War II. From now on, this space, which is currently empty, will be used for temporary exhibitions and workshops.
UM: It gives this part of the garden a very romantic feel...
JDV: This part, called the English garden, is indeed very romantic with its nelumbos [lotus] pond, its slightly wilder layout, and its lawns. [...]
It's absolutely splendid. You have to come and see the pond at the end of June when the lotus flowers are in bloom.
UM: We're coming up to a waterwheel. There are several in the garden, but I believe this one is going to be renovated?
JDV: There are two main ones , the south waterwheel and the north waterwheel, which is in front of us [...]. This is where we pump water from an aquifer located 7 meters underground, which is 6 meters thick. Not all plants need to be watered, but those that do are watered with water from this aquifer and not from the city's tap water.
UM: So it will receive funding?
JDV: Yes , we are going to reinforce it, but also make sure that nothing obstructs the water intake. If droughts, which are set to worsen in the future with global warming, cause the water table to drop, we need to be able to continue to access water.
UM: Where does your passion for botany come from? It's not the focus of your research, though.
JDV: No , I'm a doctor, trained as a hematologist, and head of department at the hospital where I manage the cell therapy unit and the department that also includes the tissue bank. My research focuses on stem cells and I work with a pulmonologist, Professor Arnaud Bourdin, to regenerate the bronchi of patients with very serious genetic diseases. Botany is a passion that I developed a long time ago, when I was a teenager. I was initially self-taught, then I joined associations, first orchid societies and then botanical associations such as the SHHNH.
UM: What do you like about botany?
JDV: When you learn about plants, you see nature in a completely different way. You immediately see its diversity and richness. You recognize the ones you can smell or eat. When you go for a walk, you notice changes in the environment, because suddenly there are species from wet or dry environments. It's a bit like music, it's something you appreciate more when you learn about it.