At an altitude of 2100 meters (6,889 ft), with a magnificent view of the glaciers of the Meije, the alpine garden of the University of Grenoble is located on the Col du Lautaret in Hautes-Alpes, France. Here, in this land of mountain giants, you will find the dwarfs among the plants in all their beauty.
At the end of the 19th century, alpine gardens arose all over the European mountains in which rock plants were planted for research, for science, and enthusiasts. It was the time of the great plant hunters who imported new species from all parts of the world. In 1899, the first alpine garden was built on the Col du Lautaret. This garden only existed for a short time because, in 1913, the new pass road was built right through the garden. With the help of several large organizations, enough money was collected to realize a new garden, a little higher on the mountain. The Second World War almost meant the end of the garden. The garden manager and the owner of the nearby hotel were killed, and many other people in the area did not survive the war. It was not until 1950 that the rebuilding of the garden began and a new period of prosperity began under the leadership of Robert Ruffier-Lanche. Ruffier was particularly interested in primroses and Meconopsis, as well as the semi-parasites Pedicularis and Castilleja. After Ruffier’s death in 1973, things went bad for a while, but since the 1980s this alpine garden has grown into one of the leading gardens in Europe. There are two main research projects: the impact of climate change on alpine vegetation and the impact of agriculture on biodiversity.
In many alpine gardens in the mountains, you can see a reasonable assortment of alpine flowers that often also have the correct names, but the artificial layout with compartments for each species and the plant beds framed by stones are in great contrast to the beautiful nature around them. The garden on the Col du Lautaret is one of the favorable exceptions. In an area of two hectares (4.9 acres), a garden has been created with plants from the major mountain areas of the world.
Since the garden is at an altitude of 2100 meters (6,889 ft), it is only open for about four months of the year. Depending on the weather, work in the garden starts between mid-April and early May. Usually, the garden opens to the public in the second week of June and the public season is over by the third week of September. In that period, 20,000 visitors come. It’s busy in the garden with the visitors’ cameras working overtime. The surroundings outside of the garden are overwhelming. You will see the imposing snow-covered and glacier-covered slopes of La Meije, the garden’s “home mountain.” This mountain is visible on the way to the garden, but with the well-known fireweed Epilobium angustifolium and Cephalaria gigantea in the foreground, it becomes the sublime alpine image that we know from romanticized postcards.
The plants are arranged by region of origin, in natural-looking beds and rock formations. In this garden, there is no messing about with pieces of stone that surround the plants like a frame, rather the layout and plants are in harmony with the environment. Here and there are places where human intervention is visible and there is an unnatural appearance. Perhaps these stand out because the rest of the garden seems so artless. Streams run throughout the garden with frequent wider areas, ponds, and waterfalls. All these different humidity levels offer opportunities for a variety of plants.
Three grasslands, separated by paths, lie in the middle of the garden, with the various geographical divisions located around them. In July, Eryngium alpinum is the absolute eye-catcher. In one of the grasslands, there are hundreds of them together and in full bloom. The grasslands are also filled with fireweeds, Cicerbita plumieri, Centaurea of all kinds, Achillea, and Valeriana that provide mass as tall plants.
The geographical divisions in the garden are sometimes a small region, such as the Massif Central, or larger areas such as the Himalaya and Tibet or the Caucasus. There are also beds filled with species from a certain genus, such as Dianthus. There is a swamp area, a scree slope with the characteristic vegetation, and other special biotope fields. Several groups of conifers and shrubs provide microclimates and depth in the garden. You can never see the garden at once, and that is what it makes so exciting. In total there are 54 different sections, which are usually bisected with paths so that the plants can almost always be viewed close up.
In the shallows of the largest pond near the entrance, many Mimulus bloom. For the botanist, this signals that you are entering the American part of the garden. This soon becomes apparent when you see specimens of Castilleja rhexifolia, perhaps a relic from Ruffier’s time. Castilleja in a European garden are an absolute rarity, and beautiful specimens are in full bloom here. Plants from South America stand in a newly realized area with lava rock. It is still somewhat new, but there are already some of the largest Calceolaria biflora I have seen. Mulinum spinosum, which is present everywhere in Patagonia, also blooms profusely here.
In the Himalayan section, we see all kinds of Primula and a richly flowering plant of Codonopsis clematidea. I saw Swertia petiolata, a plant from the gentian family and totally unknown to me; unlike the European Swertia perennis, this species has white flowers. In the Southern Hemisphere section, Helichrysum milfordiae from South Africa blooms with countless flowers and in perfect condition. Ononis cristata (syn. Ononis cenisia) is a plant from the southern Alps. The common Ononis varieties often produce few flowers, but this variety is nicely compact and the flowers tumble over each other.
In 2012, the ecole de botanique started. Raised beds have been made here from yellow bricks with an area ranging from three to six square meters (32 – 64 square ft). A narrow stream runs through some beds, while others are completely dry. In each bed, an explanation is given about the adaptations of plants to their growing places. The beds with masonry walls look very artificial, but visitors can easily understand the interaction between plants and their habitat.
Something new is constantly being created in the garden, aiming to renovate three to four garden sections every year. The école de botanique is an example of this, but the show beds are also under development. They are table-high beds made of concrete blocks and covered with shade cloth. The beds are filled with lava gravel, with plants growing in pots sunk in the gravel or sometimes planted directly in the lava substrate. In the coming years, the difficult species that have no chance of surviving in the rock garden will come here. The tuff wall for Chalet Mirande is still under development. A one and a half meter (5 ft) high retaining wall has been built here from tuff stones. This wall has also only been partially planted, but a richly flowering Campanula zoysii shows that the wall certainly has the potential to become a show element.
More information about the garden is on their website:
https://www.jardindulautaret.com
