Botanical Greenhouses of the Jardin des plantes Joséphine Baker

Grenoble's Jardin des plantes traces its origin to a first botanical garden founded in 1782. A new garden was created in 1842 on land bought by the city, between rue Haxo and rue Joseph-Chanrion (later rue des Dauphins); the Natural History Museum building was installed there in 1845, in the northern part. The city describes the garden's original purpose as growing medicinal plants for pharmacy and medical students. By a municipal council decision of 18 March 2022 it was renamed in honour of Joséphine Baker (1906-1975).

The sources consulted do not give a construction date for the garden's first greenhouses. They agree, however, on a major renovation: the central part of the botanical greenhouses was completely renovated in 2003 according to the Museum and the city, while another presentation mentions works in the 1990s meant to recover the look of nineteenth-century glasshouses. The two datings are not reconciled here. The greenhouses are now run by the Muséum de Grenoble, which carries out conservation of rare species and educational programmes there.

The botanical greenhouses consist of three sections, each with its own climate. Wikipedia describes them as arid, tropical and temperate, while the Museum speaks of tropical, arid and subtropical houses. They are accompanied by a winter garden of about 700 m², with the botanical greenhouse proper covering about 300 m² according to the same encyclopaedia.

The Museum and the city state that the architecture of the central part, renovated in 2003, draws on the first generation of greenhouses built around 1845. The documents consulted do not detail the architect of the renovation, the materials or the glazing structure, so that information is not repeated here. Visitors enter through the tropical house, which leads on to the other two sections. The arid house is closed in summer according to a local presentation.

The tropical house presents food plants, carnivorous plants, orchids, bromeliads, passion flowers and fragrant plants. A local presentation adds aquatic plants, banana trees and specimens from French Guiana. The arid house gathers cacti from North and Central America and succulents from Africa and Madagascar.

The subtropical house recreates a mini-forest highlighting large herbaceous plants, with terrestrial, aerial, humid and aquatic microhabitats. Outside, the greenhouse enclosure shows hardy cacti and succulents, North American carnivorous plants, flowering meadows with an insect hotel, and changing thematic exhibitions. The greenhouses serve both to conserve rare species and to raise public awareness of biodiversity.

The greenhouses are visited from inside the Jardin des plantes, in the very centre of Grenoble, near the town hall. About an hour is enough to walk through the three houses and the outdoor spaces of their enclosure. Since the arid house is closed in summer, the visit is fuller outside that season, while the tropical house offers a warm, humid refuge in winter. The garden, of about two hectares, has a western part laid out in the French manner and an eastern part in the romantic style, separated by a small stream. The Natural History Museum, in the garden since 1845, lends itself to a combined visit.