Collection Greenhouses of the Jardins suspendus (Fort de Sainte-Adresse)

The Fort de Sainte-Adresse was built by military engineers between 1854 and 1858, under the Second Empire. It first housed foot artillery battalions and remained in military use until it was decommissioned in 1979. Left abandoned, it was bought by the municipality of Le Havre in 2000.

In 2005 the city decided to turn it into a botanical garden and a place for walks. Following a competition held that year, the project went to a team made up of the landscape architect Samuel Craquelin, the architect Olivier Bressac and the botanist Jean-Pierre Demoly. From the creation of the gardens, the horticultural centre of the city's parks department moved onto the site. After three years of work, the Jardins suspendus opened on 20 September 2008.

The site has grown step by step since then: a new greenhouse was devoted to coffee in 2017. The gardens received the 'Jardin remarquable' label in 2014 and, on 19 September 2017, accreditation from the Jardins botaniques de France et des pays francophones network. Wikipedia credits them with around 120,000 visitors a year.

The sources consulted give neither the exact construction date of the collection greenhouses nor their designer; they place them in the inner courtyard of the fort.

The Jardins suspendus cover 17 hectares. The fort's four bastions carry themed open-air gardens, while the inner courtyard holds three groups of greenhouses with a total area of 5,000 m². The collection houses open to visitors account for 3,000 m² of this.

These greenhouses are divided into separate spaces, each with its own atmosphere: a house of edible plants, an orchid house, a cactus house, a house of volcanic plants and a tropical house with a green wall and a pool. Wikipedia also distinguishes north-western houses, including a 600 m² greenhouse devoted to cacti and succulents, and south-western houses given over to tropical plants.

The site also has a production role: the municipal horticultural centre occupies 3,250 m² of plastic tunnels there, which turn out 160,000 annual and biennial plants each year for the city's flower displays. The sources consulted do not describe the structure or materials of the collection greenhouses.

The collection greenhouses bring together scented and aromatic plants, tropical plants, dry-climate plants, orchids, plants from Macaronesia and more than 430 begonia varieties. Part of the route is devoted to plants used in everyday life, such as cotton, coffee, vanilla, ginger and pepper; Wikipedia mentions tea, coffee and pepper plants, and a whole greenhouse has been dedicated to coffee since 2017.

According to Wikipedia, the north-western houses display oleanders, palms and various shrubs from the tropics alongside the cacti and succulents, while the south-western houses gather tropical plants, including the orchid and begonia collections.

Outdoors, the bastions complete this botanical world tour: North American flora, plants from East Asia, flora of the southern lands and a garden of contemporary explorers devoted to recent discoveries.

The collection greenhouses stand in the inner courtyard of the fort, at the centre of the Jardins suspendus; there is an admission charge for them. Allow two hours for the greenhouses and the four bastions, more to explore the whole 17-hectare site.

The greenhouses make a welcome stop in bad weather and in winter, when the outdoor gardens are dormant, while spring and summer show off the themed bastions. The 'Jardin remarquable' label and botanical garden accreditation reflect the quality of the whole, which combines well with a walk through the city.