Jardin antique méditerranéen, Botanical garden in Balaruc-les-Bains, France.
The Jardin Antique Méditerranéen occupies 1.7 hectares on the Puech d'Ay, a dolomitic limestone promontory above the Thau lagoon. It is laid out like a Roman domus, with seven themed rooms (cellulae) connected by colonnades, pergolas, low walls, basins and a nymphaeum. More than 400 plants cultivated since antiquity grow in these spaces, which include a kitchen garden, a sacred wood, a funeral garden and a terrace of topiary.
The garden was created to recreate cultivation methods and plant arrangements from the first century before the common era through the third century after it. This reconstruction draws from Roman and Greek gardening techniques of that period.
The seven plots are named after Latin terms from the domus: hoeredium for the kitchen garden, lucus and nemus for the sacred wood, alongside a funeral garden. Plants are grouped by use, from magical and medicinal species to those for cosmetics, perfumes and ointments, and a terrace of topiaries. Ten beehives stand on the site for pollination.
The garden is reached via Rue des Pioch on the Puech d'Ay hill, overlooking the Thau lagoon and facing Mont Saint-Clair. It holds the Tourisme et Handicaps label for motor, mental, and hearing disabilities, and the Accueil-Vélo label for cyclists. The site lies beside a Natura 2000 zone.
The garden keeps a carpothèque, a seed and fruit reference collection, alongside its living plants: together they form a corpus of 950 specimens. Ten beehives are also installed on the site to support pollination and raise public awareness of Mediterranean biodiversity.
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