Jardins ethnobotaniques de la Gardie

Rousson, France, France

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The Jardins ethnobotaniques de la Gardie are 6-hectare ethnobotanical gardens located in Pont d'Avène, Rousson, Gard, France, at the foot of the Cévennes mountains near the Prehistorama museum.

Created through a citizen action and managed by the Arc'Avène association, the gardens serve as a unique conservatory, educational, and cultural site in the Gard department that showcases the region's wild and cultivated floral heritage alongside traditional rural life.

The gardens consist of woodland clearings connected by a 1-kilometer walking path, featuring a medieval vegetable garden, a medicinal "Jardin de Simples" with plants for daily uses, a Mediterranean-style garden, an orchard of memory with rare olives, mulberries, and vines, a field of ancient cereals and companion plants, bee hives, dry stone walls, and a charcoal kiln.

These diverse sites illustrate traditional woodland management, family farming, and shepherding practices of the Basses Cévennes region while transmitting naturalistic knowledge and popular wisdom. The gardens are open year-round from sunrise to sunset with free public access, though guided tours for groups of 10 or more cost €5 per person and last approximately 1.5 hours.