Did you know the Jardin des Plantes is 400 years old? Louis XIII founded the garden in 1626 to grow medicinal plants and to support pharmaceutical research. Over time, the garden became a place for scientific research and collections of all sorts—early explorers brought back everything from Martian meteorites to polar bear skins to a Seychelles tortoise called Kiki who lived in the garden from 1923 to 2009. Today you can visit the Menagerie (founded 1794); the Grandes Serres (founded 1834), the Galerie de Minéralogie et de Géologie (founded 1837), or the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution (founded 1889). The Galerie de Paelontologie et d’Anatomie (founded 1898) is currently closed for renovations. 

The Jardin des Plantes is great at any season, but RIGHT NOW is an especially good time to go, because there is a tulip bonanza to celebrate its 400th anniversary. Gardeners have planted 28,000 bulbs from 120 varieties of tulips, and they are in full bloom. You can also catch the pink cherry blossoms and their security team (the white-blossomed Shirotae has gone to leaf). 

If you go, take a moment to appreciate the older tree specimens, like the pistachio tree planted in 1702, the Cretan Maple, also planted in 1702, or the Cedar of Lebanon planted in 1734. To find the pistachio tree, you’ll have to locate the hidden entrance to our very favorite section: the Alpine Garden. I admit it took us a few visits to figure out how to access it, and it still feels a little magical to pass through the tunnel and emerge into the little fairy land of miniature, high-altitude plants (hint: it’s in the Ecole de botanique, across from the Grandes Serres). 

Do you also love this place—What are your favorite trees or other treasures? Anyone else get a big laugh out of the kiwi story?