Spring in the garden demonstrates all the bounty, abundance and exuberance of nature. With the humidity left behind by the winter rains, and the warmth in the air and soil from the sun which is once again high on the horizon, plants can grow freely.
It is important for plants to find solutions to their lack of mobility. They are forced to join forces with mobile beings, invertebrate animals such as insects and vertebrates such as birds and bats, in order to ensure pollination. They adopt a wide range of strategies, which can be observed in the landscapes evoked in the Jardin des Méditerranées.
You can see the scarlet flowers of South African coral trees, the Chilean Puyas with their abundance of large electric blue stalks and nectar-filled flowers, the Australian callistemons and melaleucas with their bottlebrush-like inflorescences, the New Zealand manuka which light up the stipa grassland with their carmine flowers, the Californian Romneya poppy with its large yellow-centred white flowers, the Japanese fringed iris’ vast white, pink and purple carpet of delicate flowers in the shade of the bamboo and Caryota palm trees from subtropical Asia, and the dazzling flowers of the South African Aizoaceae.
The abundance of flowers blooming in spring is understood to be a huge, vital impetus from plants to ensure that the pollen (male seed) meets the ovules (female gametes). The two sexes coming together is made possible by the evolutionary alliance between plants and animals, meaning that pollination can take place.
