The botanical garden of exotic Val Rahmeh

The botanical garden of exotic Val Rahmeh

A few hundred meters from the Italian border, nestled at the bottom of a steep dead end, which is on the seafront by the Saint-Jacques, Val Ramah exotic botanical garden is one of the last witnesses of the great times Mention.

It is indeed an exemplary story, which spans a century, that this plot country became one hectare botanical garden of international renown. It was acquired in 1905 by an Englishman Sir Percy Radcliffe, the governor of the island of Malta, who wished at the conclusion of his duties, living on the Riviera.

He built a Mediterranean-style house in 1926 and transformed the agricultural terraces in landscaped garden of pleasure, while keeping the production trees that were there ( olives , citrus , figs ) and by the addition species acclimatized in vogue at the time ( mimosa , eucalyptus , palms and "succulent" as it was then called succulents).

The specificity of this non-regular garden design and his interest lay in the thirties, the flexible report that linked the inside and the outside: that is to say the location of the house and terrace which extends to the top of a hill, with the layout of the paths that conform to the topography of the terrain.

This had the double advantage of being able to benefit in any place of different views of the garden itself or on the landscape outside, and can choose from a confined space, suitable for different orientations of plant needs (sunlight, humidity), some of them do not grow well in the shade or in a well-drained ground.
It was only in the 50s with the arrival of the penultimate owner, Miss Campbell, that the botanical garden took its direction. The latter, a botanist by training, has long worked at the British Museum, indulged in a frenzy of planting subtropical and even tropical species including a collection of dater.

She added that she loved all the plants to the list had established Lawrence Johnston (the creator of the Sere de la Madone) Val Ramah tenant for one season, just before the war of 1939-1945. It also expanded the garden by purchasing land south of the property.
But fifteen years later, caring for the best future for the garden, she decided to sell it in 1966 to the French who gave the Museum of Natural History. With the aim of making it an extension devoted to exotic species from the Jardin des Plants in Paris, the Museum had a lot to do with this mess for him to plant a botanical garden status.

They proceeded to identify all the plants and we continued the acclimation of new species. In 1973, the collection was increased from 400 species found on site, 700 fully cataloged and labeled (common and botanical names, family, country of origin).
Now the site, due to very specific climatic conditions, has a microclimate warmer and wetter than the coast in general.

It allows the adjustment of subtropical and even tropical plants of the two hemispheres of the globe, including tree ferns from Vietnam and one in Tasmania that grow wild in the garden and under the terrace wall.