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1.PARC DE BERCY: Opened in 1995, signed by the landscape architects Yann Le Caisne and Philippe Raguin, the parc de Bercy has still some remains of vineyards like the ancient pavements that crisscross the domain. The garden leads to the “Maison du Lac”, that used to house the tax service on wines and other alcohols. First it looks like a large prairie, the, after the iron fence, you discover the kitchen-garden, the orchard, the rose garden, the labyrinth, the odour garden and the bulbs surrounding the “Maison du jardinage” where you can learn gardener tricks and read gardening books. The footbridge over the rue Joseph Kessel leads to a romantic garden: Corsica pines, Lebanese cedars, birch-trees and weeping-willows grow there among a theatre of greenery, a belvedere and a Jardin du Philosophe.
The access is through the rue Paul-Belmondo, Joseph Kessel, de l’Ambroisie and François Truffaut in the 12th arrondissement. Open every day at 9.00. Closing half an hour before sunset.

2.THE PARC ANDRE CITROEN: the most futurist park of Paris is located on the site of the ancient Citroen plant by the landscape architects Alain Provost and Gilles Clement. Water has a very important place here (proximity of the Seine river obliges!). As soon as the sunny days come out, children dabble about in the basins, called here “lisières”, and have fun under the waterspouts. In front of two impressive glass cases, bordered by Magnolias pruned in a column, a vast lawn, where you are permitted to run on, opens on the river.
On one side you discover the “Jardin des Metamorphoses” geometrically organized, on the other side, “Le Jardin en Mouvement”, looks like fallow land, but imagined by Gilles Clement: rose bushes, corn –poppies, bamboos, balsamines, digitals, thorns and other weed grow freely. In its proloungement come the “Jardins sériels”, more intimate, with each one in a dominant colour: red, orange, green, blue, gilded and blue and silvery.
You can access through the quai André Citroen and the rues de la Montagne de l’Esperou, de la Montagne de la Fage, Saint-Charles et Leblanc, Paris 15th.
Open every day at 9.00. Closing half an hour before sunset.

3. Parc Georges Brassens:
The belfry of the ancient slaughterhouse auction hall, a veritable witness of history, dominates the main entrance of this garden and park Georges Brassens and reflects in the large central basin. In this hidden corner of the 15th arrondissement, a large vineyard and vegetable gardens preceded the meat trade. Like a beautiful vineyard of Pinot Noir testifies, vintaged every year by the children of the area. It gives a “cuvee” named “clos-des-morillons”. You must ford a river to accentuate that sensation of evasion usual to the open landscapes and discover some beehives. Nearer the main entrance, in a maze of paths, you will find the odoriferous, aromatic and medical plants: it’s “le jardin des senteurs”, imagined by Alexandre Ghiulamila, Jean-Michel Milliex and Daniel Collin.
Main entrance through the rue des Morillons, but also by the rue Brancion and Perichaux, Paris 15th.
Open every day at 9.00.  Closing half an hour before sunset.

4.Jardin Shakespeare:
In a hidden corner of the Pré-Catalan, in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, it’s a greenery theatre, created in 1953 by the head conservator of Paris gardens and parks, Robert Joffret, on the spot of an ancient quarry whose stones were used to pave the forest alleys. The vegetal ambience of Shakespeare’s plays are reconstituted in a succession of small thematic gardens: the Scottish moor of “Macbeth”, the melancholic basin where Hamlet’s fiancée drowns, the untamed garden of “The Storm”. The stage is under the cypresses, the loges under the rockery.
Access by the Pré-Catalan, Paris 16th. Open every day from 14.30 to 16.00 except when a play is scheduled. For info phone 0140199533

5. Serre des cactus d'Auteuil
More discreet than the neighboring palmarium, but maybe more unexpected, this glass case houses “succulent” plants growing in dry surroundings and have the aptitude to capture and keep water. Most of the cacti were bought by the city of Paris in 1995, but collectors come regularly to enrich the diversity of the presented varieties. Amidst the agaves, the Euphorbia candelabrum touches already the roof of the glass house (when it is pruned, it gives a allergic gas and its sap irritates the skin of the gardeners).

The Ferocactus stainesii, with its red leaves, is not more sympathetic. And the Euphorbia hislopii, it hides a ferocious game under its splendid leaves. Fascinating!!
Access through the avenue de la Porte d’Auteuil 3, and 1, avenue Gordon Bennett Paris 16th.
Open in the afternoon on demand and Sunday from 16.00 to 18.00.

6.Jardin de l'Arsenal
A stone throw from the Opera Bastille, the décor is well set: this alley with flat maple-trees, alder-trees, apple trees is the most romantic of all gardens. Pergolas of rose bushes, walls covered with clematis and honeysuckle rise out of the terraces of coloured flowers. All this in front of the pleasure boats of the bassin de l’Arsenal, dug in 1806. When the last rays of the setting sun kindle the alley, it’s a delicious walk. Designed by Philippe Mathieux and Serge Eyzat is at its best in June, when the roses exhale their smell.
Entrance through the boulevard de la Bastille. Paris 12. Open every day from 7.30 to 23.00.

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