Salagon Priory Gardens

Created according to the principles of ethnobotany and organized according to the historical agricultural occupation of the site, the Salagon gardens show what the relationships are between humans and their plant environment: uses, know-how, representations... They are also an aesthetic creation, an educational tool and a place for the conservation of plants and knowledge.

The garden of medicinal plants and village plants

This small garden brings together the basic useful flora of traditional society in Haute Provence, that of inhabited places, domestic gardens, roadsides, cultivated fields and grazed wastelands. These are the common plants that one encounters during daily journeys, from the sheepfold to the pastures, from the house to the school or the woods.

This is where first aid remedies were picked, as well as field salads and other wild vegetables. This is where children made their ephemeral games. This is where the elders passed on their knowledge, through gestures and stories.

The medieval garden

Inspired by illuminations, agricultural treatises, and pharmacopoeias of the time, this garden tells the story of plants in the West before the discovery of the New World. It is divided into three main areas: the vegetable garden (cultivated or harvested food plants), the medicinal patches, the flower garden, and the secret garden near the fountain.

Bread, groats, and porridge are made from a variety of grains (rye, wheat, spelt, millet). Legumes, also known as pulses and rich in protein, are a major nutritional supplement.

In the medicinal squares, five flowerbeds evoke the main areas of medieval pathology and pharmacopoeia, respecting ancient classifications.

Past the rose arbor, the floral garden gathers the flowers that adorn the altar, but also artisanal plants for weaving or dyeing. Beyond the fountain, a secret garden gathers the great poisonous plants, when medicine and magic were intimately linked.

The Garden of Modern Times

Conceived as a journey through the world's flora, this garden allows visitors to understand the origins and history of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, as we gradually moved from an economy based on hunting and gathering to agriculture. It helps us understand the role of plants in the progress of societies, centered around the founding elements of cereals and civilizations.

Each space in the garden thus links a continent and civilizations to the plants that helped them grow and evolve:

- Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: wheat, vines, olive trees, etc.
- sub-Saharan Africa: sorghum and millet, papyrus, etc.
- Asia: rice, citrus fruits, spices…
- the Americas: corn, squash, beans, etc.

The scented garden

The latest addition to the Salagon gardens, it can be visited year-round along five sensory trails designed to awaken the sense of smell. To fully experience the experience, pictograms indicate the fragrant parts of the plants (leaf, flower, root, wood, sap, fruit, resin).

We learn in turn the recognition and vocabulary of odors, the method of composing a perfume (according to the three registers which are: top note, heart note and base note), we explore the botany of odors through the great diversity of aromatic plants, and we can even smell the good and bad smells of everyday life, through plants which smell of garlic sausage, fish, popcorn, sweets, trash, tires, bleach...