Bambouseraie en Cevennes

Eugene Mazel made money importing spices, spent it on plants, and from 1856 laid out a garden here to acclimatise bamboo and other Asian species, building an irrigation system fed from the Gardon to keep them growing. He went bankrupt in 1890 and the estate passed on, but the plantings survived. It now covers around thirty-four hectares with roughly a hundred and fifty bamboo varieties, some over twenty metres, including a dense grove where the culms close overhead and the light turns green. There is also a Laotian village of bamboo huts, a dragon valley garden and a maze. Anduze pottery is made nearby.

What you actually see

• The bamboo forest - tall groves closing overhead into green light.
• The variety collection - around a hundred and fifty species and cultivars.
• The Laotian village - reconstructed bamboo houses in the grounds.
• The dragon valley - a landscaped Asian-style water garden.

When to go

April to October; the garden closes for winter, roughly November to February. Bamboo grows fastest in late spring, when new culms shoot visibly. Summer shade here is genuine.

Honest expectations

Winter closure is long. The site is large with a good deal of walking on gravel. Some sections are more commercial than botanical.

Nearby

Anduze lies close; the Cevennes park is north.