Maison du Jardinage House of Gardening
The Maison du Jardinage is located within the Parc de Bercy and is a historical building from the time of the wine markets that has been fully restored to its former glory, just like the Maison du Lac and they are now home to exhibitions, workshops, etc all relating to gardening.
About the Maison du Lac
When you look back at the history of Bercy when the area was the largest wine market in the world, the Maison du Lac or Lake House was the former guards station for the wine warehouses of Bercy back in the late 1800s, and is located on an island with a lake, which is why it has that name.
Open from November to March, the Maison du Lac offers temporary exhibitions along with lectures and projections that are all related to the gardens and plants you can find within the Parc de Bercy.
And for more information about visiting this old guards house, you would need to telephone +33 (0) 1 53 46 19 19, however, the main building relating to gardening is that of the Maison du Jardinage, which is open all year.
About the Maison du Jardinage
The Maison du Jardinage or House of Gardening, was originally the office of tax collection and again, located within the Parc de Bercy Park in Paris, this building has been completely transformed into a place dedicated to gardening.
It is now a place for both beginners and gardening enthusiasts to go and learn more about gardening, techniques, when to plant or sow and even speak to specialists, plus there are workshops organised and these are run by professional gardeners.
Surrounded by plants, perennials, biennials and flowers in the courtyard, on the terrace and the window boxes, the Maison du Jardinage changes how it looks through the seasons with renewed living decoration every year.
Yet there are also fruits and vegetables from the kitchen garden that are maintained by school children in Paris under instruction from professional gardeners, plus there is a greenhouse with a collection of Mediterranean and tropical plants that you can also learn more about and visit in every season.
There is a permanent exhibition at the Maison du Jardinage that provides a fun way for both children and adults to discover which types of fruits and vegetables grow in each season and how to get pips and seeds growing, plus when is the best time to sow different seeds.
In addition to this, there are also a wide variety of gardening tools on display, along with different gardening practises. Plus there are temporary exhibitions held at the House of Gardening throughout the year, such as one devoted to preserving the natural source of water and how to make the best use of this vital resource in your garden and home.
The Maison du Jardinage also provides workshops on different themes such as planting, pruning, urban watering, etc and these courses are normally held on a Saturday morning with specialists and professional gardeners.
On top of this, there is a resource and documentation centre on the first floor of the House of Gardening that has more than 1000 books on plants, techniques and garden art, which is open to everyone and is suitable for both amateurs and professionals, plus you can consult gardening specialists.
Access to the Maison du Jardinage
The Maison du Jardinage is located within the Parc de Bercy in the 12th Arrondissement, and you will find that it is open from a Tuesday to a Sunday, but is always closed on a Monday and on all National French Holidays.
Entry is completely free for everyone and the House of gardening always opens at 1.30pm, but closes at 5pm during the winter months, and 5.30pm the rest of the year, except for between April and September on weekends when it does not close until 6.30pm.
However, if you wished to attend one of the workshops, then this is a cost of approximately €15 for a three hour session, however there is a half price discount for children and students that are 25 years of age or under.
But along with the Maison du Lac, the Maison du Jardinage and the Parc de Bercy, there are also so many other places to visit in the Bercy area, either within this park in Paris or on the edge of it, including the Bercy Village for shopping, boutiques and restaurants and the POPB stadium, now called the AccorHotels Arena.
You also have the Pavillons de Bercy with the Musee des Arts Forains fairground museum along with another museum in Paris dedicated to cinema that is the world renowned Musee de la Cinemateque. Yet we cannot forget about the other beautiful areas within the Parc de Bercy including fountains, a vineyard, ponds, a lake, sculptures and much more to keep anyone in the family occupied.
So getting to the Parc de Bercy and the Maison du Jardinage, you will find that it is actually very easy to get to via public transport in Paris, as you have the Metro stop called Bercy serving Lines 6 and 14 and another called the Cour Saint-Emilion stop, which utilises the high speed Meteor Metro on line 14.
Alternatively, the Paris Bus Lines 24, 64, 87, 109 and 111 along with the Noctilien Night Bus Service via lines N32, N35 and N130 will get you to the park and the Maison du Jardinage, not forgetting that if you are travelling into Paris via RER, then the RER train station called the Bibliotheque Francois-Mitterrand stop that serves the RER C line, is located on the opposite bank of the River Seine.
