The charm of a historic territory
Between the Ligurian Coast (Riviera dei Fiori) and the French Riviera
Citrus maxima
Giardini Botanici Hanbury – Succulents
This territory, corresponding to the so-called “orange” climate zone, benefits from stable weather regimes, with mild temperatures and winters, with rare frosts and intense sunshine.
Such conditions have favored, since the mid-19th century, theintroduction of exotic plants from all over the world; many English, German and other nobles created their residences here, adorned with sumptuous gardens, giving the traditional Mediterranean landscape a new charm.
Eucalyptus trees, araucarias, palms, cordyline, magnolias, mimosas, banana trees, bamboo, Agave, Aloe, Yucca, Cycas, Dasylirion, Phormium, Opuntia, false pepper, Pittosporum are found.
The spirit of collecting developed, seeking more and more grandeur and rarity; in fact, most gardeners of the time were expert botanists, such as Lodovico Winter, Thomas Hanbury’s gardener, or Edouard Bornet, assistant to Gustave Thuret.
Large lawns are always present in front of the villas. Trees are distributed in such a way that perspectives are visible from the house. The villa is always placed at the highest part of the grounds, so as to have the widest possible view.
But the most important thing is that in the two Rivieras, Italian and French, you can touch the process of acclimatization.
What is the acclimatization process?
The acclimatization of a plant involves several steps. It is first necessary to locate the plant in its country of origin, collect its seeds, have them travel, sow them in a new geographical setting, grow the young plants, and test them in the open air. Once the plant is acclimatized, it can be studied and appropriate cultivation techniques can be developed. If it has economic potential, it will be possible to test it, possibly improve it, and then transfer it to producers for a “commercial” purpose.
This first phase of acclimatization is mandatory for the domestication of exotic species, also called allochthonous species. It should be noted that the notion of exoticism is quite relative: usually, any plant introduced after 1492 is qualified as exogenous; species already present at that date, called archaeophytes, are considered to be among the autochthonous, even if they actually derive from a previous introduction.
This ancient process of importation and acclimatization gave rise to most of the plants we grow today, although these, today differ greatly from the original wild species. The exotic species found on the French Riviera, in fact, sometimes come from a single seed bag introduced in the 19th century, sometimes from multiple successive introductions.
The first sowing gave rise to one or more plants, of which only the most vigorous, or the most adapted to the new environment, or the most “beautiful” in the eyes of the collector, were maintained and reproduced by seed or cuttings. There was, therefore, an initial mass selection from the original seeds, resulting from environmental constraints, cultivation techniques used, or random exchanges.
For a long time seeds and fruits were the only safe way to transport and introduce new plants. But failures were numerous, and it took long observations and experiments to understand the physiology and biology of seeds, the duration and conditions for their germination. In the 17th century, “orthodox seeds,” those that retain their germination power for several months or several years, were selected. Sea and land transport of plants was more difficult until the Londoner Dr. Nathaniel Ward, developed “a transport box, glazed and waterproof,” which still bears his name, and which saved 90 percent of plants.
From the first half of the 19th century, exotic plants began to be introduced into the gardens of our region.
In July 1812 Victor Tiranty purchased 50 young palms in Bordighera for his property in the Longchamp district of Nice.
In the second half of the 19th century, Ward’s till and the creation of steam lines facilitated the transportation of the plants. Plants were then hybridized to obtain new, more beautiful and more productive varieties, and to diversify, thus, the gardens.
The second half of the 19th century, and more particularly the Second Empire, was a true golden age of exotic species acclimatization. A large number of species, unknown until twenty years earlier, found themselves in completely wild conditions around Cannes and continued to reproduce spontaneously without human intervention, such as the American Agave.
The dates of introduction of palms to the Alpes-Maritimes coast are after 1850, with the exception of the date palm and Livistona chinensis. We mention in particular the arrival of: Jubaea chilensis and Sabal palmetto (in the Thuret garden in 1858), Phoenix canariensis (Villa Vigier in 1864), Washingtonia filifera (1877 in the Domaine des Cocotiers in Golfe-Juan), Brahea armata (in the Thuret garden around 1877).
Follicle (Fruit) of Brachichiton discolor
Brahea armata