From the hidden garden above the Montparnasse station rails to the future urban forest of Place de Catalogne, from the silver maples of Square Saint-Lambert to the Persian lilac flirting with the façade of Le Bon Marché, here are 10 green stops to discover the Paris Left Bank.
1. Natural playgrounds
On a recent May public holiday, the three play areas in the Sqaure du Clos-Feuquières were buzzing with chatter. The two arboreal stars of the area are not very tall. Standing on two medians designed to protect and showcase them, these beech trees, listed as remarkable Parisian trees, stand just over 10 meters tall. They were planted when the park was created in 1973. Their bark bears the scars of the pruning that helped them along the way. But their branches are imposing. They form two giant and particularly enveloping sunshades – they are both weeping beeches, of the species Fagus sylvatica pendula. A little boy, sticks in hand, climbed the mound that supports them contemplating imaginary adversaries from this shady promontory. Two others carried branches unearthed from who knows where, with the idea of building an observation hut up against the trunks. Fortunate are the sheltered pirates!
2. Plane trees for music lovers
At the exit of the Vaugirard métro station, the Square Jean-Chérioux, which slopes gently down to the 15th arrondissement town hall, was closed for renovation. That didn't stop the Hungarian oak, proudly planted at the entrance, from extending its long branches over the ornate railings to the sidewalk. This forestry representative cuts a fine figure. It even looks a little wild against the stern rows of plane trees that line the rectangle of the square, organized around the bandstand where the Vaugirard village square once stood. Nineteenth-century symmetries are one thing, but the freedom of the oak is quite another! Although it was planted barely 35 years ago, its 15-meter height places it among the capital's 11 remarkable oaks. Its low, skyward-pointing branches were covered with large, young, bright-green leaves. In the morning air, they almost seemed to fan the passers-by as they hurried out of the métro station.
3. Saint-Lambert's green ancestors
You must look hard to find the venerable trees that were the first to be planted in Square Saint-Lambert. You'll walk around the central flowerbeds sown with lawns reminiscent of the shape of scallops. You might slip discreetly in front of the stage of the open-air theater where amateur actors play young people who, panicked by the state of the world, decide to organize a revolution. And it's the flamboyant color that finally catches our eye. A gentleman was reading in the cool shade of the silver maple that dominates the scene from its 20-meter height. Its very young leaves still displayed the red hue that characterizes their stems. The larger ones were already turning a light green, with a white underside that creates a lighting effect. It's come a long way! In 1835, the Vaugirard gasworks were built here, despite local protests about explosions, toxic fumes and their harmful influence on vegetation. After 80 years of gas production, which supplied some of the Left Bank's streetlamps, the plant was demolished, and the square planted in 1933. The silver maple is still there, as is its neighbor, a very discreet black alder whose longevity commands respect.
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