without a permit to water, rare plants from the Toulouse botanical garden threatened by drought
The drought that hits us affects all our plants. Monday, August 8, Haute-Garonne is subject to strong water restrictions limiting watering. In the botanical gardens of Toulouse, grandiose anxiety. Without water, some very rare plant species are threatened.
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The leaves of the cocoa trees of the Amazon are withering, the Tree of the powder puffs of America bends under the crushing heat which hits Toulouse this week. As for aquatic plants, they are drying out.
Without water, many plants will die out
Even if the botanical garden of Toulouse would have obtained an oral agreement of the DDT (Direction of territories) for an authorization allowing their watering, the services of the prefecture have still not validated it. Those who take care of these rare species are worried.
Jean-Yves Marc, head gardener of this exceptional garden at the Toulouse Museum, scrutinizes the potted plants exposed to the sun every day. With the mercury soaring, and the water restrictions imposed in Haute-Garonne since Monday, these very fragile plants are indeed threatened.
Many of these plants are tropical. They are kept in pots to be able to protect them from the cold in winter. They already have problems with drought. And without water, they won’t last long. Among them are citrus fruits and collections of tropical fruit trees. It takes a lot of time and money to replenish them. But there it is clear with the drought, we will lose them or they will be damaged.
Jean-Yves Marc, crop manager at the Toulouse Botanical Garden
More than 3,000 species are preserved in the botanical garden
This garden has collections of endangered species with a conservatory and educational purpose. Plants that are also used for research. More than 3,000 species are preserved, including dozens of very rare ones. Whether on the site of the Museum or on that of Borderouge.
Because it is indeed in the ethnobotanical collection that the damage could be the most important. Made up of shrubs, annuals and perennials, part of this collection could appear with the heat.
Collections of rare plants that are difficult to find
“ We have ethnobotanical collections that retrace the history of the relationship between humans and plants, but we are very worried about perennial plants, which suffer a lot from this heat. Out of more than 600 species, if we lose some of them, it will be very difficult to reconstitute this type of collection. It is impossible to find these plants commercially. They are found more in the wild. Fortunately on a large network of seed exchanges between botanical gardens in the world but it takes a long time to regrow everything”, explains the Head of Cultures.
The botanical garden is watered by the city’s drinking water network, so it is subject to the restrictions in force since Monday. But discussions are underway to obtain an exemption for the two sites, that of the Museum and that of Borderouge.
A crisis plan to save plants
We have obtained an agreement in principle for the derogation on the prefectural decree to be able to water the vegetable garden part of the world, we are waiting for the written record. This would allow us to be able to continue to water in a very resistant way with a crisis plan put in place with the gardeners. The most emblematic and heat-vulnerable plants would be watered first, at night only. Then we put shade for the most vulnerable plants. There, there is an urgency to save as many plants as possible.
Isabel Nottaris, deputy director of the Toulouse Museum
Indeed, the Toulouse Botanical Garden has been suffering from drought for several months already. Their water collection basins are dry. Plants have already been lost. Those who take care of this plant treasure hope to limit the damage as much as possible.