The city’s botanical gardens invite the public to explore their 28-hectare expanse, free of charge, all year long. Visitors can partake in informative guided tours to deepen their understanding of the botanical world, or engage in workshops and activities thoughtfully designed for children.
Gardeners Léa Cosandey and Camille Fournier, experienced ethnobotanical gardeners, guide participants through plant identification and traditional uses, drawing on field knowledge of medicinal species from Switzerland and abroad.
This guided tour examines the virtues and risks of common and exotic medicinal plants, exploring digestive, diuretic, healing and soothing properties as well as nerve-system effects. Participants observe equivalents in the greenhouse and learn safe, evidence-based approaches to use and identification.
In French.
Speakers include Flávio Borda D’Água (Conservateur, Bibliothèque de Genève), Estelle Fallet (Conservatrice, Musée d’art et d’histoire), Olivier Fichot (commissaire-priseur, Genève Enchères) and Patrick Bungener (Adjoint scientifique, Jardin Botanique de Genève). The session is moderated by journalist Huma Khamis Madden.
The roundtable examines the ethical and scientific challenges of auctioning cultural and scientific objects, using Rousseau’s herbarium as a case study. Participants investigate how high market prices restrict access to collections, explore best practices for preservation and scholarly access, and discuss ways to reconcile collectors’ interests with institutional and public research needs.
In French.
Dig into planting and discovery at a lively plant market. Walk between stalls of seedlings, herbs and colorful flowers. Hear gardeners sharing simple tips, smell fresh soil and taste local honey. In a hands-on potting workshop, children will pot a plant, feel soft earth, and take their own creation home. Bright colors, rustling leaves and cheerful voices make the day sensory and playful, sparking curiosity and confidence in caring for plants.
Explore a sunlit flower meadow and watch bees and other foraging insects up close. Listen to tiny wings, smell warm petals, and follow busy pollinators from bloom to bloom. Learn how insects help flowers become fruits and seeds through hands-on investigations, sensory games, and botanical explorations. Children will observe, sketch, and gently interact with plants and insects while discovering life cycles and caring for nature in playful, curious ways.
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
Stroll through rocky beds and cultivated plots on a gentle guided walk that brings you close to Geneva’s most threatened native plants. With the gardener Léonie Henry and scientist Daniel Comte, examine the delicate shapes, textures and ecological relationships of rare species, learning about their habitats and the pressures they face. The experience blends attentive observation with scientific insight, offering a quiet, communal rhythm of discovery and a renewed connection to local biodiversity and conservation efforts.
In French.
This educational escape game explores botanical science through a narrative investigation: players inherit an ancestral botanist’s study and must identify a historical medicinal plant described in a 1715 letter. The experience investigates plant-based remedies, species identification, and the analytical thinking behind developing treatments for malaria. Participants examine botanical clues, practice observational and analytical skills, and apply scientific reasoning to reconstruct historical knowledge and assess how specific plants can influence public health.
Culture, curated weekly.
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