Workshop: The gardener brother, explore the secrets of the garden!

What does a plant need? This workshop explores the secrets of plants, from seed to flower. Using their senses, students discover the abbey's medicinal and vegetable plants.

After observing the seeds, students take part in an exploration of the plant cycle. What are the different parts of the plant called, and how does it reproduce? These questions are addressed from both a theoretical and a practical point of view, to understand the plant's needs. Using their senses, participants observe, touch and smell leaves, flowers and roots to discover their medicinal characteristics and find the remedy to cure the sick abbot. Then, following an iconographic study of Charlemagne's Capitulaire de Villis, students take to the gardens to discover the forgotten vegetables of the medieval kitchen garden and identify those of the garden of simples.