La Jaÿsinia Alpine Botanical Garden: mountain plants from around the world above Samoëns
Above the centre of Samoëns, perched on a south-west-facing limestone hillside, sits the La Jaÿsinia Alpine Botanical Garden, a garden designated as a “Remarkable Garden”, created in 1906 and placed under the scientific direction of the National Museum of Natural History from 1936 to 2023. Behind the project from its inception was a key figure: Marie-Louise Cognacq-Jaÿ, born into a modest Samoëns family who became co-founder of La Samaritaine in Paris.
The garden today houses approximately 4,500 mountain plants, representing around 2,500 species, the vast majority from five continents: mountain flora and cold-zone plants from across the world, from the Caucasus to the Andes via the Himalayas and the Rockies.
From Samoëns to La Samaritaine, and back
Marie-Louise Jaÿ, born in Samoëns on 1 July 1838 into a modest family, left the village at 15 years old to seek her fortune in Paris. There she met Ernest Cognacq, whom she would marry, and together they founded the department store La Samaritaine, which became, within a few decades, one of Europe’s largest commercial enterprises.
The couple, childless, undertook considerable philanthropic works. From 1904, Marie-Louise conceived the idea of offering her native village an alpine botanical garden and a villa intended to house a doctor, a project at once practical and cultural, in a Samoëns that remained isolated. The work was entrusted to Jules Allemand, a landscape architect known for the rock gardens of the Parc Ariana in Geneva.
200 workers, two years of construction
The chosen site was a steep slope, scattered with limestone boulders, overlooking the village. 200 workers were mobilised over two years (1905-1906) to excavate the terraces, build the retaining walls, transport topsoil, and plant the first specimens. Waterfalls and pools completed the layout, set around an 18th-century chapel and the ruins of the Tornalta castle. The inauguration took place in September 1906.
The original landscape architecture remains clearly legible today: a winding path, viewpoints over the Giffre valley, rock gardens that evoke the high mountains recreated at 720 metres elevation.
Five continents in a single garden
The collection is organised by biogeographic regions: Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central, Caucasus, Himalayas, Siberia, North America, Andes, New Zealand. This arrangement of cold-altitude plants worldwide allows the coexistence, over a few hectares, of plants that never meet in nature, alpine gentians neighbouring Himalayan saxifrages, edelweiss alongside Caucasian rhododendrons.
The Museum’s scientific direction long made La Jaÿsinia a conservatory of rare or threatened plants.
Samoëns
Travel Book AEC CollectionWhen to visit
The main flowering season runs from May to July, when the garden displays its fullest palette. September remains worthwhile for late flowering and autumn colours. Entry is free. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for an unhurried visit; the internal elevation gain is notable (approximately 80 metres), so sturdy footwear is recommended.
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