88 perfume plants now grow on the roof of Paris Expo

Perfume plants usually remain out of sight: we encounter jasmine, tuberose or citrus only once they appear in a fragrance pyramid. A new garden on the roof of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles invites visitors to see the story at its beginning — among the plants themselves.

Le Jardin des Parfums, Grasse-Paris opened on 18 September on the roof of Pavilion 6, beside La Serre. The garden brings together 88 botanical species connected with perfumery, arranged across six olfactory families: aromatic, spicy-woody, floral, citrus, fruity and white-floral.

This is not an attempt to turn an exhibition centre into a conservatory for a leisurely walk. The garden was conceived as part of an events venue, adding a cultural and sensory dimension to programmes at La Serre. For industry professionals and exhibition visitors alike, a plant becomes more than a decorative metaphor for a note: it is the start of a long chain, from botany and cultivation to extraction and composition.

The project brings together Viparis, the Resperfuma agency, the Pays de Grasse urban area, the International Perfume Museum and its gardens. Grasse’s expertise helped select the plants and shape the route — a particularly fitting connection, since the city’s perfume-making knowledge and practices are inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The garden is designed to evolve. Its organisers plan to observe how the plants adapt to the rooftop, how the space works during events and how visitors respond to it. In time, the International Perfume Museum may contribute to the cultural programme with talks, workshops and interpretive formats.

That is the value of this opening. Perfumery has gained a visible place in Paris’s urban infrastructure — not in a display case, nor only in a museum, but on the roof of a major exhibition centre. For the industry, it is a quiet but precise reminder that every fragrance begins not with marketing language, but with a plant, soil, a season and human knowledge.