Never has a plant been so talked about.
This Thursday, March 18, in the early morning, the century-old wisteria of the Place du Tertre, at the top of the Butte Montmartre (18th), was completed by the blows of a chainsaw from the City of Paris.
Finished the pretty purple bunches under which the surrealist poet André Breton was lunching… The plant would be definitively dead and good to cut down, according to the services of the City?
“Yes”, affirms Christophe Najdovski, deputy (EELV) of Anne Hidalgo in charge of the revegetation, the public space and the animal condition.
Elected officials and local associations have decided to replace the plant.
And to continue: “It was cut down so that a new wisteria could be planted and the largest possible model was selected.
The municipal services will take meticulous care to allow it to develop and bring as much pleasure as its big sister.
"
Place du Tertre (18th).
Chez Plumeau's wisteria is gone.
A new one has been replanted by the services of the City of Paris.
LP / Cecile Beaulieu
120 years of existence, for this old arbor which housed the terrace of the Chez Plumeau brasserie, known all over the world.
And, of course, a commercial argument for the owner of the establishment, who watched over her like milk on the fire.
Montmartre welcomes 12 million tourists every year, including many Japanese.
Among them, wisteria is a sacred plant.
Doubtful residents
Quickly, the city services came to replant the gasoline.
“It was planned,” they say.
Local residents are a little less convinced.
“It's totally opportunistic!
laughs a resident.
And how could this poor little foot replace this magnificent plant?
We are made fun of.
"A local resident, surprised in the middle of a photo shoot this Monday, confirms:" I am disgusted!
It was my favorite terrace.
Especially in the summer.
It was cool and shady… Incredible!
"
The story never ceases to agitate social networks.
Quick to accuse the work carried out on Place du Tertre, which would have encouraged the concreting of the place, depriving the plants of oxygen.
One thing is certain, annoys Emile Meunier, elected EELV in the 18th, which preserves the buds of the plant.
We have played our role of alert and from this Tuesday the group will meet.
We will immediately make proposals so that this does not happen again.
We must change our mindset!
We cannot continue to concrete the city like this!
»And to drive the point home:« The plant was budding.
I have the proof.
We will not let this pass ”.
Wisteria will be discussed at the Paris Council
The City is formal: the trellis would die.
But no one agrees, quite the contrary.
“A wisteria obviously blooms in spring,” continues Emile Meunier.
And, yes, her branches seem dead in winter… How could anyone have thought that she was dead?
"
At the next Paris Council, Catherine Ibled, elected from the Independents and Progressives group, intends to present a wish on this famous wisteria: the elected representative of the 15th district wants the City "to give the inhabitants of the district the constituent elements of the dossier which has resulted in this decision to destroy the Montmartre wisteria ”.
But also "extend to remarkable plants the system of protection and respect enjoyed by the 191 remarkable trees in Paris, by creating a public file, subject to regular concerted review, notably with the Paris Biodiversity Observatory and the regional biodiversity agency in Ile-de-France, the list of these remarkable plants (Directory of remarkable plants of Paris-RVRP).
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“We,” explains Béatrice Faillès, candidate (LREM) in the last legislative elections and Montmartre, we wish to reinforce this wish with an international petition.
The idea is to classify, really, these memorial plants.
As we do for trees.
"