Petrifying Fountains Garden | Tourism Saint-Marcellin Vercors Isère

a botanical world tour with a thousand sources

Out of time, the Garden of petrifying fountains offers a playful journey, between humor and poetry. Unique in its kind, discover what makes the particularity of the garden and the village of La Sône with the phenomenon of petrification on the tufières: these incredible natural constructions sculpted by water.

the secrets and treasures of petrification revealed

For almost a thousand years, mysterious springs have flowed under the village of La Sône and created a curious light and porous rock formed by mosses and plants covered with limestone: tuff...

It is this phenomenon of petrifying water that gives rise to all the natural jewels (plants, rocks, objects) that can be observed in the garden.

With the desire to preserve these local curiosities called “tuffières” formed by limestone springs from the Chambaran plateau, the Jardin des Fontaines Pétrifiantes was created in 1994.

The visit of the garden

As a reward for the maintenance, the botanical diversity and the unusual elements that characterize it, the Jardin des Fontaines Pétrifiantes was awarded the "Remarkable Garden" label in 2018.

The Pebble with the Owls
The Valentinoise
Lena Ferez
Lena Ferez

water accompanies the visitor

“A vegetable symphony drawn by water”

Water is omnipresent and sculpts the garden. Ponds, streams, goures, waterfalls, petrifying fountains punctuate the course. Young and old alike will be able to wander between the streams, cool off in the water trail and enjoy the melodious song of the springs as much as the deafening sound of the waterfall.

more than 800 plant species…

In an aquatic setting made up of pools and waterfalls, rediscover this harmonious and original combination each time you come. More than 800 species of flowers and plant forms take visitors on a veritable tour of the botanical world where rare exotic, Mediterranean, aquatic and tropical plants rub shoulders.

Among the most unusual: the famous mandrake, mimosa pudica, a sensitive plant that closes as soon as you touch it, Ginkgo biloba… and many other new products each season.

The Pebble with the Owls
Marie Bassiny Palmer
Marie Bassiny Palmer
Marie Bassiny Palmer
Marie Bassiny Palmer
Gaeo photo

diverted objects water against the cliff

… and an original and playful staging

A unique place enhanced by a particularly generous nature but also by the creativity and talent of the team of gardeners.

During your visit, open your eyes and observe the limitless imagination of the gardeners. Between humor and poetry, we find everywhere a few artistic creations and diverted objects in the garden.

Just like the plant plantations, these unusual installations are renewed every year. With each visit, we therefore rediscover a corner or a treasure of the garden.

“There are magical, magical, peaceful, rejuvenating, soothing, poetic places.
This kind of little corner of paradise that propels out of time, into a divine parenthesis. »

@vanillelopez on Instagram

To prepare for your visit

In the department of Isère, between Romans-sur-Isère and Grenoble at the foot of Vercors Regional Nature Park, the Garden of Petrifying Fountains takes you on an exceptional botanical discovery. At the entrance to the village of La Sône, below the bridge, the car parks give access to the reception building comprising a ticket office, a shop, a bar and a snack bar.