The pleasure of having dirty nails, of digging one’s hands into the soil. Or one’s toes. And to feel one’s roots growing deep into the ground. 

Open ground: the theme of the 6th Lausanne Jardins Festival. The few urban spaces that have never been layered with concrete or tarmacked and that have remained connected to the ground, which gives the world above much of its richness. Because the subsoil expresses itself on the surface. Through trees in particular, for whom open ground is a necessary condition.

Some wells of soil remain, but the closer you draw to the centre, the rarer they become. Puddles of earth, green roofs, hanging gardens: we go from the depths to off-ground cultivation. And to a plant life with scarce resources. 

Lausanne Jardins 2019 offers a down-to-earth route, a surface tour of the underground that connects these various plots of soil.