There are lovely parks and botanical gardens to visit but the gardens I found most fascinating were the private gardens of houses built on the steep hillsides and mountainsides of this volcanic island. These mainly small gardens are steeply terraced and every inch of the land is put to good use. It is certainly a lot more challenging than gardening in England but they do have the advantage with the climate. A lot of the gardens are used to grow food but areas near to the house often have beautiful displays of flowers.
Flowers seem to be everywhere you look on this island. Azaleas in a riot of different colours hang over walls and steep embankments. Nasturtiums tumble wildly down the hillsides and the lovely Bird of Paradise flower (pictured above) grows everywhere, in gardens and along the roadside verges. Water is transported from the wetter west and northwest of the island to the drier southeast by way of irrigation channels called levadas. Levada walks are very popular with visitors.
I would love to go there again at a different time of the year to see the gardens in full flower.
No comments:
Post a Comment