Year-round Colour in Madeira

There’s not much to say about my own garden today as apart from a quick brushing of leaves from the lawn yesteday I’ve done nothing in it for ten days.

“Disgraceful!” Yes, I can hear the chorus of condemnation coming through the screen. But don’t be too harsh on me. I really have a good excuse. For a week I was almost four hours flying time south of here, on a small island in the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa – Madeira. My wife and I have been visiting there for almost twenty years now, and enjoy the winter warmth even if it is only for a few days.

“OK, but what about some gardening? ” Well I thought I’d put up a photo for those of you who like me live in what is currently a wintry part of the world – just to make you jealous, you understand.

Yes, this was just four days ago, in the last week of November, on a very ordinary street close to our hotel about seven miles from the capital, Funchal. We didn’t visit the Botanic Gardens this year, but last year at roughly the same time I took a number of photos there of fuchsias in full flower. Since our first visit to the island in 1989 we’ve loved the place, and hope next time to be able to visit in the Spring when the full glory of its colour bursts out.

What a contrast this is to the state of things back home – all the colour gone, the winter clearing of the borders still not finished, and the greenhouse currently emptied for cleaning and fumigating. At this time of year in the English Midlands gardening is a frequently damp and dreary combination of duty and hope. Duty because it has to be kept respectably tidy and to be mulched to protect precious plants from the coming frost; hope as one looks forward to the as yet invisible benefits of all this work when the Spring comes.

It was nice to experience once again a country in which floral colour does not all but vanish for four or five months of the year. By the way, for anyone who doesn’t know much about Madeira, politically it’s an autonomous region of Portugal, “discovered” by Portuguese sailor-explorers in 1420. Funchal is due next year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of its being granted a city charter by the then king of Portugal. Geologically it’s a volcanic (long-inactive) island with rugged mountain scenery, gorgeously green, with a history of producing sugar, bananas and wine. Can’t wait to go back.

All for now,

- David -