Past Events
May 2009 - MGS Algarve & Clube Dos Bons Jardims Trip To Lisbon
The publication in 2008 of Helena Attlee's book on The Gardens of Portugal inspired MGS members and the Bons Jardims garden club to organise a tour of the historic gardens of the Lisbon area. The book highlights the beautiful, unique and too often overlooked gardens open to visitors throughout the central and northern parts of Portugal.
Quinta da Bacalhoa is one of the finest early Renaissance buildings in Portugal and is home to some of the earliest azulejos in the country. It was built in an Italianate style in the early part of the 16th century. The L-shaped building encloses two sides of an intricate parterre garden with a simple fountain at its centre. A raised walkway from one corner of the parterre links the house to the Caso do Tanque – three pavilions linked by tiled loggias – fronted by a water tank.
Quinta da Bacalhoa
In the closing years of the 19th century, Luigi Manini, who was a famous theatrical set designer, was commissioned to rebuild the palace of Regaleira on the outskirts of Sintra and to remodel the existing garden. The garden sprawls up the steep hillside and winding paths link the extravagant follies, staircases, neo-manueline gateways, fountains, pools and cascades. Manini planted an enormous variety of trees and shrubs from all over the world to create stunning combinations of rock, water and greenery. The highlight of the garden though is the circular well some thirty metres deep. The entrance is a "secret" stone door that swings open on to a dark, grotto-like interior. A spiral staircase leads down the well to its base and a series of granite tunnels that were blasted out of the hillside to link it to the outside world.
Regaleira
Monserrate epitomises an estate that has endured cycles of huge investment, interest and enthusiasm with long periods of sad decline, decay and indifference. The start of the glory days began in 1790 when Gérard de Visme signed a nine-year lease on Monserrate. The lease obliged him to restore the orchards, to repair existing structures and to build a new house, which was the first gothic revival building in Portugal. Ill health, however, forced de Visme to retire to the UK in 1795 and the lease was taken over by William Beckford, whose enduring legacy is the cascade that flows down a boulder-strewn ravine to the shady valley below. However, Beckford tired of Portugal and by 1809 he had left Montserrate, which was left to crumble for almost 50 years. The estate was bought in 1856 by Sir Francis Cook, who spent a small fortune restoring and replanting the gardens and renovating the house. Cook was a plant collector and the woods and parks became the setting for a vast collection of trees and shrubs from all around the world. The house and gardens thrived under the Cook family stewardship, but by 1929 the estate was put up for sale. However, it wasn't sold until 1947 when a speculator bought it and stripped the assets before selling the house to the Portuguese state in 1949. It has remained empty since, and the garden which was maintained by 72 full-time gardeners under Sir Herbert Cook struggles for survival.
Quinta de Monserrate
Francoise Baudry’s garden is an outstanding plantsman's paradise of 5 acres that is set on a sheltered hillside just outside of Sintra. The stage is set with magnificent mature trees that provide plenty of shade near the house with clever informal planting that leads the eye ever onwards, beckoning the viewer to explore what’s beyond. Retaining walls create large terraces on the slopes which are linked by cleverly hidden stairs or sloping paths amongst the shrubbery. Near the house, the planting is lush and exuberant – an interesting mix of plants from Australia and New Zealand with palms, birches and plane trees – but as you move away from the house the planting becomes more restrained and natural. Winding verdant lawns near the house refresh the eye, and the numerous seating opportunities cleverly placed around the garden mean that the casual explorer has plenty of opportunity to rest and take in the views or just enjoy the ambience.
Françoise Baudry's garden
The Ajuda Botanic Gardens (the first botanic gardens in Portugal) were created between 1765 and 1769 and were close to the royal palace in use at the time. Initially these gardens were created to educate the young princes but they were also used as a place of relaxation for the royal family too. At the gardens' peak in the early 18th century more than 5000 species were on display. However, by the 19th century, the collection had dwindled to just 1200 species. In 1918, the gardens were handed over to the Agronomy Institute of Lisbon Technical University and restored to the way they were in 1869. From the entrance, a balustrade affords a view over the lower terrace which has four kilometres of box hedging arranged in two formal square parterres separated by an impressive fountain decorated with serpents and other aquatic forms. Following the raised walkway to the right of the lower terrace is a collection of plants laid out formally in eight regional sections according to their geographical origin, interspersed with big trees, some of which are now over 300 years old.
Botanic garden Belem.
The Jardim-Museu Agricola Tropical was created at the beginning of the 20th century as a tropical science research unit, and is home to a plant collection from former Portuguese colonies including many mature palm trees. A subset of the garden is an Eastern Garden entered via two Chinese gates that symbolised Macau, built for the World Expo in 1940.
Jardim Agricola Tropical.
Palácio Fronteira was built in the late 17th century and both the house and gardens are inspired by Italy. It is home to one of Portugal’s most important collection of 17th century azulejos and was the earliest garden to have azulejos specifically designed for it. Blue and white tiles dominate the raised terrace that links the palace to the chapel which has a façade comprised of mosaics made from pebbles, coloured glass and broken shards of china. From the chapel, a steep covered staircase leads down to the Garden of Venus – a shade garden dominated by an ancient monkey puzzle tree and large magnolias. The Great Garden occupies the enclosed area to the east of the palace aand was designed to be seen from a first floor loggia, which has long since been enclosed. From there, you can view a huge parterre of box arranged around a central fountain. Behind the parterre is the King’s Tank – a large oblong pool surrounded by an elegant balustrade and backed by a retaining wall entirely covered in blue and white azulejos. Staircases at each end of the pool lead up through square pavilions to an upper terrace called the Gallery of the Kings. Busts of Portugal’s kings are arranged on apses lined with azulejos made in blue and white or an iridescent bronze lustre.
Palacio dos Marqueses da Fronteira.
Hugo O’Neil’s garden is a 16th century private garden that has been in the same family for 400 years. From a terrace at the back of the house, a box parterre can be viewed in the terrace below. To the right of parterre is a high retaining wall with plantings of chestnut and plane trees in front of it which cast shade over a section of the parterre. A staircase leads from the back of the house down to the parterre. From the far end of the parterre the ground slopes away, revealing a modern tennis court and swimming pool behind a high hedge. A rough road leads down the side of the tennis court to a dilapidated pool complete with a statue that resembles a leprechaun. On the other side of the road, there is a mosaic wall complete with wall fountain which hides a well and wheel that would have been powered by a donkey in days gone by to bring water to the fountain. EU funding has been applied for in order to restore the gardens to their former glory, but comes with a price – access for the general public, parking and a visitor centre.
Hugo O'Neil Garden.
Text and photos by Tamsin Varley
September 2008 - Roses for the Mediterranean Climate
Illustrated talk by Michael Marriott of David Austin Roses at Convento Sao Jose, Lagoa, Algarve.
Michael Marriott is one of Britain’s leading rose growers. He has been surrounded by roses for the past 25 years. In his day job as technical manager and curator of the National Plant Collection at David Austin Roses he lives and breathes the global brand synonymous with English roses, and his Shropshire garden contains an ever-changing range of dozens of varieties at any one time. His plot is no formal showpiece, however. It's a living tapestry, alive with birds and insects: a real-life example of how gardening with nature can work both aesthetically and productively.
“There are two groups of roses in my garden,” he says. “Some that I know are very reliable and very beautiful, such as ‘Francis E. Lester’, ‘Golden Celebration’, ‘Queen of Denmark’ and ‘The Mayflower’, while others that I don’t know I have acquired from various places and I'm interested to see how they grow. My garden is almost a testing ground. If they do very well then I suggest that they go into the catalogue, if not I dig them out. There are 60 or 70 varieties in the garden; I count them in my head if I can't sleep.” But it's not just the roses that inspire Michael: “I like anything with a bit of chlorophyll in it,” he says.
February 2008 - Clematis Day
Joint event with the Bons Jardins Garden Group
This day was based in Moncarapacho in the eastern Algarve. There was an illustrated talk in the morning given by Mike Brown, past Chairman of the British Clematis Society, followed by a light lunch and a workshop session in the afternoon. The emphasis was on clematis suitable for the Algarve. The workshop session demonstrated topics such as propagation (by seed and cuttings), cultivation and container growing of clematis. |
