Spring Conference Report May 2015

Jorge Paiva, Gerald Luckhurst, Sonia Azambuja, Rosie Peddle and Burford Hurry 

 International Spring Conference May 2015 - Mediterranean Gardening Association – Portugal 

The Portuguese Garden - Past, Present and Future

Planning for our annual weekend conference was inspired by the Jardins magazine edited by Jean-Paul Brigand and published in September 2014. This brought together various articles to focus on the uniqueness and appreciation of gardens in Portugal. It was a very effective demonstration of why we should cherish the rare and special gardens we have in Portugal and value their future potential to attract visitors. We were very grateful to have sponsorship for this event from The Linnean Society of London and from Parques de Sintra.

The weekend conference of 2015 was the first held under the banner of the newly formed Association for Mediterranean Plants and Gardens and also the first held in the Vila Galé Hotel Estoril. The Vila Galé made an excellent base for our weekend and its superb location gave many their first chance to visit Portugal and the Lisbon area, an area rich in historic and private gardens, some of them little known outside of the country.

As an optional extra, we organised private garden visits on Friday and Monday, these are reported on separately.

Our conference weekend started on Friday evening with an informal welcome reception and the chance to introduce everyone to their fellow delegates. This was followed by the opportunity to hear a wonderful recorded talk on Roses for Mediterranean Gardens which was first given by Charles Quest-Ritson at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London for the UK based Mediterranean Plants & Gardens Society. His lecture includes advice on roses that flourish in a Mediterranean climate, rose nurseries, and facts on choosing and looking after roses. It illustrates many of the most beautiful Mediterranean-climate rose gardens, particularly in France, Italy and California. 

This talk is now available online for everyone to see via slide shows and talks page on this web site.

The programme for Saturday attracted many local garden enthusiasts to join our group staying in the hotel and opened with a talk on some Remarkable Historic Gardens of Portugal given by Sónia Talhé Azambuja. Sónia is a garden historian and landscape architect well known for her work in the restoration and management of historic landscapes. She lectures regularly both at the University of Lisbon and Algarve University. Her talk took us on a journey through the history of gardens in Portugal from their recorded beginnings in the Roman era, to the long lasting impact of the Islamic influence on farms and gardens through to examples of the Baroque era such as Queluz Palace and the first botanic garden of Ajuda. She gave us examples of the ´Quinta de Recreio´ which is a uniquely Portuguese concept for managing land. This has five defining characteristics – plants for food, plants for scent, agricultural use, an irrigation system and a garden area, purely for pleasure, near the house. 

Our second talk of the morning was on the Native Plant School Garden in Barcelos from Dr Jorge Paiva, eminent scientist and Portuguese botanist. He was principal investigator in the Department of Botany, University of Coimbra, where he also taught. Dr Paiva is well known for his unambiguous defence of the environment, and is an active member of various associations and national and international committees. He gave us a lively account of the past 24 years work on a school garden of woody plants indigenous to Portugal. The garden was started in 1986 and is maintained by a team of teachers of the School. It is organized into well defined natural phytogeographic areas. He was particularly keen to share the enthusiasm felt by the pupils for this garden and the fact that it is never vandalised or used for dumping litter ! For example, the garden has 14 of the 16 indigenous species roses of Portugal so we were left in no doubt that they were actively seeking the remaining two roses.

Following lunch we spent a wonderful afternoon visiting two very special locations in Lisbon. Sonia Azambuja and Ana Luisa Soares were our guides for a visit to the historic Botanic Garden of Ajuda, once part of the original Palace of Ajuda but now a separate and self contained garden on two levels with spectacular views out over the city and River Tejo. The lower and larger terrace contains an enormous box parterre with walkways and vistas to the statuary and fountains of the original garden dating from 1756. The higher terrace has a geometric grid of botanical beds as well as some amazing surviving plants, including the famous Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco) from the Canary Isles and a Schotia afra which extends on supports at head height for an impressive 10m around the main trunk. In addition the large and imposing Jacaranda trees are an amazing sight when covered with their scented panicles of lilac coloured flowers. We even saw the famous peacocks displaying their fantastic coloured feathers for our benefit.

After a much needed refreshing afternoon tea in the delightful Estufa Real restaurant on site, we went from contemplating the historic garden to a vision of the future. As part of ISA (Instituto Superior de Agronomia) there is an innovation centre and we were able to visit the only nursery dedicated solely to producing the native plants of Portugal, SIGMETUM. This was started by graduates of ISA five years ago and has had a great response from those involved in projects for recovering damaged landscapes, establishing new gardens and landscape architects involved in the newly chic fashion for using native plants in sustainable gardens and landscapes. In addition to a welcome and introduction from founder, Eng. Filipe Soares, we were shown the production process from seed to saleable plant. By then of course, our delegates were keen to know if they could make their own purchases, so the rest of the visit was happily spent choosing plants to take home with us. As a recent development, a sister company has been formed to market and sell the seed of native plants of Portugal and these were available at our event – Sementes de Portugal.  

Choosing plants at SIGMETUM

Our splendid buffet dinner that evening in the Vila Galé was a great opportunity to get to know one another better and to talk over what we had seen during the day.

Sunday was our chance to discuss the future for gardens in Portugal and the talk by Jean-Paul Brigand on the Financial Case for Garden Tourism gave a detailed analysis of the potential to provide support and funding for historic and important gardens. Many lovely gardens are suffering from lack of funds for maintenance, development and for much needed repair works. The talk gave examples of visitor numbers achieved in other countries through well established schemes such as the Jardins Remarquables of France and National Gardens Scheme in the UK. This talk was followed by a discussion on the possible benefits for gardens in Portugal and the means by which a similar scheme might be promoted. It was agreed by all present that there is a unique character to gardens in Portugal and that this character must not be lost or diluted as it is exactly this which has the potential to attract visitors from all over Europe and the wider world. Garden tourism is an established industry in many other countries and is enthusiastically supported.

An example of a successful garden restoration and increased visitor numbers is the very special and world famous Monserrate Park and Palace in Sintra. We were very lucky to have with us for our visit the main guiding hand behind the restoration of the Park, Gerald Luckhurst. He is a well respected historic gardens consultant and landscape architect living and working in Portugal for the last twenty five years. Currently he is working on Monserrate in Sintra which was awarded the 2013 European Garden Award for the “Best Development of an Historic Park or Garden”. His talk on The History of Monserrate gave us an insight into the detailed research undertaken during the restoration and replanting of the park with an amazing look at the ´highs and lows´ in the life of this special place, from having millions spent on it to a rapid degradation. One of the special aspects of this talk was the look at the people and the families involved and who made Monserrate their home.

Sunday afternoon was our opportunity to visit Monserrate with Gerald Luckhurst as our guide and also we were very privileged to have Mrs Emma Gilbert with us. Emma was a founder of the Friends of Monserrate and was instrumental in supporting the recent restoration of the park and palace to its current glorious condition. They both provided anecdotes and examples of remarkable people and plants involved in the restoration.

Gerald Luckhurst leads the group through the tree ferns at Monserrate

A highlight was our visit to the newly restored Rose Garden. By the second half of the nineteenth century the plant explorers and rose breeders had together radically altered the range of roses available to wealthy landowners in search of novelty. Many of these roses had been produced by hybridising species obtained in China and India and were cultivated with enormous care in the great glasshouses of the era. Monserrate offered Francis Cook a unique opportunity to cultivate these new wonders in the open air. A new type of rose garden was needed. The site, in a sheltered bowl below the Great Lawn, was chosen carefully: the soil, a perfect loamy clay, lying within a warm sheltered valley between ancient Cork Trees and newly planted pines. The restoration project has cleared the area of encroaching brambles and weed trees and replanted with species and hybrid roses best adapted for these conditions. During 2008/2009 the first 125 roses were planted, in spring 2010 another 250 rose bushes were planted and in 2011 a further 500. One of the Rosa mutabilis variety has the wonderful name of ´White Pearl in Red Dragon´s Mouth´. In addition to the historic rose cultivars the garden also showcases the hybrids of Rosa gigantea, first hybridised by Henri Cayeux in 1906 at the Botanic Garden of Lisbon.

The modern R. gigantea hybrids of Indian rose breeder, Viru Viraragavan, have also been planted as an example of the contribution that this gigantic species has made to rose breeding. Also of note is the chance to see several Rosa banksiae types growing side by side, classic roses for the Mediterranean garden.

The roses are given free rein to scramble through trees, form huge rounded shrubs covered in flowers and to mingle freely in the romantic setting of this sheltered site near to the Palace itself. We were lucky enough to have our visit at the peak of the flowering season and , standing on the great lawn at the head of the rose garden on a still warm day bathed us completely in almost intoxicating scents. A fitting tribute to the Oriental atmosphere sought by previous occupants of this magical palace and it´s park.

It was a tired but very happy group which visited the welcoming cafe at Monserrate for our restoring afternoon break before heading back to Estoril and another pleasant evening of gardening gossip over dinner. We are very grateful to our speakers for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with us, everyone took away special impressions of gardens in Portugal and many will return to visit more of these distinctively lovely gardens.

Jean-Paul Brigand talks on Garden Tourism for Portugal 

LAWN ALTERNATIVES – What to do instead ? Friday February 27th 2015

Zoysia planted around old olive trees at the Natura Garden Centre

This was a full day looking at alternative ground cover planting and we started with a showing of the talk by Olivier Filippi which he gave at the MGS AGM in Athens in November 2013. We were based in Almancil and the morning was spent at the popular Aquarelle Restaurant for our talk and discussion with the designers, followed by lunch and the opportunity to discuss what we had seen. There was a lively Q&A session and garden visits were organised for the afternoon.

The talk on Lawn Alternatives in Mediterranean Climates follows closely the theme of the latest book from Olivier Filippi, Alternatives au Gazon. The book is not yet available in English but we have recently heard that there is a publisher interested in producing an English edition. The talk is approx. 50 minutes but can be paused for an interval. You can see the talk, which is in English, on this web site via the talks page.

The talk was followed by Presentation of Case Studies from Marilyn Medina Ribeiro and from Jean-Claude Defrance, both professional landscapers with experience of Algarve conditions and they were available to answer questions and discuss various options.

Marilyn, and Jean-Claude with Sylvain Griot, were the professionals who joined us for this event. Marilyn showed some interesting before and after shots of her gardens designed to make maximum use of Mediterranean climate compatible plantings and introduce diversity into the garden. Jean-Claude also showed us some of the varied uses for the lawn alternative, Zoysia alternifolia, he has recommended this to garden owners who have heavy use pathways or who want alternative but green planting next to pools. Sylvain Griot is running a specialist nursery in the Alentejo which produces Zoysia as a turf alternative for laying on large or small areas. He showed us photos of the different ways Zoysia can be maintained to give differing effects in the garden, and he demonstrated mowing techniques at the nursery. Overall Zoysia needs less maintainance, less water and can give zones of the garden a different look.

Following lunch, we first visited the nearby Natura Garden Centre and Jean-Claude Defrance and Sylvain Griot showed the demonstration areas planted up with Zoysia.

After the visit to the nursery our group was invited to visit some gardens locally, we are very grateful to the owners for sharing their gardens and their experience of life without a lawn !

Poul and Vibeke – Vale do Lobo, Almancil. This is a modern villa garden and the owners were not happy with the large areas of lawn which they inherited with the house. After doing some research and visiting ‘dry gardens’ on the Algarve, they made the big decision and the lawns were removed in 2010. The paths for access were defined and various mulches used to give texture among the shrubs and new drought tolerant plants. They now say that some of their near neighbours have watched their experiment with interest and have followed their example by removing their own lawns.

Vibeke and Poul removed their lawn and added colour and interest 

Agnete's garden before the lawn is removed 

Agnete has less expense and more interest in her garden after removing the lawn

Agnete’s Garden – Almancil The owner of this much-loved but increasingly expensive garden wanted to swap the lawn for something more sustainable and appropriate to the climate, while improving the health and look of the garden. Subtropical shrubs were transplanted together into one area where they will ultimately receive water once a week in high summer, while the majority of the garden has been given over to Mediterranean planting with bark and gravel mulches to preserve humidity. A rose border next to the terrace receives intermittent irrigation, but once established will have very low water needs. The removal of the sad looking lawn has allowed Agnete to have a lovely water feature with a small paved area for a bench as well as exuberant and diverse planting to give year round interest.
More Photos on http://waterwisegardens.com/projects/almancil-garden

Although it was a smaller group at the end of the afternoon, we were also invited to visit

Anna ‘s garden - Monte Seco, This is in the countryside behind Loule on a sloping site with glorious views over the nearby hills. Original mature trees have been retained to provide pools of shade. There is imaginative and artistic use of a variety of shrubs, trees and plants, both exotic and indigenous and all suited to Mediterranean gardens. Good practical use of water conserving methods, stone mulches and some limited watering. Inviting paths and steps provide easy access to all parts. They were also awarded a medal by the Loule Camara for the most sympathetic conversion of a typical old Portuguese farmhouse. There is a swimming pool but there is no lawn in this garden.

Everyone agreed that it was a useful and informative day with the chance to see real gardens with owners that had removed lawns and found it provides more diversity in the garden as well as year round interest and beauty. A less expense and more sustainable way of enjoying our gardens.

Monte Seco dry river using stones among the shrubs