Last year I made a trip to the Portuguese island of Madeira, situated way out in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lissabon [also known as Lisbon -Ed.] and about 500 km north of the Canary Islands. I took the opportunity to visit some gardens; there are lots of them and some are also growing bromeliads.

Madeira is rightly famous for its rich nature and flowering plants. This is due to the moderate humid climate with day temperatures in the coastal zones between 15 and 28 [degrees]C, depending on the season. Higher up in the mountains, that go up to 1800 meters, is the territory for the hikers where it can get really cold. Walking on the island is made easy by following the levadas, watercourses that form the irrigation system.

The three gardens that I went to are all situated in or around the capital Funchal at the southern coast of the 55 km wide island. The most well-known is the Jardim Botanico, with a size of about 8 ha. In the past it belonged to the Reid family, who planted there at the end of the 19th century the first trees. The monumental Reid Palace hotel in Funchal is also a reminder to those immigrants from England. Many people from that country went to Madeira and became active in gardening and cultivating grapes; they still dominate the wine trade...