I am dreaming myself back to Madeira again… We’ve had a wonderful summer here in Sweden, but now Autumn is in full swing with wind, rain, and much cooler temperatures.
So, I allow myself to contemplate for a while, just like this lady among flowers and lush greenery.
But, I love wandering in cactus and succulent gardens too. These are from the cacti collection in the Botanical Garden of Madeira.
I have some cacti in my home, but mostly epiphyllums – no spikes! My biggest cactus (with huge spikes…)has fallen and hit me hard a couple of times – it is taller than me.
Begonias in splendid show at Monte Gardens.
I just had to have one of these, so, I brought one home, now sitting in my window waiting to come outside next summer.
I love Madeira for many reasons – one of them is their exquisite stone layered streets. Here together with exquisite Bougainvillea too. Grey colours and the vibrance of this flower/tree go so well together.
There are some forgotten gardens as well…and houses. But even those ones are lush and quite beautiful. This one was carefully guarded by fiercely barking dogs.
Ferns have a special place in my heart. Big or small – any size.
And one of my favourite ferns grow abundantly in Madeira. Back home in June, I promptly bought two Dicksonia Antarctica. A friend of mine has successfully brought up one of this species, but they have to stay in an orangerie to manage our winters. I will give it a try too. At least the summer went well for both of them!
Egidio and Sofia both has introduced to me a wonderful and sensitive word: saudade.
Wikipedia defines saudade as
an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent someone or something. It is a recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events, often elusive, that cause a sense of separation from the exciting, pleasant, or joyous sensations they once caused.
The word Saudade might translate ”longing”, but it holds so much more… and that is what I feel for the place where I grew up. Everything was sold and lost to us when my grandmother died in 1988. The piece of land where my grandparents worked so hard, the fruit trees, the raspberry field, the strawberry fields and all the vegetables. The gravel road leading up to the house – how many times have I walked it? I used to go there every day, before school and after school. Helping them with the picking, and packing the harvest to be sold.
Looking through some old photo albums for this challenge, I found these precious photos that I want to share with you. They are marked with time and were sitting in pressed plastic folders, so the quality is not that good. But they hold so much of my life, my gratefulness and saudade…
This is the house, and grandmother and grandfather picking black currants. They had hundreds of those bushes. I remember every piece of that path around the orchards, and the joy ( and sometimes tough work) of helping my grandparents. My mother and her brothers all helped out during harvest times. After we had finished for the day, we were rewarded with coffee and cake in the garden – and strawberries with creme of course.
Those where times when the sun seemed to shine every day and life was easy being surrounded by loving people. I only wish I had some more photos from when I was a child.
There is also another kind of longing – where we can return to the place we long for, even if we cannot go back to what it was the first time. Because everything changes, and so do we. Sometimes maybe the change is bigger within than in the particular place we are longing for.
The Azores is a place for much saudade. Faial, Flores and Corvo occupy many rooms in my heart.
When we hiked the island of Flores, in 2007, we were looking for the valley with eleven water falls. We could see it from afar, immersed in the lush greenery.
And when we finally reached it, we were all alone and could totally immerse ourselves too. Body and soul.
It was really an otherworldly place. Still today, I think of it as a Paradise.
The island of Faial is renowned, among other things, for its Hydrangea hedges. Instead of fences for the cattle, they have 3-5 meter high hedges.
Finally, the island floating in the sky and sea – Corvo. My heart aches for it.
Now, we are curious about what You are longing for! When you join the challenge and share your saudade, don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag so we can find your post in the Reader.
Your responses to Ritva’s challenge were wonderful last week. It was what we all needed – Next week, Tina returns with a new challenge. It will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out more about the challenge then. Until then, take care and be kind.
The historic quinta ‘estate’ and orchid garden has been in the Garton family for over a century and is now run by Patrick Garton in Funchal, Madeira, and is open to the public and groups all year round. It was a must to visit there again. Last time was at least 30 years ago.
On our many Madeira travels we used to visit several orchid gardens, but this time we could not find any of those. We learned from a bus driver that at least one of them was burned down in the fires some years ago. And no one could answer to the question if Boa Vista was still open.
The road up to the Quinta displayed abandoned houses and gardens, and when the road finally turned into a gravel path, we began to fear the worst. Maybe the orchid garden wasn’t there at all anymore?
The BOA VISTA ORCHID GARDEN was founded in the 1960s by the late Group Captain Cecil Garton, O.B.E., in the grounds of Quinta da Boa Vista, which had been in his family for the past 100 years or so. After 30 years in the Royal Air Force, latterly spent as Air Attache in Lisbon and Madrid, he retired to Madeira where he devoted himself to developing the Quinta garden and to growing orchids. Cecil Garton’s widow, Betty (Elizabeth Hera Garton), is the daughter of Sir William Cooke, one of the pioneers of orchid breeding, particularly of Cymbidiums, besides being a collector of rare and beautiful natural species. (Madeira Web)
After some mistakes of direction, two phone calls and a lost husband – I finally reached the Quinta. It had been a looong walk uphill. I didn’t recognize the place at all – it felt a bit neglected and not many orchids blooming. The season had peaked, I knew, but still. Patrick met me in the yard, and before I could say anything at all, he delivered a litany of complaints about the status of things. Both his business and things in general.
After some 10 minutes, I almost regretted coming there. Then my husband called and wondered if I had found the place – and I described the path to him. Five long minutes later he arrived – and saved me.
We tried to remind Patrick why we were there, and could finally enter the greenhouses. I did not take many photos, since he kept me spellbound about the orchid breeding and his interesting life and work. He was very knowledgeable and scientific (Oxford degree) – a real gem. There was no question that he could not answer. After an hour or so, I understood the magnitude of his problems with the business and why he was so upset. His father had died many years ago, and in 2017 his mother – the pillar of the Quinta’s business – died. Taking care of hundreds (or thousands…) of orchids was now more or less up to Patrick alone. He was short of helping hands and had recently lost his main gardener too. ”People don’t want to work this hard anymore”, he said. And ”their education and horticultural training is of poor quality.”
I felt so sorry for him being in such a desperate situation. But, I was happy to hear he had the two Laeliocattleya orchids I wanted (they can no longer be found in Sweden). Unfortunately they were in the nursery so I could not buy them. I bought another Laeliocattleya instead – to have at least one of my favourite orchids in my own house is a must. (Also in my blog name ”Lagottocattleya”.)
Back home again I realised we had arrived at the back of the mansion and gone directly to the shop and nursery. No wonder I didn’t recognize it! I also found Patrick’s request for volunteers on the internet. Hopefully he will get help to keep up this renowned old Quinta. Had I been younger…I would have offered my help on the spot! Do you know of anyone interested?
Boa Vista Orchids welcomes volunteers; please see the contact information below.
Quinta da Boa Vista Rua Lombo da Boa Vista 9050-126 Funchal Telephone: (+351) 291 220 468 Fax: (+351) 291 230 309 E-mail:patrickgarton@hotmail.com
Another lovely walk was through the Gardens of Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro. A property belonging to the Blandy family.
They boast some of the most valuable and rare exotic plants on the island. Starting in 1885, the Blandy family has developed the gardens to a today’s Mecca for botanic lovers.
They are renowned among other things for the splendid Camellia selection – but unfortunately we arrived after that intense bloom. On the other hand – there was so much else to see. Here is a short gallery:
The garden is situated with a beautiful view over Funchal, and luckily we had it all to ourselves for an hour or two. I’ll give the plant names a try: First out – a Gladiolous, in a fabulous combo of colours, Gazania, then some slipper flowers (yellow and red), a crassula (Buddha’s Temple?) and some beautifully cut and trimmed hedges.
Next are bluish and pink flowers in Watsonia, Brunfelsia and I guess a Risp. The last picture shows a Japanese Pagoda tree.
This was a relaxing and interesting visit to one of Madeira’s most renowned gardens. I recommend a visit if you go to Madeira!
Madeira always holds a moderate and soft temperature. That’s why it is a haven for both flowers and people. We walked the old streets to see if we could still recognize something from long ago…
…and we did. The typical black and white stones and street patterns of course, but also Zarco’s house, the Portuguise who colonised Madeira. The second picture shows our first hotel in Madeira, Monte Carlo, and the next picture shows the view from there. They kindly let us in to look at the premises again, and could not believe we stayed there as early as in the 1980’s. Fond memories!
Well, I have problems with the internet and accessing my site, lagottocattleya. When I am finally in, I soon get thrown out again. And I am home, not in our summer house where I always have trouble with it. This has continued for a week, and I am struggling. So, finally here are my thoughts:
Bathing on the north coast of Madeira is spectacular. Natural pools and lava – open sea. 15 years ago, they were totally natural, but today there are hundreds of tourists and the pools are modelled after it.
In fact these are now the most famous sea pools in Europe, and a joy to visit. Seen from the road above, Porto Moniz doesn’t look like much…but I can assure you it is well worth an hour or two for a cooling swim.
This week Egidio wants us to focus on the woods – and that suits me perfectly well. Hopefully you too! I walk in my forest every day, but maybe not every day in Madeira…
So, I will pick some lovely Madeira memories from June, that hopefully will add to the mystery of this green island.
The Laurissilva forest is a 20 million years old subtropical rainforest – a UNESCO world heritage,
covering about 20 % of the island. Most of the species here are endemic to Macronesia.
There are many interesting living beings in this forest woods – plants, mushrooms, lichen, birds and insects. Madeiran Chaffinches are spoiled with food from the hikers…
Madre de louro is a mushroom that grows on lager trees in Laurissilva. ”Madre de louro”, or ”Mother Laurel” is said to be good for the blood and work against rheumatism. It was even used as an insecticide.
There is something special about dense forests with high humidity. The scent, the quietness. And, I can hear the water as it trickles along the mossy stones. In Madeira the levadas add to this soothing sound – sometimes they are fast flowing, sometimes only a slow, hardly noticeable flow. And I know how good this is for my well being. Forest bathing in its true sense – and it’s no surprise that it’s origin is Japanese!
I have always loved hiking, and hopefully I will be able to keep it up even if it has become more difficult as I age. The best thing with hiking is the possibility of being alone in and with nature, for reflection and for restoring myself. Sometimes we meet a fellow hiker or two. We nod and say a soft ”hello” as we meet. I guess many of us feel the same about hiking, so talking is unnecessary.
We heard from someone in the city though, that since Covid, the levadas can even feel crowded in places…luckily we did not have to face that. This island is a hikers’ heaven and haven.
Thank you, Egidio for this beautiful challenge, and our guest host last week, Stupidity Hole, asked us to share quiet hours. You gave us more quiet times with your beautiful galleries. I hope you will join us again this week in forest bathing. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag when creating your post so we can easily find it in the Reader.
Next week, Tina will send us another challenge. It will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out more about the challenge then. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. Stay well.
Leya 
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