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In some areas these forests remain, but in all accessible places the industrious Madeirans have terraced the land and grow a great variety of fruit and vegetables, as well as vines for the famous Madeira wine. The island’s geographical location is responsible for its mild climate which is influenced by the Gulf Stream, giving an annual variations in temperature of only about 7 degrees C, with the temperature averaging between 15 degrees C-21 degrees C in winter and 21 degrees C-24 degrees C in the summer. There is an abundance of water from rain condensing in the mountains, mainly in the north west where the maximum elevation is 1860m (6,100 ft). A system of contoured canals, called levadas, distributes the water all over the island. The abundant water and range of climatic zones provide habitats suitable for the cultivation of plants from both temperature and tropical regions; the many gardens, both private and public abound with plants which have been introduced from all over the world. We saw showy climbers such as bougainvillea and trumpet vines often covering walls in gardens, parks and squares; palms, pines, cedars and araucarias dominating the tree population at sea level, while at higher altitudes hydrangeas and agapanthus beautified the country lanes, with eucalyptus and acacia contributing to the forest. Street plantings were mainly of flowering trees such as jacaranda, Pride of Bolivia, flame trees and kapok trees. In the flower beds, all flowering together in late March, were irises, daffodils, freesias, salvias and pelargoniums. For many years bananas were one of the main commercial crops, but an interference from Brussels, demanding longer and straighter fruits which Madeira neither can nor wishes to grow, has forced growers to diversify, and cut-flowers are an increasingly important crop. Of these, orchids and birds of paradise flowers (strelitzia) seem to be the more widely grown. The one disappointment about the island was the shortage of birds, for it is not on any migration route. An occasional blackbird could be heard singing, somewhat incongruously, from a bougainvillea thicket, or a blackcap from a eucalypt, and once we heard a wild canary trilling from the top of a Norfolk Island pine; but for most of the time there was an avian silence and empty skies where the lush and varied vegetation would be expected to support a great many species of birds. S.L. | TOP | |
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For
a week's break in late winter, it would be hard to beat a trip to Madeira,
reached in a three-hour flight from Gatwick, and a real revelation for
anyone interested in gardens and plants. The island which lies out in
the Atlantic, some 435 miles from the West African coast, was discovered
in 1419 by Zarco, one of Prince Henry's navigators. It was then uninhabited
but over the centuries people from Portugal have settled there.When
Zarco first saw the island and its dense Laurel forests stretching right
down to the sea, he named it Madeira, which means 'timber'.