Madeira

[Colin Walker]

Hi Guys,

I'm just back from a holiday in Madeira, so here's a small sample of the trip and the pics my wife and I took. It was our 25th wedding anniversary and we had an absolutely wonderful time - we'll certainly be going back there!

Madeira has some fabulous gardens and succulents are cultivated widely, so I'll start with these.

Here's a Euphorbia and Aloe arborescens growing at a bakery just down the hill from our hotel - we bought gorgeous cakes and chocolates here.

[attachment 12979 Madeira003.jpg]

[Colin Walker]

The most exotic garden we visited is the Monte Palace Tropical Garden high on a hill that we accessed via a cable car.

Not many succulents here. This is a view of the really beautiful Japanese Garden.

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[Colin Walker]

Parts of this garden are a bit whacky - here's the lake with novel fountains, etc.

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[Colin Walker]

This is a group of three plants of Beaucarnea recurvata. On the left and right in flower, whilst the central plant is in fruit.

This species is quite widely grown - these are quite small specimens compared to many others we saw. Wish I could grow this beast outdoors in the UK!

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[Colin Walker]

We're now at the Jardim Botanico. Fascinating garden, but not good on tourism. The cafe was good, but no map, guide book, postcards, T shirts or any other souvenirs. And the labelling of plants was dire. This is just so typical of many botanical gardens we've visited around the world.

Anyhow for starters here's Agave attenuata, probably THE most commonly cultivated succulent on the island.

[attachment 12983 Madeira121.jpg]

[Colin Walker]

The cactus garden (with some other succulents too!) was good. Here's a general view.

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[Colin Walker]

Another general view of the "cactus" garden. The aloe at the front is A. plicatilis.

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[Colin Walker]

Not much into variegates myself, but here's a couple that did catch my eye. This first one is probably just a form of Agave americana.

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[Colin Walker]

This variegated Opuntia isn't uncommon, but I'd never seen the variegated fruits before.

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[Colin Walker]

This opuntioid might be Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis. First off is the stem. Can anyone confirm this provisional ID please?

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