Wednesday, 28 July 2010

the gardens of lisbon

I've been overseas for work in Lisbon where I was amazed at how many plants I recognised. Almost everything I saw was part of the "warm/dry" plant spectrum you see more and more of around Melbourne: oleander, palms, bougainvillea, agapanthus, lemon trees, jacaranda, olive trees, agaves, pencil pines and even gum trees and paperbarks. It's a Mediterranean climate so I'm not surprised, Melbourne's looking a bit more Mediterranean every year. The only place you saw the more temperate Melbourne plants, like hydrangeas and camellias, were out of the city up in the hills.

And I was intrigued by how people managed to squeeze gardens into the city where most people have, at best, a window box.  Here's a classic example of what I mean - look at all those plants on a tiny window box!  Often they were artificial plants.
Here's an example of the amazing bougainvillea - absolutely stunning.
These gardens backed onto a castle at the top of the hill. Imagine having a garden on three small terraces! But these must have been really, really expensive houses to afford this much garden.
This plant looked really familiar but I don't know exactly what it is. But it sure looked funny.
Here's another plant that I don't know, and this one I've never seen before.
These folks shared a little public courtyard which was filled with plants, including a little lemon tree.
And these guys wanted to hold onto their vine so badly they held together the broken pot with wire.
And finally, this sight absolutely inspired me. 10-foot-tall sunflowers growing out of pots on a window ledge. If they can do that, I can do that. Sunflowers are on the list this year.


GM said...

LG, those sunflower growers are generous if they only live on one floor. The next floor up get to enjoy the flowers