Fantastic!! Thank you very much -- I'm looking forward to this trip. Cheers
Sandy On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 23:33:16 +0800, Peter O'Byrne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sandy, > > I went to Madeira in December 2000. The Botanic Gardens (Caminho do Meio, > Quinta do Bom Sucesso, Funchal) are nice (spectacular views, excellent > collection of palm trees) but most of their orchids are grown outdoors, and > in late December they were suffering the effects of winter & looking very > sorry for themselves. > > The best spot is: > > Jardim Orqumdea (Rua Pita da Silva, 37, Bom Sucesso, Funchal). It is a > family-run garden, hidden away on a cul-de-sac off a small side-street in a > residential area just downhill from the Botanic Gardens and is quite hard to > find .. I eventually got there by walked downhill from the Bot Gardens using > my trusty Funchal street map (make sure you get one that has all the town in > it, not just the town centre). The Jardim is a bit like Dr Who's Tardis; > much bigger inside. I doubt they have 50,000 plants as the website boasts, > but they do have a nice collection of plants that are healthy and > well-grown. There is a collection of species (many of them fairly standard > for northern-hemisphere collections) and hybrids (mostly Central and S. > American), but many are at specimen-plant size and were blooming > prolifically when I visited. I'm not very familiar with many of these > American plants, and I really enjoyed the show. There is a large collection > of hybrid Cymbidiums, some of which are extremely old crosses ... and these > were in full bloom when I visited. The place is worth visiting. > > Also, try visiting the Central Market in Funchal. Madeira has long been one > of the orchid-growing centres of Europe, producing spikes (mostly > Cymbidiums) for the cut-flower trade. In the last few decades the Madeira > orchid-flower industry has been surplanted by other places that produce > more, better, cheaper, but there are still lots of Cymbidiums grown, many of > which end up in the market. As is the case in the Jardim Orqumdea, what you > see are mostly older crosses that will bring back nostalgic memories of the > florist-shops of your youth (if you're old enough, that is !!!). > > One final tip ... try visiting a cemetery. There is a really big one on the > hill above Funchal, but any large cemetary will do.... and there are several > on the island. Yes, really, I'm not kidding ... if you want to see orchids > used in a totally different context, visit a good cemetery in Madeira and > don't forget to take your camera along. > > Peter O'Byrne > Singapore > > -- www.pollenatrix.com "Botanical discipline, daily." _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
