The Flowers and Gardens of Madeira

by Florence Du Cane

If a few plants of a new rose are imported, the stock can be easily and quickly increased, as the budding of roses, or even grafting, seems an easy matter in this country. The buds take quickly, and the stock may be either that of Rosa Benghalensis, which has become naturalized in the island, or any rose which has been proved to have a good constitution may be utilized as a parent. As I have remarked elsewhere, the branch which has been budded is as often as not layered in its turn, and in a few weeks will have rooted, and can be detached from the parent plant; there seems no reason that, once a new variety has been proved to have taken kindly to the climate and soil, a good stock should not be procured and a large group of the same kind planted together, whereby a much better effect is always obtained.

A creeper-clad corridor leads to the group of trees which have given their name to the quinta.

Just above, on the Levada da Santa Luzia, is the gate of the Quinta Palmiera, which takes its name from the large palm-tree which rears its head proudly and stands alone in the grounds. The path leading to the house winds up the side of the hill, through grounds which for many years had been out of cultivation, until the property changed hands a short time ago; but as the ground had always been left in more or less its wild and natural state, it suffered less than if it had been a cultivated garden.

It is a beautiful piece of rocky ground, and on one side a group of Pinus pinea, stone, or parasol pines, stand towering over a grand cliff which rises abruptly from the river-bed. In November the rocks are covered with the red spikes of the blossoms of the Aloe arborescens, and the effect with the great pines and cypresses beyond is one of indescribable beauty. This is the only villa which can boast of the possession of fine cypresses, and here one realizes the ornament they would be to the island if they were more lavishly planted. The ground near the house is admirably suited for broad terracing, and a splendid effect could be obtained by leaving the cypresses standing out against the distant sea. But the rock being so very near the surface, and the absence of soil, combined with the lack of any means of carting, would make terracing a very serious undertaking.

The grounds contain many very fine trees—among others, a very good specimen of the deciduous cypress, Taxodium distichum, which is also called the swamp, or Mississippi cypress, as the whole valley of the Mississippi is clothed with these trees. In summer they are of a splendid deep emerald-green, which gradually turns to a bronze-red colour in autumn, and by December the trees are bare.

At the back of the house there is one of the largest coral-trees in Funchal, and a very large til-tree stands immediately in front of the house.

Among other villas with good gardens, the Deanery, which has long been noted for its fine collection of trees, and the Achada, cannot be omitted. The Deanery, standing in a very sheltered situation at the foot of the Santa Luzia ravine, has proved an admirable trial-ground for trees, shrubs, and plants which have been collected by its present owner. From all parts of the world rare and interesting plants have been brought, and some have been raised from seed on the spot. The following description of the place was written in the early part of the year 1826 by a traveller in Madeira and Portugal, and shows that even in its early days the garden was well cared for:

“To-day we have removed to Deanery, our country-house. The house is a very pretty one. It has not long been built, and, in fact, only a portion of the apartments has as yet been used for residence, but there are more than enough for our accommodation. The situation is delightful—scarcely a quarter of an hour’s walk from Funchal, and enjoying, from its comparative elevation, a beautiful view down the valley to the city (which, though so near, is scarcely visible from the orange-trees and cypresses that embower us), and to the bay and coast and the blue Desertas beyond. Close on the west is the Santa Luzia ravine, the farther side of which rises to a considerable height, its cliffs terraced, in the way I previously described, into little gardens and vine-grounds, and crowned by the trees and trellises of the Achada Quinta.

“Our great luxury, however, is the garden. It is one of the largest and most beautiful in the island. A spacious vine corridor runs round nearly its whole extent, under the green arches of which in summer, you may either ride or walk in coolness, while the interior space forms a ‘leafy labyrinth,’ in which trees and shrubs, flowers and fruits of every clime are here crowded into a wilderness of shade and beauty. The higher part of the ground, upon which stands the house, is elevated considerably above the rest, and is divided from it by a terrace of considerable height. This circumstance is of very happy effect for the beauty of the garden: it in a manner doubles its extent, and multiplies its variety; while the wall of the terrace, in some parts nearly twenty feet high, affords an admirable field for every species of tropical creeper, to luxuriate, as it were, at full length, and to put forth its leaves and blossoms to the sun, in all the fearlessness which such a climate and aspect justify.

“Above the house the ground rises another step, and the boundary of the garden here is a wall of native rock, which is already half veiled with the trees and trailing plants interposed to relieve its ruggedness. The freshness of the scene is completed by the tanks, always copiously supplied with running water, and which a little trouble might, I think, bring into play as fountains.”