The MGS Forum
Places to visit => Places to visit => Topic started by: JTh on January 20, 2015, 01:49:43 PM
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If you come to Gran Canaria and want something more than sun and beaches, I recommend a visit to the botanical garden of Las Palmas "Viera y Clavijo, which is is located on a slope of the Barranco Guiniguada. It got its name from the Spanish author, botanist and historian Don José Viera y Clavijo, who made the first attempts at starting the garden here. The botanical garden was opened in 1952, its first director was the Swedish botanist Swedish botanist Erik Ragnar Svensson (Eric Ragnor Sventenius, who proposed creating a botanical garden dedicated to Canarian flora, but the garden has a lot more than that.
The Jardin Botanico is large, around 27 hectars, with a flat part at the bottom, a steep hillside with dense vegetation, and a plateau at the top, 100 m higher up, where there is also a restaurant. There are entrances both at the bottom and from the top. There are more than 2000 plant species, 500 of them endemic to the Canary Islands. There are several divisions, the Jardín de las Islas with endemic plants, Jardín de Cactus y Suculentas (with around 10,000 cultivars of succulents), a Macaronesian ornamental garden, a hidden garden, a pine forest and a laurel-leaved garden. There are also several ponds, an old aqueduct, and of course a lot of palms, euphorbias, echiums and dragon trees.
Unfortunately, there was no written information for sale anywhere, what you find on the internet rather limited, but the plants in garden were fairly well labelled, at least in the bottom part.
I warn you though, this is not a place for disabled people, the many winding paths up the hill are narrow and steep, I heard some visitors who refused to walk the hill because of fear of heights.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7577/16109503747_3e4f399501_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxxqdB)
_Z010405 Jardin Canario.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxxqdB) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7518/16269437746_37bea0c449_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qMF82m)
_Z010411 Aqueduct Jardin Canario.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qMF82m) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/16293591681_a8a174d273_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qPNV9v)
_Z010421 Jardin Canario.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qPNV9v) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/16109536647_2309ff61ce_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxxzZR)
_Z010423 Echium.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxxzZR) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7533/16109265689_77e5c4dd53_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxwcsa)
_Z010430 Aeonium arboreum in flower.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxwcsa) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7543/16294926171_af505be430_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qPVKQX)
_Z050674 'El arco del viento'.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qPVKQX) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7500/16109550687_33cf8b5c09_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxxEaV)
_Z010434 Euphorbia canariensis.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxxEaV) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7494/16108057940_f486e19604_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxq1qU)
_Z010445 Dracaena cinnabari.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxq1qU) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7498/15675542223_f34f100cc5_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/pTcfzn)
_Z010447Cacti and succulents.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pTcfzn) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/16108070490_a30bf70e3e_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qxq5ah)
_Z010453 Aloe mcloughlinii.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qxq5ah) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
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Lovely photos of plants on Gran Canaria.
You have some really bright and in focus photos of flowers on Flickr
Congratulations
The same day i looked at your Gran Canaria photos there was, by coincidence ,a short programme about the island on DW TV. Interesting
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Thank you for your kind words, Hilary, it is certainly a place worth visiting for those interested in plants;, many of the endemic plants here do well in a mediterranean climate as well. By the way, the island has of course many palms, especially Phoenix canariensis. Fortunately, I did not see any signs of the palm weevil attacks here, yet