PORTUGUESE GARDENS
I have often been asked whether the Portuguese have any distinctive
form of gardening, and in answer I can only say that, though there
is no attempt to compete with the grand terraced gardens of Italy or
France, or the prim conventionality of the gardens of the Dutch, still
the little well-cared-for garden of the Portuguese has a great charm of
its own. Here, in Madeira, their gardens are usually on a very small,
almost diminutive, scale, according to our ideas of a garden. In the
mother-country, where they probably surround more imposing houses, they
may attain to a larger scale, but of that I know nothing.
The love of gardening, unfortunately, seems to be dying out among the
Portuguese in Madeira, and many a garden which was formerly dear to
its owner, each plant being tended with loving hands, has now fallen
into ruin and decay. The little paths, neatly paved with small round
cobble-stones of a pleasing brownish colour, have become overgrown
and a prey to the worst pest in Madeira gardens, the coco grass, which
is enough to break the heart of any gardener once it is allowed to
get possession; its little green shoots seem to spring up in a single
night, and the labour of yesterday has to be again the work of to-day
if the neat, trim paths so necessary to any garden are to be kept free
from the invader. Or the box hedges, which were formerly the pride of
their owner, have lost their trimness and regularity from the lack
of the shears at the necessary season, and the garden only suggests
departed glories.
Luckily, a few of these gardens still remain in all their beauty, and
the pleasure their owners display in showing them speaks for itself of
their true love of gardening.
The plan of the garden is usually somewhat formal in design, and as
a rule centres in a fountain or water-tank, which serves the double
purpose of being an ornament to the garden and of supplying it with
water. The entrance to the garden is certain to be through a corridor,
with either square cement and plaster pillars, or merely stout wooden
posts, which carry the vine or creeper-clad trellis. The beds are not
each devoted to the cultivation of a separate flower, as would be the
case in an English garden, but single well-grown specimens of different
kinds of plants fill the beds. Begonias, in great variety, tall and
short, with blossoms large and small, shading from white through every
gradation of pink to deep scarlet, form a most important foundation for
every Portuguese garden; as, from their prolonged season of blooming,
some varieties seeming to be in perpetual bloom, they always provide
a note of colour. Pelargoniums, allowed to grow into tall bushes, in
due season make bright masses of colour, the velvety texture of their
petals seeming to enhance the brilliancy of their colouring. Fuchsias
in endless variety, salvias red and blue, mauve lantanas, scarlet
bouvardias, and _Linum trigynum_, with its clear yellow blossoms, help
to keep the little gardens gay through the winter months. The latter,
though commonly called _Linum_, is a synonym of _Reinwardtia trigynum_
and a native of the mountains of the East Indies.
Last, but by no means least in importance, come the sweet-smelling
plants, essential to these little miniature gardens. _Olea fragrans_,
or sweet olive, also called _Osmanthus fragrans_, must be given the
palm, as surely its insignificant little greenish-white flower is the
sweetest flower that grows, and fills the whole air with its delicious
fragrance. _Diosma ericoides_, a well-named plant--from _dios_, divine,
and _osme_, small--ought perhaps to have been given the first place, as
it will never fail at every season of the year to bring fragrance to
the garden. The tender green of its heath-like growth, when crushed,
yields a strong aromatic scent, and no Portuguese garden is complete
without its bushes of _Diosma_. If allowed to grow undisturbed, it will
make shrubs of considerable size, and in the early spring is covered
with little white starry flowers; but as it bears clipping kindly, it
is especially dear to the heart of the Portuguese gardener, who will
fashion arm-chairs, or tables, or neat round and square bushes, in the
same way as the Dutch clip their yew-trees. Rosemary also ranks high
in their affections, not only for its sweet-smelling properties, but
also because it can be subjected to the same treatment. Sweet-scented
verbenas are also favourites, and in spring the tiny white flower of
the small creeping smilax suggests the presence of orange-groves by its
almost overpowering scent.
Camellias, white and pink, single and double, are favourite flowers,
but as a rule the shrubs are subjected to drastic treatment and cut
back, so as to keep the plants within bounds and in proportion to the
size of the garden. Here and there a leafless _Magnolia conspicua_
adorns the garden with its cup-like blossoms in the early spring, and
a few other shrubs are permitted within the precincts of the garden.
_Franciscea_, with its shiny green leaves and starry blossoms, shading
from the palest grey to deep lilac, according to the time each bloom
has been fully developed, should have been included in the list of
sweet-smelling plants, as it has an almost overpoweringly strong scent.
The bottle-brush, _Melaleuca_, with its strange reddish blossoms,
showing how aptly it has been named, and the pear-scented magnolia,
with its insignificant little brownish blossoms, are all favourite
shrubs.
Various bulbous plants seem to have made a home under the shelter of
their taller-growing companions, and in February, freesias, which in
this land of flowers seed themselves, spring up in every nook and
cranny; also the unconsidered sparaxis, whose deep red and yellow
striped flowers are hardly worthy of a place. But the bright orange
tritonias and deep blue babianas are highly prized, and in May the red
amaryllis adorn most of the gardens, in company with the rosy-white
_Crinum powellei_. The delicate _Gladiolus colvillei_, known in
England as the Bride and under various other fancy names, open their
pale pink-and-white spikes of bloom early in May. A few plants of
carnations are treasured, as they are not easy to grow. Rose-trees
are given a place, many being such old-fashioned varieties that I
could not find a name for them; while the walls of the garden may
be clad with heliotrope, which seems to be in perpetual bloom, or
_Plumbago capensis_, whose clear blue blossoms cover the plant in great
profusion in late autumn and spring. In summer the yellow blossoms of
the _Allamanda Schotti_ appear, and later in the year the waxy-white
_Stephanotis floribunda_ and _Mandevilleas_ will all in turn be an
ornament to the garden, though in the winter months their glossy green
foliage will have passed unnoticed.
[Illustration: AZALEAS IN A PORTUGUESE GARDEN]
I consider that _Azalea indica_ is the plant which is most valued by
the Portuguese. In the cared-for garden it is given a most conspicuous
place, either planted in the open ground in partial shade, or more
frequently kept in pots, and tended with the greatest care. In February
and March through many an open doorway a glimpse may be caught of a
group of gay-coloured azaleas, even in little humble gardens which at
other seasons of the year are flowerless. The whole horticultural
energy of the owner of the little strip of garden has been centred in
the loving care bestowed on his few treasured azaleas. A tiny plant,
not more than a few inches in height, will be far more valued than
its overgrown neighbour, if it should happen to be some new variety,
possibly only bearing a few blossoms, but perfect in form, of immense
size, single or semi-double, of a brilliant rose-red, clear pink,
salmon colour, or pure white. The culture of azaleas does not seem to
be peculiar to the natives of Madeira, as from Oporto come numerous
sturdy little trees of all the most highly prized varieties. The effect
of well-grown specimens in pots, arranged along the stone ledge of
the garden corridor, or grouped round the stone or, more correctly
speaking, plaster seat, which generally finds a place in all these
gardens, is very pleasing, and well repays the care bestowed on the
plants all through the heat of the summer months.
A corner of the garden must be devoted to fern-growing, without which
no garden in Madeira is complete. In the gardens of the rich a little
greenhouse, or _stufa_ is considered necessary for their successful
cultivation, but in many a shady, damp corner of a humble cottage
garden have I seen splendid specimens of the commoner ferns grown
without that most disfiguring element. Perfect shelter from wind and
sun is, of course, necessary, and sometimes, where no other shelter is
available, the dense shade of a spreading Madeira cedar-tree is made
use of, and from its branches will hang fern-clad pots. Or a little
arbour is formed of that most useful of shade-giving creepers, the
native _Allegra campo_, or Happy Country. The plant is also sometimes
called Alexandrian laurel, though for what reason it is hard to
know, as it has no connection with the Laurel family, but is _Ruscus
racemorus_. The plant throws up fresh shoots every winter, which in
their early stages appear like giant asparagus, and grow and grow
until sometimes they reach fifteen or twenty feet in length before the
fresh pale green leaves develop. By the spring the young leaves have
unfurled, and provide a canopy of delicate green through the summer.
The growth of the previous year can either be cut away, or if retained,
in late spring, little greenish-white flowers will appear on the
underneath of the leaves. The plant is a native of Portugal, but may
be found in a wild state in Madeira. It is also known under the name
of _Danæ racemosus_. One of the Polypodiums, called by the Portuguese
_Feto do metre_, or Fern by the yard, seems to be first favourite,
and splendid specimens are to be seen, each frond measuring one to two
yards in length. _Gymnogrammes_, or golden ferns, are also much prized,
and the _Asparagus sprengerii_ has during the last few years found many
admirers, with its long sprays rivalling in length the _Feto do metro_.
_Adiantums_ and all the commoner ferns are given a place, according to
the taste of their owners.
I cannot close this chapter without a few words on the subject of
the neat devices made by the Portuguese out of canes or bamboo, for
training plants. In some instances it may be overdone, and one cannot
always admire rose-trees trained on to bamboo frames in the shape of
fans, crosses, or even umbrellas; but the little arched fences as a
support to lower-growing plants are used with very good effect. I have
copied the idea in England with some success for training ivy-leaved
geraniums in large pots or tubs, by planting four rather stout bamboos
or canes, two feet or more in height, in the pots, then slipping four
pieces of split cane into the hollow ends, and either forming four
arches, by inserting each end of the split length into the hollow,
or else a pagoda-like effect can be made by taking the split canes
into the middle, and then slipping all four ends through a hollow
piece of cane a couple of inches long. Side arches can be made in any
number, according to the requirements of the plant or the fancy of the
gardener, by making incisions in the stout bamboos at any distance from
the ground, and inserting the ends of the split canes. Old carnation
plants, or seedlings which bear many flower-stems, may be very
successfully and neatly supported in this way.
[Illustration: AZALEAS, QUINTA ILHEOS]
Another contrivance for the increase of their rose-trees struck me
as original, and worth mentioning, and possibly imitating, by those
who garden in a subtropical climate--this is their system of layering
rose-branches. My idea of layering carnations, shrubs, or any other
plants, had always been to cut the plant at a joint, and peg it firmly
into the ground, covering with a few inches of fine soil; but the
Madeira gardeners adopt a different system, anyway, with regard to
their roses. The branch for layering is not chosen near the ground,
but often at a height of from two to four feet. The chosen branch is
passed through the hole at the bottom of a flower-pot, or a box with a
good-sized hole in it answers the same purpose; the pot or box is then
supported at the necessary height on a tripod of sticks or bamboos. The
branch has an upward slit made in the ordinary way, and the pot is
then filled with soil. In two or three months’ time, I was assured, the
branch would be well rooted and ready to be transplanted to its fresh
quarters. It seemed a simple method of increasing rose-trees, which,
as a rule, in climates like those of Madeira, flourish much better
when grown on their own roots than grafted on to a foreign stock. The
same system appears to answer admirably for the increase of shrubs
and even trees, and is extensively adopted for creepers, especially
bougainvilleas, which do not strike readily from cuttings; so it is no
uncommon sight to see pots lodging among the branches of trees, with a
layered branch ready to form a new tree.