Cool Gardens: Taking carpet bedding to ridiculous lengths
If you’ve been to Madeira, then you’ve probably been to the Madeira Botanical Gardens, whether you like gardening or not. It’s linked to central Funchal by cable car, always a bit of a tourist trap.
As one of my ‘allocation of three gardens’ during my summer holidays (the other half can only stand so much), it was the obvious choice. You need to take two cable cars to get to the Botanical Gardens (Jardim Botânico da Madeira). First to Monte, then there’s a seriously steep walk to the station to take you up to the garden.
On that note, if you have health conditions, you might want to rethink. The garden paths are steep and uneven, and there’s nothing to hold onto. I struggled! The reason is that the gardens are built on terraces which overlook the João Gomes river ravine – hence the need for cable cars.
If you’re in Madeira, don’t miss the Municipal Gardens in Funchal. For more on gardens abroad, see my reviews on Strawberry Fields, New York and the Rose Kennedy Gardens in Boston.
Madeira Botanical Gardens – Cable car and garden confusion
To add to the cable car confusion, there’s another seriously good garden up there, the Monte Palace Tropical Garden. Get off at Monte and pay separately to enter. Incidentally, if you’re doing both gardens on the same day, the botanical garden is connected to Monte by a cable car.
The main station is inside Madeira Botanical Gardens, and the other is beside the Lagoa das Babosas Lake in Monte. Nevertheless, once you’re there, the views over the bay and Funchal are amazing. The garden was the former Bom Sucesso Estate, dating from 1881 and was created by the Reid family as their private park.
State-owned former private park
Opened to the public in 1960 and now state-owned, it covers an area of 80,000m² and is home to a wide variety of plants, including:
- Madeiran indigenous and endemic species
- An arboretum
- Succulents
- The much-photographed ‘carpet’ gardens and topiary
- Agro-industrial plants
- Medicinal and aromatic plants
- Palm trees and cycads
Tropical orchids flower from November-March, but there’s always something to see. There’s also a small Museum of Natural History featuring botanical, geological and zoological exhibitions. Attached to the garden is the Jardím dos Loiros Garden (Parrot Garden), but this was closed when we visited.
Madeira Botanical Gardens – Not my favourite but…
Although there are amazing views and pretty impressive plants and planting, I didn’t warm to the garden. Some bits looked a little ropey, while an army of gardeners was watering and clipping the carpet bedding centrepieces. I hate it when plants spell out words – it’s like a gangster’s funeral. Also, I do like information about plants on show, which was sadly lacking at Madeira Botanical Gardens. As some of the plants were new to me, please excuse my lack of information!
To sum up: the cable car rides and views are well worth the visit, and I do recommend it (unless you’re mobility impaired), but I got far more pleasure out of Funchal’s Municipal Gardens, which were free. Madeira has had a massive influence on my gardening style – why not design a garden based on your personality?
Here is more information on Madeira’s parks and gardens.
