[?] Subscribe To This Site

San Fernando Botanical Gardens.

san fernando botanical gardens

A Visit to the San Fernando Botanical Gardens near Cadiz,is an enjoyable day spent close to nature. article by Nick Nutter of www.AndaluciaLife.com

Other Interesting Places to Visit:- Bonsai Museum in Marbella

and the beautiful Molino de Inca Botanical Gardens in Torremolinos.

Enjoy a day out to the Malaga Botanic Gardens.

Parque de Bateria in Torremolinos.

Find Quality,Economic Hostels in Spain.

Book Hotels in the San Fernando Andalucia Area.

More Places to Visit in Andalucia.

One of the many attractions at San Fernando, a town just south of Cadiz, is the Botanical gardens.

Concentrating on the flora of Andalucia and in particular that found in the province of Cadiz the gardens are not only a pleasure for anybody with a passing interest in plants, they are also a valuable scientific resource. If you have trouble identifying plants you have found then you should have no difficulty here. Another point in the garden's favour is the exact and meticulous labelling of every one of the hundreds of plants with the common name, in Spanish, with the botanical name in Latin.

The gardens are divided up into separate areas representing the different habitats found in the province. Since those habitats are diverse, from the coastal dunes of the Atlantic coast, through the marismas of the Bay of Cadiz and the Donana, to the flat low lands of the inland plains to the mountainous areas of the Alcornocales Parque Natural you would expect, and not be disappointed, to see a correspondingly diverse range of plants.

The collection is not exclusive to wild plants. Cash crops like broad beans, peas and wheat also feature in the gardens along with the fruits that grow so well here, oranges, lemons, almonds and figs.

The informative brochure recommends a route through the gardens that starts with the 'Mediterranean Garden'. In this area the soil is well developed and rich. The predominant species depend on humidity and human activity. Here are the fruit trees and farmed crops side by side with the wild plants found in the hedgerows and non-cultivated land. In February the bright yellow Narcissus fernandesii was a delight. Typically, locally, this type of vegetation is found in the vicinity of Jimena de la Frontera. Alongside this garden is a pond with the vegetation typically found in the fresh water lagoons and ponds up the Guadiaro estuary and in the valleys of the Rio Genal and Hozgarganta.

Nearby is a landscape that you will see on a grand scale in the Bay of Cadiz, the tidal marsh and sun baked sandy rockery. The Winged Sea Lavender, Limonium sinuatum, much prized as an everlasting cut flower, was in full bloom. Contrasting with the sky blue fronds of the Sea Lavender were the iridescent yellow pod like flowers of the prostrate Southern Birds Foot Trefoil, Lotus creticus, each in its own way ideally acclimatised to this harsh environment.

To one side of the rockery and not marked on the plan is a shady spot in which grow some of the orchids endemic to this area. The Sombre Bee Orchid, Ophrys fusca was flowering alongside a Sawfly Orchid, Ophrys tenthredinifera and a Fan-lipped orchid, Orchis colina, known in Spain as a Poor Man's Orchid, They were all flowering in mid February, a rare chance to identify these plants two of which have a symbiotic relationship with the insect after which they are named and are very difficult to separate from others in the Ophrys family similarly named after the insects that pollinate them. These orchids can be found but rarely in the areas around Barbate and La Janda. Outside of the Cadiz province you will find them in the Grazalema area.

Towards the top of the garden you suddenly find yourself in an area named the Shady Rockery. Here thrive the plants that grow in the canutos or gullies high in the mountains. The southern parts of the Alcornocales Parque Natural are the best places to see them. Bay trees, Laurel nobilis, grow alongside the Strawberry Tree, Arbutus unedo.

Finally there is a space called the Acclimatisation Garden. It is not what it sounds. The trees, shrubs and undergrowth growing here are not being acclimatised, rather they have already been acclimatised. These are the plants that are now naturalised here but originate in the Canary Islands or further afield. The Canarina canariensis was in full bloom, showy pink and red, bell shaped flowers offset by delicate lime green foliage alongside the football sized tufts of white to pale blue flowers of a Schizogine glabberima, both not surprisingly from the Canaries. Beneath them was a Coreopsis gigantea, smothered in lemon coloured blooms, that originates in California.

The gardens are a feast for the eyes. February was probably not the ideal month to see them at their best, March or April and then October and November is likely to provide the most spectacular show but whichever month you visit you are sure to see some of the species normally only found in the wilds of Andalucia.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US DIRECT ON 00 359 885530138