GRUNDTVIG PROJECTFLOWERS UNIT EUROPE (FUE)

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any

use which may be made of the information contained therein."

GRUNDTVIG PROJECTFLOWERS UNIT EUROPE (FUE)

Project number: 2009-1-PL1-GRU06-0511

INTERNACIONAL FUE MEETING IN MADEIRA (PORTUGAL)

2011

The tropical garden in Monte Palace occupies an area of 70.000m2 and contains an important collection of exotic plants coming from all over the world. We can also find there the ‘Monte Palace museum’ with its three exposition galleries. Two of them are dedicated to sculpture and the third one has an impressive exposition of minerals.

http://www.montepalace.com/

Participants in the tropical garden Monte Palace

Fundació Berardo (Funchal)

Ocotea foetens is a characteristic species of the typical Madeira ‘laurel wood’

Fundació Berardo (Funchal)

Juniperus cedrus is a macaronesic endemism which can be found in the Canary Islands and in Madeira. It is an shrub that can attain up to 15 metres high.

Participants in the Grundtvig Project listening to the explanations of the guide during the visit to the ‘Berardo Foundation’

Fundació Berardo (Funchal)

L.novocanariensis is a characteristic species in the Madeiran ‘laurel wood’ . This tree can attain a height up to 20 m.

Reception at the Funchal Town Hall

VISIT TO FUNCHAL BOTANIC GARDEN

The Botanical garden ‘de la Fusta’ , which belongs to the autonomous government has an area of 8 hectares of which 5 are covered with gardens. It is just 3 km away from Funchal, between 150 and 300 metres high.

http://www.sra.pt/jarbot/

In these garden you can find an extraordinary diversity of botanic species coming from very different ecological and geographical areas. Plants can be identifies with its scientific name, common name, family and place of origin. All of them are arranged in different specific collections: the endemic plants of ‘de la Fusta’ , trees, succulent plants, aromatic and medicinal plants and an interesting collection of palm trees.

The Laurisilva woods are considered like a relic of the Tertiary Geological Period for many species (Laurus, Ocotea, Appolonias, Persea, Clethra, Ilex, Myrica, Picconia, Heberdenia, Prunus, Dracaena i Sideroxylon), which constitute a part of a phytogeographical unit in the south of Europe and North Africa, which is a present nearly extinguished due to the last glaciations or the desertification of the Sahara.

In Madeira, the Laurisilva occupies almost a 20 % of its territory and it is nowadays the largest and best kept area of this type of wood in the world.

Participation certificates are given out in the Funchal Meeting

Ferran Gayà, from the Majorcan Delegation is giving a presentation of a powerpoint about the Ethobotanic workshop “Flor d’Ametller”.

Group work at the Centro Cultural e Desportivo de São José.

Flower composition at the Centro Cultural e Desportivo de São José in Funchal

The workshop coincided with the Flower Festival Celebration in Funchal

Pico Ruivo, the highest mountain in Madeira.

Participating of the Grundtvig Project on a hiking trip at the top of Pico Ruivo (1866 m)

Strelitzia reginae

The Deserted Islands on the background seen from Ponta de São Lourenço.

Echium fastuosum in the foreground

Ponta de São Lourenço in the east of Madeira.

The spectacular Flower Festival of Funchal is celebrated every year two weeks after Easter.

The Flower Festival started on May 5 and luckily coincided with the workshop of the Grundtvig Project Flowers unite Europe’.

Competitions of flower decorations in the streets of Funchal are celebrated during these days with the participation of several local schools and artists.

The celebrations finish on Sunday with the “Great Flower parade” There is an extraordinary atmosphere in Funchal during these celebrations.

Hundreds of dancers participate in the parade accompanying the magnificently decorated floats with a superb display of flowers.

Elegant dancers accompanying the floats.

International FUE Grundtvig Project FUE MEETING IN MADEIRA