May 21, 2014

32 pics of Mediterranean Garden in Algarve, Portugal

Fantastic Mediterranean garden in Algarve, Portugal - that's my base for next weeks. I can't take my eyes off this beautiful garden designed with imagination, exploding with scents, friendly to bees, butterflies and lizards.
With a heavy heart - it was so difficult to choose - I picked 32 photos today just to give you the general glimpse of this private garden, but there is so much more to see. There will be many posts following this one, so stay tuned.

My hosts are Danusia and Tomek, living their life between Poland and Portugal. Thank you for hospitality!!
You saw their garden in Warsaw, Poland, on few occasions already like this last one here and previous here. Today you can see the one they enjoy in Algarve and we can enjoy it with them :) in a way ;)

Before I came here to Portugal, I was listening to the stories why they've chosen this house, but only after seeing it I fully understood their decision.  

In the morning light, you see the house built on hill, so its like crawling on the hill, so does this large mediterranean garden embracing the house.

Nuno, the handsome Portugese gardener tending this garden, said the soil here is very poor, there is a lot of stones just under the surface, so it is a good construction material. 

Lemon trees growing all around the property produce big lemons. Harvesting now and for the next six months! The taste and scent is incomparable to those from the supermarket's shelf.

Below is the main door to the patio and the arcade part before entrance to the house seen above. Doggies are also very happy to use it.


Hibiscus rosa-sinensis in orange color flowering indefatigably.

At the swimming pool with the far view to the Atlantic Ocean there is great composition of planting: bougainvillea and hedera climbing the pergola, palm trees, aeoniums embracing the water running feature on the right hand side. 

The arcading part of the house allows to enjoy the cool air, view to the pool and the ocean. 

The redish-pink blooming plant on the pergola is bougainvillea, on the bottom side the hedera (english ivy) is covering the stems.


Currently in bloom french lavender 1,5 m tall (!!) makes great combo with swan's neck agave (Agava attenuata), the softest in touch of all agaves. It only flowers once, producing a tall spike of yellow-white flowers on a curving stem - it gives the plant its common name swan's neck agave.

Clearly visible here on the upper part of the photo the hedera growing on the bottom part of the pergola. Summer kitchen/grill under - wanna party? 

Stone constructed terraces in the sloping garden give the chance to have some flat parts. One of many things I love about this garden - just three modest patches of green grass - I see it as a compromise just in case somebody likes to walk on it.
See the amazing color of bougainvillea? Isn't it competing with the fish as focal point? Who is the winner?   



See the bone structure of the garden? Love it.


Little iron sculptures. Have that weird feeling that whereever I go, this family is looking at me.

Pelargoniums love the algarvian sun. Early morning today, in unusal - somewhat typical here - yellow sunrise light.
They are so big here! One day I will show more of them!

Side terrace on the top of the hill in the upper part of the house.

So many flowers now. I was told that I missed April, the best blooming month in Portugal, but phew! no regrets! Still there is a lot of green and a lot of flowers around :)

See, now we come to more wild and xeric part. Love it!



Thyme 1 m high, grasses and tall, thin cupressus - pretty. I'll ask Nuno about the varieties - he seems to know all about it, so we all know better :)






Pelargonium again - great combo with grasses - this one is Pennisetum alopecuroides - my favourite, I love to use in my designs.

Thanks for staying so far with me :) here in Portugal, in this beautiful mediterranean garden.

There will be more posts coming about Mediterranean plants and gardens, so if you don't want to miss anything Subscribe to Ewa in the Garden by Email and don’t forget to click the confirmation link you will receive by e-mail.

Xoxo,
Ewa

9 comments:

Patricia said...

I could move right in! I've visited Portugal several times and always loved it. Unfortunately, didn't find too many friendly people last year... mostly grouchies. Still a wonderful country with such a great history!

We'll try it again next year!

Yasmeen Elsayed said...

thanks ,,,,,,,,,

Ewa said...

Hello Patricia, welcome here on my blog! You are right, it's beautiful country. I am so happy to enjoy my time here.

Ewa said...

Hello Yasmeen, you are welcome here! hope to see you more around :)

Luanshya said...

Thanks so much for your very kind comments Ewa.....Hugh and I can only take credit for the architecture and hard design, we are not plants-people. The garden (from bare hillside) really designed itself, what lived flourished, and what looked unhappy was ruthlessly killed. Dogs also dug up plants they took a dislike to....No wimps in our garden!....
Glad you enjoyed Portugal
Melodie Dalton-Brown

Ewa said...

Hello Melodie, thanks for dropping by and commenting. House and garden are beautiful spot on Earth - really enjoy it :)

Unknown said...

How beautiful. I am trying to make a garden in the Algarve from scratch and found this very inspiring.

Ewa said...

Hello Jane, nice to see you here. Where is your garden located in Algarve?
Ewa

O Huang said...

Algarve....best place in the world to retire I just read and no wonder.

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