From Flora to Flora

Elegance is one of the characteristics that best describe the Gardens of the Pedralbes Palace. The space was designed a century ago by Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí, taking as a source of inspiration the French gardens of the time, with the stately look of a palace, and at the same time full of romantic corners. Its vegetation includes majestic trees, some of them centenarian, and a collection of plants from other corners of the world, which coexist with some examples of our flora.

Of the trees in the park, the most striking are surely those of the important collection of cedars. In the gardens you can find Atlas, Japanese, incense and Himalayan cedars, the latter with a specimen that forms part of the Catalogue of Trees of Local Interest in Barcelona. And it is not the only one. An articulated thuja (a type of cypress from North Africa) and a stone pine, both of considerable size, have also been included in the catalogue. More exotic trees live in the gardens, such as the Monterrey and Arizona cypresses, or the Erythrina, from South America. To these are added other common species such as the Aleppo pine or the linden trees located on both sides of the central walkway of the garden.

Shrubs, climbing plants and herbaceous plants are no less exotic: Virginia jasmine, and starry jasmine from South-East Asia, or the wavy pytospore from Australia are some examples. So is bamboo, a typical Chinese plant that in the Palace Gardens is presented as a small forest that hides the fountain of Hercules, by Antoni Gaudí. Therefore, walking through these gardens is equivalent to going around the world through some of the most representative plants of other floras. A botanical as well as artistic visit, with sculptures by names such as Josep Llimona, Enric Casanovas or Joan Borrell i Nicolau.

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