My next journey with Monty Don is to South America to visit
gardens, and meet movie star plants. South America has diverse climates (including
a Mediterranean climate on the coast of Chile), and close to 50,000 plant
species that are found only in South America. On this trip, Monty explores what
defines a people’s concept of a garden, and what drives people to create
gardens even when the surrounding landscape is already so beautiful. So grab
your camera, and join us for more summer travelling!
Brazil, Argentina, and Chile (Season 1, Episode 4)
Monty Don first visits Rio De Janeiro to see the Copacabana
Beach Promenade designed by Roberto (Burle) Marx in the 1970s, and then his
home and test garden, Sitio Santo Antonio da Bica, now owned by the state. As
told by Monty, Burle visited Europe when he was 19 and was surprised to find
greenhouses devoted to Brazilian plants. This triggered an epiphany of sorts –
why aren’t we using Brazilian plants for landscaping in Brazil? Upon his return
to Brazil, Burle started collecting native Brazilian plants, and experimenting
with them. He collected around 3,500 plants in his test gardens, and implemented
them in the 2,000 public and private gardens he designed. This revolutionized landscaping
in Brazil
Monty then heads north to Manaus, Brazil, to cruise the
Amazon river, and see the rain forests of the great Amazon basin. On the river
he witnesses floating houses and gardens, which grow fruit and nut trees,
vegetables, and flowers. Even surrounded with the lush rainforest, people seem
compelled to garden, whether for food or beauty.
The jungle soil is thin and poor. Many of the trees have
shallow roots, and are supported by flaring buttresses. Any organic matter that
falls to the jungle floor is broken down quickly by fungi, and immediately
taken up by the shallow roots. Monty learns about places in the jungle with
nutrient rich soil, called terra preta. Scientists have studied these patches
of ancient soil that appear to have been enriched by humans using charcoal,
pottery chards, and organic matter (recall we learned about terra preta in Soil Building in the Americas).
Next, Monty travels to Argentina to visit Buenos Aires, a
city with a European feel. Its landscaping, with wide boulevards, parks, and
trees is attributed to French botanist and landscape architect Charles Thays
(1849 – 1934). Thays arrived in Argentina in 1889, and, over the course of his
life, planted 1.2 million trees, most of which are native to Argentina, such as
the rubber tree. From here, Monty visits Estancia Dos Talas, a ranch built in
1858 by Basque-French pioneer, Pedro Luro. He hired Charles Thays in 1928 to
design the garden and surrounding park of 74 acres, which includes wide avenues
of trees from Argentina and Europe.
Finally, Monty heads for Chile, the South American country
that spans 217 miles at its widest, and is 2,670 miles long from north to
south. It is bordered by desert, mountains, ice floes, and ocean, with a Mediterranean
coastal climate, and supports a diverse plant population. Monty ends his tour
in a private garden created by landscape architect, Juan Grimm. Bahia Azul
Garden flows seamlessly from sea to coastal bluffs, and is planted all in
native plants. The garden borrows views from the ocean and surrounding bluffs,
and looks completely natural. Even in this setting of beauty, its owner is
compelled to create a garden.I loved seeing the lush gardens of South America, which feature its native plants. Burle Marx and other recognized the fantastic diversity of the continent’s plants and implemented them in their gardens. This inspires us today, as more and more gardeners embrace their local environment, and implement its native plants into the landscape. Thank you for joining us on this tour:
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