A Palm Trip along the Via Aurelia

(page 4)

A few kilometres further west, one can drive through a peculiar avenue of palms, in Ospidaletti. It consists of a lot of inter-mixed Brahea. Phoenix, Syagrus and Washingtonia. An adjacent park, right on the coast, has some interesting varieties of Chamaerops humilis.

For those who like cacti, the "Giardino Esotico Pallanca", east of Bordighera, will be interesting. Besides all the cacti, they have planted out some small palms, among them, surprisingly, a Latania. I was told that these palms are not protected during the winter; it will be interesting to see how this baby survives.

In Bordighera itself I came upon a small, well-maintained park, planted mainly with palms. Among the 'commons' it has a large multi-stemmed Phoenix reclinata, and a moderate, bluish, fan-leaved palm, which I took to be Brahea dulcis.

One of the more well known of the Botanic Gardens on the Riviera is the "Giardino Hanbury" at Mortola, only a few kilometres east of the Italian-French border, also directly on the Via Aurelia. The garden was founded in 1867 by Thomas Hanbury and has been one of the most important in Europe before World War II when it was badly damaged. In fact, some of the palms retain big holes and scars in their trunks, probably caused by allied bombing.

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