Laboratory

Madère, September 2014.

The island was beautiful, the subtropical backgarden of a once European colonizer, where fruits were taking advantage of the volcanic land and plants the always plentiful water from the mountains. In the middle of the capital town, stands a beautiful garden near a church, filled with colorful flowers and cats enjoying the shade of palm trees.
On the back, a kind of open shelter where hundreds of potted plants are meticulously placed next to each other. Approaching, on each of the pots, a code becomes visible. This garden is not just made for the pleasure of residents and tourists, but to experiment many species.
These three characters remind us that, behind the apparent lushness of this green island, centuries of work have been performed to adapt exotic plants. Sugarcane, mangoes, bananas and grapes have come from similar experiments over time.
What you see is not a huge paradise garden, but an open air laboratory.