Living in a Mediterranean climate, has opened my eyes to all sorts of new vegetation that I’d never really known before, since I’ve spent most of my life living and traveling to Northern climates. And while during winter, I found myself complaining that Lisbon is not a very green city, as most of the gardens are hidden on private property or allocated to public park spaces which are of course wonderful but accounts for an absence of vegetation on my everyday meanderings, I am now eating my words with the onset of spring blooms. Lately, I’ve completely fallen for the oleander. Yesterday, while at the train station, I became enamored with a row of overgrown oleanders in all their shades and hues. Oleanders, I´ve learned are very toxic but so beautiful and are native to Portugal. Enjoy this little oleander postcard from Lisbon!
Photos: Chelsea Fuss. Taken at the Santos train station in Lisbon.
So glad you love oleander! I inherited my grandmother’s home on Oleander Avenue in California and have a tattoo of an oleander flower in her memory. The highways both in Spain and southern California are lined with big overgrown bushes — such a wonderful reminder of home when I was living in Spain & Portugal last year.
Probably not very good for making herbal tea, huh?
As a flower lover I’m obsessed with these photos! What a lovely flower. I can’t wait to visit Lisbon and see them in person.
xo,
Leigh