Madeira is known as a floral heaven due to its unique mild climate and you can’t move for a riotous bounty of colour and fragrance.
The national flower of Madeira is the exotic and gorgeous ‘Bird of Paradise’, also called the Crane Flower and Strelitzia.
The island is strongly influenced by the Gulf Stream and Canary Current, giving it mild to warm year-round temperature but it also has several microclimates too.
When Portuguese settlers arrived on the island in the 15th century, everything was densely wooded. Hence its name Madeira which means wood in Portuguese.
Spring is the best time to visit in order to see the island in all its blossoming glory but even in July we can find a myriad of flowers including these incredible banks of agapanthus and hydrangeas on a mountain road.
