Sao Miguel is peppered with lush plantations and public gardens filled with tropical fruits and rare plants. Botanical beauties such as the Jardim Antonio Borges in Ponta Delgada and the fabulous Terra Nostra Park in Furnas envelop an already beautiful landscape with patches of colour and heady scents. So why not take a walk in the park during your stay on Sao Miguel.

Month of Bloom	Flower
December to January	Aloe Vera’s
December to March	Camellias
March to April	Azaleas and Rhododendrons
End of May to August	Hydrangeas
June Month of Flowers	Roses, Agapanthus – Everything blooms in June
August	Yellow Ginger Lilly
September to October	Pink Amaryllis Bella Donna
November	No flowers
End November to December	Yuccas

Jardim Antonio Borges – Ponta Delgada

By far the most ornate of the entire town’s gardens, this delightful public park is well maintained and has a great fern ravine with a romantic bridge and small lake. Most of the original trees have long gone, but a great buttress-rooted India rubber tree (Ficus Elastica) and a huge Albizia remain. Well worth a visit.

Terra Nostra Garden – Furnas

Of all the gardens in the Azores, the Terra Nostra Garden is by far the most outstanding. The garden is densely planted and is a delight to walk around. This beautiful park (owned by the Hotel Terra Nostra Garden) has an abundance of mature trees (over 2,500), plants and a serpentine canal covering an area of approximately 30 acres. In 1990 the garden was restored by a team of English gardeners who planted many new species including a collection of Malaysian rhododendrons which are natives of tropical mountains. This is the only park in Europe where the rhododendrons can grow without protection.