40 FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF MADEIRA 



hanging over the walls of the Quinta Santa Luzia 

 is in all its splendour. Side by side with the 

 scarlet blossoms come the great white trumpets of 

 the daturas, hanging in horizontal rows. Below, 

 the deep rose-coloured buds of the bougainvillea 

 have not yet unfurled, so there is no jarring note 

 in the scheme of colour, as the immense bank of 

 plumbago, with its soft blue blossoms, harmonizes 

 admirably. On the other side of the road, as if 

 determined to continue the effect of the flaming 

 red, is a great cluster of Aloe arbor escens, with 

 their spikes of red flowers not, it is true, as brilliant 

 in colouring as their opposite neighbours, the poin- 

 settias, but very beautiful in themselves. These, 

 with clumps of sweet-scented geraniums, echiums, 

 and many other plants, clothe the walls of the 

 garden of the Quinta da Levada. But the stream 

 of gorgeous colour is not yet complete, as the Bou- 

 gainvillea spectabile, with its brick-red blossoms, is 

 already giving promise of glories to come in a very 

 short time. This plant, which covers the corridor 

 and hangs over an old garden well at Quinta Sant 

 Andrea, is the finest specimen of its kind in the 

 island. From the immense size of its stem, it is 

 easily seen that the plant must be a great age, and 

 for many years has borne its burden of blossoms 



