First came the daffodils, thousands of them, unfolding a yellow carpet at the foot of the temple of the god Aeolus.
Then came the magnolias, with their pink and white flowers, in stark contrast to the still bare branches.
And finally the cherry trees, surrounding the Casa de las Palmeras, that imposing glass palace that Carlos Magdalena (Gijón, 1972) has renamed the
Vatican
of plants.
We are in London's Kew Gardens, the most fascinating botanical garden in the world, attending the consecration of spring in the company of our most international botanist, popularly known as
The Messiah of Plants
(Debate).
The tropical nurseries - where he serves as high priest - are still closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, as is his favorite corner, the House of the Water Lilies.
But the incredible 132-hectare garden south of the Thames already attracts thousands of open-air visitors, eager like Carlos himself to reconnect with nature.
"I think it is the most anticipated spring in history.
Last year it arrived at the beginning of the confinement, now it is like the explosion of color on the way out. Winter here is like
Fifty Shades of Gray
, but spring is impressive.
As a gardener, you feel almost like a conductor. "
The trombones -that is, the daffodils- enter and Carlos Magdalena puts words to the music: "Wherever you see them, almost a symbol of the British spring, they came here from the Mediterranean, and probably from Spain. Our country is the center irradiation of the world. You have them everywhere: from my land (
Narcissus asturiensis
) to Almería. Although in the end they are like the invisible plant: they bloom for two or three weeks and you never see them again. "
Before the daffodils, the
galanthus
or
snowdrops
appeared
, and then the bluebells will come.
The real "spring speaker" is the tall maple leaves,
Carlos says.
But the truth is that gardeners, like plants, are a bit confused with this climate change:
"Springs are early, winters come later
and
later.
And rare is the month that a record is not exceeded: February warmest, driest March, rainiest July. "
Carlos Magdalena, next to some orchids from Kew GardensMIGUEL FRESNEDA
Our botanist enters another of his favorite corners, the forest garden.
We follow the blue trail of
chionodoxa
that invades everything, and we come to another of those enigmatic plants that attracts attention for its purple flowers: "There is the
clandestine Lathraeda,
which is a parasite on the roots of chestnut and ash trees."
Move the read "disorderly order" Kew Gardens, where the invisible hand of man has been working with nature since 1759. "The other day this garden is older than the
United States, and that makes you feel special reverence.
For For me, entering here in 2003 was like winning the horticultural lottery.
It was like entering a sacred place. And I also felt like a mouse in a cheese warehouse, with all the varieties of the world at your fingertips. "
The largest wild plant DNA bank
Kew Gardens houses nearly nine million dried plant specimens in the herbarium, plus the world's largest wild plant DNA bank, and some 2 billion seeds in the Millennium Seed Bank.
Two million visitors pass through here every year, and the mission now - contained in the "manifesto of change" - is to become a world standard in biodiversity.
"Two out of every five plants are in danger of extinction and nobody defends them",
emphasizes Carlos Magdalena.
"We empathize with the orangutan besieged by the bulldozer, but we forget about the 5,000 or more plant species that are lost when we destroy their habitat to make way for palm plantations.
We forget that plants are our sustenance
: they give us oxygen, food, medicines ... ".
Medical applications
"When the Covid came, I was convinced that the solution would ultimately be in a plant,"
recalls the botanist from Gijón.
"And I was not wrong. There you have the quillaja saponaria, an endemic tree in Chile, from which an ingredient is extracted that serves as an adjuvant or enhancer of the immune system response in vaccines."
CARLOS MAGDALENA
We continue through Kew Gardens, leaving the central walkway behind and falling into an imaginary burrow until we land in
Alice in Wonderland,
in the words of the fabulous gardener.
"I hallucinate with magnolias, I am not surprised that people spend hours here photographing them. What strikes me the most is that powerful contrast between the delicacy of the leaves, white or pinkish, and the rawness of the wood, with the branches bare and without leaves. "
It would seem that Carlos Magdalena is finally in his habitat among the floral display of the magnolia walk, but something lights up in his little eyes behind his glasses when we ask him if he misses his greenhouse and why this irresistible attraction to the tropics: "If you like life, it is where there is more life. They are the maximum expression of biodiversity, a symphony of colors and shapes: butterflies, birds, fish ... Note that only of orchids there are some 25,000 known species. Nature is the empirical demonstration that reality surpasses fiction ".
The "decolonization" of Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens director Richard Deverell has opened the box of thunder with his call to "decolonize" the garden, included in the "manifesto for change" for the next decade.
"Like many other institutions, part of Kew's history has its roots deep in the legacy of colonialism and racism,"
Deverell himself
acknowledged to
The Guardian
.
"For more than 260 years, Kew scientists have explored every corner of the world, documenting the diversity of plants and fungi. We have been a beacon of discovery and science, but also privilege and exploitation."
Deverell recalls how the garden came to be in the 19th century the epicenter of the British Empire's "movement of valuable plants for agriculture and trade" (many of them obtained under exploited conditions in Asia or Africa, and linked to slavery and colonialism).
In its 26-page manifesto, Kew is equally committed to promoting diversity and protecting biodiversity, expanding its reach and taking a more active position with the public: "We will speak with confidence and leadership about policies aligned with our mission, and we will set an example of environmental responsibility "(including the commitment to" zero emissions "by 2030).
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