Mediterranean Garden Society
Mediterranean Garden Society
The Balearic Islands Branch of the MGS
The members of the Balearic branch are as diverse as our Islands. The Balearics are a melting pot where people from all over Europe and abroad enjoy the Mediterranean climate and cultural diversity.
We are amateurs, professionals or absolute beginners, but we all appreciate learning about gardens and landscapes, sharing knowledge or simply having good conversations under the shadow of a tree.
Balearics Branch Head is Emma Bannister: read her biography here. Members and prospective members please contact Emma with questions, ideas, suggestions
Activities and challenges
Global warming is happening and these Islands can play and important role to exchange expertise. The increasing environmental protection is fostering their role as a scientific crossroad. For this reason, we are promoting educational activities in addition to garden visits, plant exchanges, botanical outings and other meetings. The aim of the Balearic branch is to promote the interaction and networking in a friendly atmosphere. Eveybody can observe, comment, ask and enjoy!
The photograph at the top of this page shows Finca d’Ariant, Mallorca. These waterwise gardens were created by former MGS President Heidi Gildemeister; her 1,000-hectare estate here has been made over to the Fundación Vida Silvestre Mediterránea - FVSM, dedicated to preservation of the rare black vultures. The MGS visited during the 2018 pre-AGM tour. Photo: Alisdair Aird.
For older reports and articles please check out the archived (non-responsive) Balearics branch page.
Versión española
Forthcoming Events
To book a place on these events and receive joining details please contact Emma Bannister.
Saturday 2 May - S’Arracó & Andratx
Visit to two very different MGS members’ gardens.
One is a mature, hillside garden with impressive features and design elements. The other features many plants from Jardin Sec the famous nursery in Meze run by Olivier Filippi. It has been designed and maintained by the owner with the primary aim of attracting as many different species of pollinators as possible.
Sunday 3 May - Son Macia, near Manacor
Visit to two different MGS members garden in a stunning setting.
One of the gardens has parts of the garden re-designed by the Tom Stuart-Smith studio in the United Kingdom and featured in a Gardens Illustrated article. It features a matrix of ‘dry garden, resilient’ planting in gravel.
Emma Bannister writes: I am a Landscape Architect and I moved from the UK to Mallorca in the autumn of 2021 to build a passive house and create a dry garden (using Olivier Filippi as my guide) on a sheep grazed dead almond field near Manacor. It is early days; currently the rocks and existing carob trees are the highlights of the garden!
My active interest in gardening started in 1985 when I used to take my toddler to the Canberra Botanic Gardens and our rented house had a garden planted with Australian natives. We returned to England and inspired by the Lost Gardens of Heligan, I restored an overgrown terraced town garden in Northumberland. We then moved to Bath where I did a years gardening training with the Women’s Farm and Garden Association (WFGA), started a gardening business with two friends and then decided to retrain as a Landscape Architect. Before children, I worked in marketing and environmental management for British Airways.
In 2016 I created a Show Garden at RHS Hampton Court.
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN is the registered trademark of The Mediterranean Garden Society in the European Union, Australia, and the United States of America