One of Floriana's most loved gardens has recently reopened following extensive refurbishment, and it is blooming marvellous!
It is with good reason that Floriana is known as the garden city of Malta. Sitting on the doorstep to Valletta, and often overlooked for its more famous neighbour, Floriana is blessed with the largest number of public gardens anywhere on the island, over 10 in fact. And its biggest and probably most loved garden of all has recently reopened following a €2.4million restoration.
Argotti Gardens include a public garden and an inner botanic section which is managed by the University of Malta. The Botanic and Resource Centre is the third oldest botanic garden in the Commonwealth and is home to a fascinating collection of species from five regions, which share the same bi-seasonal climate as that in the Mediterranean - namely Central Chile, California, the Cape region of South Africa and South Western Australia as well as countries from the Mediterranean basin itself. The plant collection also includes species from the Canary Islands and Madagascar, as well as succulents and cacti from other regions of America and Africa.
This is the place to go to see Malta’s national plant Cheirolophus crassifolius (Maltese Rock Centaury) and other endemic species such as the Atriplex lanfrancoi (Maltese Cliff-Orache), Helichrysum melitense (Maltese Everlasting) and Darniella melitensis (Maltese Salt Tree) as well as indigenous orchids. The national tree, the Sandarac Gum tree, is also here, together with other trees that are so characteristic of Malta’s landscape such as the carob, olive and Aleppo pine. The garden has some fine old specimens, including a 250-year old Dragon Blood tree and the iconic Moreton Bay Fig trees with their entwined aerial roots fused together. Look out for the Mexican Giant Cardon Pachycereus pringlei and Cereus pecten-aboriginum, which are over 100 years old.
As with everything else in Malta, the gardens are immersed in history. Straddling St James Bastions and dating back to around 1720, Argotti started out as two separate private gardens belonging to Knight of St John Don Emmanuel Pinto de Fonseca and Bailiff Ignatius de Argote y Gusman (from whom the name of the gardens derive). When Pinto was elected Grand Master in 1741, de Argote bought his garden and annexed it to his own.
A physic garden of sorts already existed back in 1674 at Fort St Elmo. When the British took over in 1800, the medicinal plants and other botanical specimens were moved to the Mall in Floriana, and in 1855 were relocated once again to their current home at Argotti by Prof. Stefano Zerafa who was Professor of Natural History at the time and is most remembered for his discovery and naming of the National Plant.
The inner Argotti still features the Nymphaeum and the summer villa from the Knights’ period. The Nymphaeum was once completely lined with a decorative motif featuring black obsidian, white marble pebbles, red coral and calcite crystals. The coat of arms of bailiff Ignatius de Argote y Guzman can be seen on the ceiling.
Meanwhile de Argote’s summer house now serves as a visitor centre and museum of garden history and plant science. One of the prettiest features of the garden is the water lily pond with its aquatic plants.
The inner gardens include the Resource Centre run by the University of Malta, which maintains the national herbarium and the living botanical collection of predominantly Mediterranean type plants. The university has been looking after this part of the gardens for almost 200 years (with just a brief hiatus between 1973 and 1996 when the Department of Agriculture took over). Don’t be put off by the closed gate. Ring the doorbell and the porter will let you in against a small donation. The resource centre is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 3:30pm (except Public Holidays). Guided tours can be organised with advance notice.