Visit - Pazo de Santa Cruz de Rivadulla (Galicia) - Spain
Here's another visit on The Route of the Camellias in Galicia: the Pazo de Santa Cruz de Rivadulla. Owned by the same family since the 16th century, this estate covers 30 hectares. When it was built, it was quickly divided into three sectors: mountain land, farmland and, finally, gardens and orchard. They are organized on an orthogonal plan, with easy access. Initially, olive trees and vines were grown here. The part that became the botanical garden boasts a very rich collection, including not only camellias. In the 19th century, it was Iván Armada y Fernández de Córdoba (1845-1899), known as “Uncle Iván”, who considerably enriched the botanical collection. The oldest camellias were planted between 1780 and 1820, and again after 1850. Uncle Iván added to the collection after 1875. The collection was further enriched in the 20th century with around a hundred cultivars. There are around 300 camellias listed on the estate.
The best time to visit is February to March for the camellias.
The Ortigueira nursery, which is part of the estate, offers a wide variety of plants and camellias, including a precious number of old camellias.
Pazo de Santa Cruz de Rivadulla is also Garden of Excellence ICS.
We discover the Pazo before entering the gardens for the tour.
Here's the entrance to the botanical garden on the side of the Pazo. You can already see the camellias.
We discovered a magnificent 'Captain Rawes'. This was the first C. reticulata to be grown in Europe.
There are also some magnificent Magnolias. Then we follow an avenue of Camellias.
We climbed up to another part of the garden, overlooking the first, where the River Ulla runs through. Here you'll find many camellias, which have the right soil for their growth.
We head back down for the next part of the tour, to discover the camellia alley. It's a lovely, long, shady walk. The camellias are named and the collection is very varied, with camellias from all over the world.
Above, a view of the camellia alley from the outside. There are regular accesses to the other parts of the garden (the orthogonal layout is again evident). At the far end, we come to a long hedge of old camellias, leading up to the Pazo.
The view towards the Pazo from this long camellia hedge.
We also discover great isolated subjects. We return to our starting point.
This large camellia in the background is another 'Captain Rawes'. We came closer and then passed under its flowers and foliage.
We walk along the paths of this part of the estate, where we also found camellias.
The tour comes to an end. We had a chance to admire some great subjects before leaving the estate.
