Blog: Marimurtra alive

Tomato plants, bean plants, artichoke plants, pepper plants, pumpkin plants, cabbages, lettuces, carrots… since humans began to grow plants for consumption, seeds and cuttings were the object of exchange or sale with which the different cultures have been integrating their products into their diet. In this way, nowadays wheat is cultivated, originally from the Middle East; aubergines, from northern India; citrus fruits, from the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia or potatoes, from South America.

With each new planting, the farmer selected the largest and best fruits and the plants most resistant to pests, inclement weather or those most adapted to the types of sun. In this way, year after year there has been a selection of the seeds destined for the plantations for the following season and without realizing it, we have carried out an artificial selection. So, in each area of the territory, people cultivate local varieties of tomatoes, beans or melons, the result of the history of the domestication of vegetables. These traditional varieties stand out for their taste, the great variety of colors or shapes, and sometimes also for the specific uses of some of their fruits.

The extension of agriculture and the use of monocultures break a little with this mosaic of local varieties, where seeds are often bought from large companies that distribute simultaneously to many countries. This uniformity of cultivated species presents a lower adaptability to the territory, and many times it is necessary for the farmer to use chemical products in order to eradicate pests or promote the development of plants. In this way, more and more, many of the varieties of all life are harder to find or, in some cases, end up being lost. The presence of these varieties in the market has also managed to revalue some of these plants, such as Santa Pau beans, crochet beans, Berguedà black peas, bull’s heart tomatoes or Montserrat tomatoes or calabash squash of angel, among many others. We must also think that these vegetables, fruits and vegetables are part of our plant, cultural and historical heritage.

The Jardí Botànic Marimurtra carries out activities and objectives of conservation and dissemination of the flora of the territory, ensuring that a large part of the wild and horticultural flora of Catalonia can be preserved. This year we have sown a wide variety of traditional horticultural species of pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, corn, courgettes, lettuce… coming from the Vallès Oriental Seed Bank, the Les Refardes association or other farmers. You will be able to find many of these specimens in the garden area of the garden or distributed in different places throughout the visit.

See all the horticultural variety files:

Enric Omella, master gardener, tells us about his experience during his stay at the Marimurtra Botanical Garden in 1975.

He started in the world of gardening from a biology and geology teacher he had in high school at that time. The way the classes were taught made him motivated to study. To such an extent, at the age of sixteen, that he went to the library of the University of Barcelona to continue researching and learning about botany.

In this conversation with Jordi Fàbregas, head of the Marimurtra garden, he comments on the differences and tasks that are still valid today for the organization of the garden. The way of sorting and delimiting the plants by zones that can be found there, based on tiles, stands out. They are ordered alphabetically or by common characteristics.

He also explains his experience or collaboration between gardens where he was able to be a gardener, such as: Miramar, Cap Roig or Pinya de Rosa.

Healing Gardens is a documentary series from Vision TV, (Zoomer Television) a Canadian network, which explores the transformative capabilities of gardens. The fifth episode of this season was recorded during the spring of this year at the Marimurtra Botanical Garden.

In the episode, Charlie Dobbin, the host of the show, interviews different people who interact with Marimurtra to learn about their relationship with the Garden and how they fall in love with it.

First of all, he talks to expert ornithologist and environmental consultant Pere Alzina, who explains his task of inventorying and studying the birds that fly over Marimurtra.

The director general of the Carl Faust Private Foundation, Josep Borrell, is also interviewed. The founder of the Garden, Carl Faust, created the Foundation to ensure the continuity of his work and, in the documentary, Borrell explains how the botanical management is in this privileged place and some of the main projects of the Garden, projects that promote the dissemination, conservation and research of botany.

Anna Sans, head of the Dissemination Department of the Carl Faust Foundation, explains how the Garden is conceived as an ecosystem in which not only plant species interact, but there is a large network of relationships between insects, birds, mammals, plants , etc.; and how important it is to take care of all these relationships.

The botanist’s master gardener, Jordi Fàbregas, talks about the distribution of the Garden and how they conceive their maintenance task for the more than 4,000 species from all over the world that live together in Marimurtra.

Finally, you can enjoy some short clips with extra content on the website of the documentary, among which there is an interview with Christopher Witty, one of the members of the board of trustees of the Carl Faust Foundation, who has a great passion for nature and, he affirms, that “he often understands plants better than humans”.

The documentary can be viewed here: https://healinggardens.tv/season2

The Carl Faust Private Foundation was created in 1951 by Carl Faust. Among its founding objectives are “…the protection and promotion of studies in Mediterranean biology, especially in botany, […] seeking cooperation and international relations for the benefit, all in all, of scientific research and dissemination…” .

The Marimurtra Botanical Garden is classified as a Cultural Asset of National Interest and in 2009 the Carl Faust Private Carl Foundation was awarded the Sant Jordi Cross from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

On October 1st, 2023, Mia and Louisa arrived in Blanes to join the Marimurtra team. They are the two German volunteers who are part of the “Volunteers for a Green Future” project, coordinated together with the German organization Naturkultur, e.V. and framed in the European program “European Solidarity Corps”.

The Carl Faust Private Foundation, host organization for this project, owner and manager of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden, welcomes two volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps from October until June. This European program aims to offer young people the opportunity to participate in volunteering projects that benefit the community that hosts them, as well as providing them with high-level non-formal learning. Specifically, this project lasts nine months and receives more than 90 requests each year.

During their stay, the volunteers participate in activities at the Botanical Garden related to sustainable conservation, education and scientific dissemination and the applied research that is carried out in Marimurtra. In addition, thanks to the collaboration with the Linguistic Standardization Consortium (CNL), the volunteers will participate in a basic level Catalan course to facilitate their integration in our home.

This is the fifth time that Marimurtra has participated in the ESC program by hosting volunteers, since it received the European quality seal in 2019, thus continuing the presence of international volunteers in its facilities in a program linked to the European Union which we can already consider consolidated.