Hot oaks in Madrid
Earlier this week, during a lull in the 20th International Botanical Congress - held in a sprawling convention centre on the outskirts of Madrid (IFEMA Madrid) - I took a walk in the nearby Parque Juan Carlos I . Juan Carlos I was King of Spain from 1975 to 2014, and this 160-hectare park honouring the first decade or so of his reign was opened in 1992. It's a huge and hot piece of land. The day I visited, temperatures were heading into the high thirties (Celsius), and I kept as much as possible to paths shaded by trees. Not that this was an easy task, as you can see in these pictures. Part of the park is also a celebration of 'Madrid European Capital of Culture', which makes me think the City of Madrid acquired some EU funding. In any case, this is a big and expensive undertaking. At the heart of the park is a grove of 2800 mature olive trees, planted in parallel lines crossing diagonally the main paths. There are water features, mostly a fetching green colour thanks to
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