Spring has sprung! With a mild climate for most of the year, plants love Sevilla… if they can survive the intense heat of summer. The city is filled with a huge variety of flowering plants & trees, so the winter blues disappear quickly. While this post isn’t a compendium of all we’ve got blooming now, let it inspire you to stroll the city & enjoy one of nature’s great displays.
Azahar · “Orange blossom” in English, azahar must be one of my favorite words in Spanish. So fun to say. Often coinciding with Semana Santa, these small, white blossoms have an intoxicating scent. With some 10,000 orange trees in the city & each one a big bloomer, Sevilla smells magical when they’re all en flor.
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Árbol de Judas · Another Easter-time blossom (the name kinda gives it away), the Judas tree is another prolific bloomer. Flowers are a pinker purple & smaller than those of the jacaranda, but older trees even have flowers sprouting from their trunks! I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t believe these have much of a scent. Just beautiful to look at.
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Rosa · Scattered around many public parks, several rose varieties are planted in Plaza de América. But please don’t walk over the small hedges to get a selfie! Respect the roses.
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Pitiminí · This miniature variety of rose is often trained to grow around fences, providing an attractive & natural screen for outdoor patios. I’m always amazed at the number of flowers they can produce.
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Lantana · A shrub with hundreds of tiny flowers, the most common variety I’ve seen in Sevilla mixes shades of yellow & red. Native to the Americas, this plant does very well in our climate.
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Melocotonero · Peach blossoms fill the Jardín de las Damas around the fountain of the Alcázar. Like all flowers of the Prunus genus, blooms dramatically appear before the first leaves sprout. Don’t confuse these with almond trees that bloom earlier in the year (usually around February)!
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Árbol de coral · Sometimes called a coral tree in English (with lots of variety within the general family), I’ve only seen a few of these in Sevilla. This is from a new park outside of Heliópolis, so maybe they’re a thing now… scarce, but worth the hunt for these gorgeous flowers.
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Árbol orquídea · Don’t let the popular name fool you… Bauhinia variegata isn’t even in the same family as orchids, but the blossoms bear a certain resemblance. I’ve seen both white & lavender versions in Sevilla.
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Cinamomo · The chinaberry is widely planted in Sevilla but often disregarded until those prolific white & purple blossoms emerge in April. As the begin to fall, so many delicate flowers on the ground truly look like snow.
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Granado · Thick-skinned buds open to reveal bright, orange-red flowers that last for less than a week… each one destined to become a pomegranate. More ornamental than for fruit production, these trees decorate home gardens & public parks all over the city.
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Acacia falsa · Around mid-April, strands of white blossoms hang from these trees in parks all around town. English speakers probably know these ornamental trees not as a false acacia but black locust instead, originating from the Appalachia Mountains in the US.
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Jacarandá · Long-time readers may remember my fascination with this tree when I first discovered it in Buenos Aires. Rather difficult to photograph without the proper background, Sevilla becomes a purple paradise around the middle to later part of May.
While it’s easy to find spring flowers in Sevilla, a few spots to begin your search are the gardens of the Alcázar, Plaza de América & Parque María Luisa. Enjoy the color & beauty!