The only city where you can leave your plants in a nursery during the holidays
Isabel Jiménez carries her pot with pride. It is not just any plant, but it has a great sentimental value for it. “My mother was a fan of plants and I gave it to her when she was dying. He was very excited. Last year it broke completely and I was terribly upset.. Don't see how I cried. But I pruned it and it recovered”, she explains with satisfaction.
For this reason, this year, Isabel has gone to the plant nursery in Pozuelo de Alarcón, the only town hall in Spain that has this free service running from June 15 to September 15.
Every summer a thousand specimens spend their vacations in the Pozuelo Environmental Education Classroom. There they also have a hospital to recover from illnesses if necessary. “It's almost like a spa for them,” says the popular mayoress of the town, Paloma Tejero.
The bustle is constant in these facilities located in Húmera, a neighborhood of Pozuelo, located to the west of the region. It is an area with many chalets that have large gardens and numerous outdoor and indoor plants.
There are many people from Pozole who go on vacation and have no one to leave their plants with or do not want to bother relatives or neighbors.
-Look, we bring you a strawberry tree- say Alberto Corite and Adrián Hidalgo.
-The earth is dry and, when you touch it, it has to be like a sponge- advises Miriam Torres, the classroom's environmental educator.
-This is a tree of love and this other one is found regulinchi. If he survives, fine and if not, then nothing- continues Alberto.
Miriam takes the data with the approximate date of collection, puts the labels on each plant and places them in the greenhouse. Carnivorous plants are placed in an aquatic classroom.
Take care of nature
«It is an initiative that seems great to us because it is the only solution you have if you do not want to disturb the neighbors. There should be more services like this, but we have only found this one. It is important that people realize how important it is to take care of plants, because that way you are also preserving nature. You have to take care of the little things”, says Alberto convinced.
When they arrive at the nursery, the plants are subjected to an inspection because in the event that they have any pest or disease they are transferred to the hospital.
There they are installed in a heated greenhouse for the winter season and, in summer, the plants are kept under the shading structure and irrigation by microdiffusion.
Volunteer at the plant hospital. . ENRIQUEZ NISTAL
The hospital also has a binocular magnifying glass to observe and show possible pests and two UVIS for the most delicate vegetables that need intensive care.. Any resident who sees that their plant is sick can go to this center every Wednesday.
Excess of water
The hospital is attended by the phytopathologist, Óscar Domínguez, several environmental educators and a team of about 20 volunteers.. One of them, Bernardino Rodrigues, warns that the main cause of plant death is excess water..
«People think that the plant is withered, they start to water it and end up drowning it. «We want to provide facilities so that the neighbors do not have to ask for favors. In addition, we want to transfer our love for nature and that the plants do not die, “says Miriam Torres, the environmental educator.
Leslie Arévalo and Christian Flores carry a wheelbarrow full of flower pots. They were worried because they did not know where to leave them until they discovered the nursery in Pozuelo. “I tried to give someone one of my plants, but it burned. So now we can go on vacation in peace because we know that they will be well cared for,” they conclude.