The University of La Laguna presents its Canary Garden and its educational posters in the Central Building

The Parks and Gardens Service of the University of La Laguna presented today, March 21st, the educational posters of its Canary Garden, a space located in the institution's central building that eschews traditional landscaped plots to create a green area with minimal human influence, where native plant species grow in a natural habitat, enhancing their biodiversity.

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The garden features extensive information panels designed to provide visitors with firsthand knowledge of the fourteen distinct areas, each carefully separated to maintain a coherent educational experience. Visitors can explore, for example, the areas of tabaibal cardonal (a type of shrubland), monte verde (a type of woodland), pine forest, willow grove, juniper woodland, and summit scrubland, among others. Explanatory signage has been installed for 123 of the 170 species in the Canary Garden.

This project is accompanied by extensive information on each species, with each sign featuring a QR code that links to a website offering detailed explanations. It is a dynamic and continuously evolving project, reflecting the leadership of this university service, supported by the Vice-Rectorate for Infrastructure and Sustainability, and involving the Cultural Center for Gardening and professors Marcelino del Arco, Aurelio Martín, and Carlos Ruiz Carrera, as well as the university's Herbarium.

The idea for the educational posters arose from a project approved in the Participatory Budgets The university has launched an initiative that allocates €450,000 annually to implement projects proposed and voted on by the university community. Rector Rosa Aguilar congratulated the entire team behind this initiative, saying, “For being so inspiring, for believing in what you do, and for valuing your daily work.” More than a thousand schoolchildren visited these gardens last academic year.

The Canary Garden at the University of La Laguna represents a different model of gardening, one that strives for minimal human intervention. First, there is a clear respect for the soil as an essential element of the garden, the foundation of all its components. This is followed by the planting of tree species to create the canopy of the forest as quickly as possible, and then the planting of... Medium-sized shrub species will be planted to create seed banks and seedlings that will help generate green mass and biomass for the soil. “We’re not going to intervene; we’ll let it grow on its own,” explains the service’s technical staff. “The park isn’t just vegetation; it’s biodiversity, and everything here has value, from the plant species to the insects that pollinate the flowers.”.

The Parks and Gardens Department expressed its satisfaction today that the university administration allowed them to work in the area without the deteriorated pavement, which was in need of removal, posing an obstacle. The space also includes a composting area, an experimental area, and another dedicated to unique plants.