Legend of the Almond Tree

As my Almond Tree (sorry, Prunus dulcis) is coming into full bloom (picture will be posted last this month here), I thought you would like to know the Legend of the Almond Tree here in the Algarve ...

Long ago in Al-Gharb (meaning The West, as the land known today as the Algarve was called when the Moors ruled the Iberian Peninsula), a Arab prince took a Nordic princess as his wife.

One winter's day the prince found his beautiful wife crying because she was so homesick for the snowy landscapes of the north. The prince immediately ordered the planting of thousands of almond trees throughout his realm.

Since that day, through January and February, Portugal's Algarve is covered with the snowy white blossom of almond trees.

The Prince and his Princess lived happily ever after in this mild-wintered land with its short-lived, perfumed snow.

 

Now THAT is a lovely story LOL Looking forward to your pics later on.

 

Nice one, LoL! I know there's a lot of Moorish influence in the south of Spain, like the Alhambra, but hadn't realised it was the whole Iberian peninsula. Certainly explains the names! Looking forward to more photos - love the one in the comp :D

 

Thanks marge and dendro. There are actually white and pink almond trees ... mine in sort of between them! Unfortunately they are bitter almonds, the pink ones. I wonder if they use these in marzipan, which of course is very popular here ... they make pretty little marzipan sweets resembling various fruit.

 

Mine is a very old, very large tree that we have drastically cut back. This was it on Monday ...

 

Beautiful, LoL! :D

 

I love those kind of stories, anyone remember the story of the olave tree or the pommegranet, could start a whole new topic here!

 

It's starting to snow Almond Blossom ...

 

is that Spanish gorse behind the sun chair?

 

Europys chrisanthemoides, the Paris Daisy, Waco.

 

suppose it just had to be something more exotic than what I have yellow in my back yard

 

LoL only does exotic, Waco! :D

 

I like your story, Lady of Leisure - I would be curious to know where that princess was coming from exactly...

But here is my "prunus webbii" which, I believe, is a small ornamental almond bush, with small not edible fruits but beautiful flowers.
It is growing at an amazing speed!
this is him only a few days ago:


and today !!!!

 

Good morning, mira ... it's coming along nicely.

Here's a story for you ... scroll down to Almond Tree ...

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/flowers/pcd39.html

 

The almond tree doesn't exactly originate from a nordic Country: so, that legend, is a bit of a let down, if you think about it