Gestión Inmobiliaria en Valencia

OFFERING privacy, shade in the summer heat, greenery and colour, and of course, oxygen – whilst drinking up carbon dioxide – trees are a must in any garden or ground-floor terrace that has the space, especially if you live near an area of heavy traffic. There's something indescribably serene, uplifting and relaxing about being around trees, hearing the wind rustle through them, or sitting under them on a bench with a good book, and they're great news for the health of the planet, too.
Oranges, a classical Mediterranean fruit - this picture shows a commercial grove in Pego, northern Alicante province

Which ones to plant in your Spanish garden, though? Naturally, if you live on the Mediterranean, the south coast or in the Canary Islands, palm trees spring to mind, but plenty of others will flourish given the right conditions.
Magnolia trees offer a stunning springtime floral display

And these depend upon where you live. A home near the coast at ground level is very different to one inland, in a mountainous area, or at an altitude; also, Spain has so many microclimates that trees, plants and bushes that do well in its warmer provinces and those which thrive in more northerly parts will differ widely.

Northern and north-central Spain tend to have much colder winters, meaning trees that stay healthy in climates such as those of the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries on a similar latitude will also do well here, but others are more suited to year-round sunshine and very infrequent rainfall, albeit standing up well to the rare but very dramatic downpours seen in the Mediterranean basin.

Magnolia

Ideal in a warm climate and with a good, deep subsoil, stunning pinky-white floral displays are practically guaranteed in springtime if you tend to them carefully and manage to get them growing strong and healthy. But you'll need plenty of space – they can reach up to 30 metres in height.
Apple trees suit cooler climates better (photo: YouTube)

You'll also need patience, since the magnolia tree is slow-growing and can take many years before your efforts are rewarded.

Apple

Coming with fruit as a bonus, apple trees need plenty of sun for several hours a day, but if you live a long way inland or towards the north of Spain, you'll find they thrive better than in the warmth and humidity of the south and east coasts.
Olive trees can live for thousands of years, like this one in Simat de la Valldigna (southern Valencia province) outside the iconic late 13th-century Santa María monastery

Apple trees, being a hardy species, cope very well with frost and below-freezing temperatures, so they're ideal if you live in a part of the country with very cold winters. In fact, they prefer climates with cold winters, chilly autumns and fairly cool springs, as long as they're planted somewhere they get lots of natural light.

Olive

Farmers grow their olive groves up in the mountains – you may have seen the giant steps, which look a bit like the exotic rice platforms of south-east Asia without the water – and typically inland, although even just a few kilometres from the coast you'll find them in abundance.

Another hardy species and ideal for giving your garden a 'rustic' look, olive trees can actually survive for centuries, even millennia.

They like the sun, but can cope with most climates, and are relatively easy to care for, making them the ideal type of tree for those with limited knowledge or experience of gardening.

Almond

Another tree farmed inland and at altitudes, almond trees also work well at sea-level, as long as they're very exposed – they need loads of natural light and warm sun.
The northern Alicante province 'almond route’ - here, in Alcalalí

They are also perfect for gardens and patios where space is an issue, because they're relatively small: Even at their maximum, they never really grow beyond four metres (13 feet) in height.

These trees are some of the most decorative, too. The early part of the year, January or February, sees them come out in bloom and, if you live near enough to an almond grove to be able to visit, make sure you have lots of memory-card space on your phone: The photos will be spectacular, with a veritable sea of white-with-a-hint-of-pink against a clear blue sky giving you an explosion of colour that will lift the lowest of spirits.

Do remember that what blooms also shrivels and drops, though – once the blossoming season is over, your garden will be liberally coated with 'pink snow', which will, eventually, need sweeping or raking up.
Lemon trees in plant pots; handy if you're short of space (photo: Amazon.es)

Oranges and lemons

Let the bells of St Clement's ring out in your Mediterranean or Andalucía garden – if it's stereotypical Spain you want, you can't be without a citrus tree or several. And if you water them well, you'll have your own on-tap supply of juice.

Orange and lemon trees – likewise grapefruit and lime – only grow in warm climates, so they're not an ideal choice if, for example, you live in the heart of Castilla y León. Also, bear in mind that the fruit is ready for harvest in late autumn through to early spring – they may be hot-weather trees, but citrus are not summer fruits. It's the summer sun that ripens them and the autumn and spring rain that fleshes them out, and their best flavour is between approximately November and February. (If you buy yours from the market, greengrocer's or supermarket, you'll notice that they're at their cheapest and best quality during this time; early autumn and late spring, their price rockets, but they don't taste as good).

Citrus trees are not keen on cold climates, and need plenty of water, so a 'drip' irrigation system is recommended.

They're also a very small species – so small, in fact, that you can even grow them in pots.

Cypress
Cypress in pots on sale at Plantasmallorca.com

Evergreen, hardy, elegant and very dense, these are a garden classic wherever you live, are easy to maintain and consistent in appearance year-round.

Like any conifer, the cypress is a good choice as a 'garden wall' – plant them alongside your fence, and within a few years you'll have a thick, green, hedge-like boundary that guarantees you won't be overlooked.

They also grow in pots, making them ideal for 'cordoning off' a small area of patio or terrace in a neat, attractive and colourful fashion.

Walnut and elm

Two garden classics, but very different in terms of their preferred climates – walnut trees, contrary to popular (or unpopular) proverb, should not be beaten, just kept away from very cold parts.
Walnut trees grow in most temperatures and a variety of soil types, but do not cope well with winter frosts (photo: George Chernilevsky/Wikimedia Commons)

They do not cope well in frosts, so would not suit an area that suffers harsh winters, although they are fairly flexible about temperatures and soil types, growing well in a variety of both.

Elm trees, by contrast, need plenty of sun, making them a sound option for the south coast, Canary Islands or the Mediterranean.

But they also require lots of water – in all these parts of Spain, you'll have to keep wetting them constantly in summer when the soil tends to dry to dust within a matter of hours, or set up an irrigation system if you're going to be away from your property, even just for a weekend.

Japanese maple

If it's colour and autumnal shades of leaves you're seeking, these are a great addition to your garden.
A Japanese maple colour explosion

Exotic but rustic, elegant, and gradually sliding through the full pH-scale from racing green to deepest red via vibrant yellow-gold, you're guaranteed a complete traffic-light palette throughout the year.

Remember they are a deciduous species, though, so in the dullest part of the winter, they'll have shed their leaves and you might need to do some regular sweeping and raking, but their foliage starts to sprout again long before it's warm enough to sit outside all day admiring them.

Suitable for all climates in Spain, as long as they're looked after properly, Japanese maple trees can grow to quite a height and outlive most of us – it's not uncommon for them to reach around 10 metres high.

YOU'VE read about Spain's record rainfall, wind speed, wave height, coldest and hottest temperatures (if you haven't, check out the fascinating set of numbers here – and keep a note of them as conversation-starters for later), but what is a 'normal' winter like in the westernmost Mediterranean country, and how much does it differ depending upon where you are?


Of course it snows in Spain - Granada city, home of the Alhambra Palace (pictured here) is on the edge of the Sierra Nevada, one of the country's best-loved ski resorts (photo: @Spain on Twitter)
Talk to anyone in northern Europe who has only seen Spain during summer beach holidays and you'll find yourself explaining over and over again how, yes, we do have snow, hence our multiple ski resorts; yes, it does get cold in winter and, no, of course we haven't got a tan, because it's January, for goodness' sakes. But do Spanish residents spend the winter wishing they were in Scotland because it's warmer, or are gloves and woolly scarves really redundant south of the Pyrénées?

Research into four decades of temperatures in a 'normal' Spanish winter

Thankfully, the recent freezing snap brought by 'Storm' Filomena - when thick snow blocked roads and shut schools in Madrid for weeks and parts of the north registered temperatures below -30ºC in the early hours - has now passed, and although other weather fronts significant enough to be given human names have been queuing up to hit us, the Arctic climate of early January seems to have left us in peace for now. For some of us in Spain, that means a light-ish coat and a thin-ish top are enough for braving the outside world, whilst for others of us, it means step past your front door without your thermals at your peril.

To find out where on the scale we are based upon where we live, research has just been compiled by the State meteorological agency, AEMET.

César Rodríguez Ballesteros, of its National Climate Data Bank Service, analysed average temperatures in provincial capital cities nationwide over the complete months of December, January and February between 1971 and 2010 inclusive.

The Canary Islands were studied separately, given their unique location – roughly a two-hour flight south-west of the mainland and 100 kilometres off the coast of southern Morocco – which means their climate differs largely from the mainland, Balearic Islands, and even from the city-provinces of Ceuta and Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast.
Coldest week of winter

In general, the second and third weeks of January are the chilliest time of the year anywhere in Spain other than the Canaries, and the coldest part of the country during this fortnight is the northern part of the central plains – the region of Castilla y León.


Daytime maximum temperatures average 6ºC in the provincial capital city of Palencia between January 6 and 12, and 6.4ºC in Burgos and 6.5ºC in León between January 7 and 13, being the coldest places and times of year at the warmest part of the day.

As for lows – the bottom temperatures in a 24-hour period, which are usually found in the few hours before daylight, typically from about 04.00 to 07.00 in the morning – the coldest place you can be during the coldest weeks of a 'normal' winter is Teruel. In this southern Aragón city, Spain's smallest provincial capital with barely 36,000 inhabitants, the mercury will typically fall to around -2.9ºC in the early hours from January 11 to 17.

Ávila (second picture), in Castilla y León, averages -2.3ºC between January 9 and 15, whilst Soria, in the same region, drops to -1.8ºC between January 10 and 16.



Coldest fortnight and coldest month

The first half of January, anywhere other than the Canary Islands, is the coldest fortnight of the year in Spain, and once again, Castilla y León sees the lowest daytime maximum temperatures during this period – Palencia averages 6.1ºC from January 3 to 17; Burgos 6.4ºC from January 1 to 15, and León, 6.6ºC from January 2 to 16.


How many layers you need in a Spanish winter depends upon where you are in the country, and in which week (photo: Twitter)
Teruel is once again the coldest overnight and early morning city during the chilliest fortnight of the year – its typical temperature between January 7 and 21 is -2.6ºC, whilst that of Ávila is -1.9ºC over the same two weeks, and Soria falls to -1.7ºC between January 3 and 17.

The coldest month-long period in Spain, as opposed to calendar month, is between December 20 and January 20 – so, yes, those cosy log-fires with chestnuts roasting on them are just as necessary in Spain over the Christmas holidays as they are in northern Europe.

Over this month, Palencia is the coldest during the day, with highs averaging 6.3ºC between New Year's Eve and January 29; Burgos falls to 6.7ºC between December 27 and January 25, and León, to 6.8ºC from Christmas Eve to January 22.

Again, over this month-long period, the chilliest nights are in Teruel, where you can expect the mercury to drop to -2.4ºC between January 4 and February 2, followed by Ávila, averaging -1.7ºC between January 1 and 30, and Soria, where the typical low between those same dates is -1.4ºC.



Warmest parts of Spain during the coldest time of the year

Now you know where to avoid in winter if you feel the cold (although these habitually-cool areas tend to have homes with central heating as a standard fixture), where should you head for to warm up?


Alicante's iconic Santa Bárbara castle - a bucket-list day-trip with great views in the joint warmest city in Spain during the country's coldest days of the year, along with Almería
According to César Rodríguez Ballesteros' research, the highest daytime maximum temperatures in Spain – other than in the Canary Islands – during the second or third week in January, the joint coldest in the country, are found in Alicante (fourth picture) and Almería, both of which see an average high of 16.4ºC between January 11 and 17.

This apparently mild figure can go either way: If it's a clear day with the sun out, at 16.4ºC, you'll be feeling pretty warm, but if humidity is high, it's raining, overcast, or windy, the 'real feel' will be at least 5-10ºC lower, so take a coat anyway, even if you find yourself shedding it after brisk walking or carrying heavy shopping.

At night, or in the early hours, the warmest places in Spain (again, other than the Canary Islands) during the joint coldest week of the year are the north-African coastal city of Ceuta, just across the water from Gibraltar, where the mercury hits 9.9ºC between January 26 and February 1, the lowest of its lows in an average winter; Ceuta's 'neighbour' Melilla, which is closer to the Algerian border and where the average bottom temperature all winter is 9.5ºC, between January 11 and 17, or, sticking to the mainland, Cádiz (fifth picture), on the coast west of Gibraltar, where the average low in the coldest weeks is 9.4ºC, between January 12 and 18.



Warmest places in the coldest fortnight and month

Again, Almería and Alicante have the highest highs during the coldest fortnight of the year – 16.6ºC on average between January 3 and 17 – and during the coldest month, where a typical high is 16.8ºC between January 3 and February 1.


Not just beautiful, but also one of Spain's warmest cities during the coldest nights of the year (photo: Cádiz tourism board)
And, following the same pattern as before, during the coldest fortnight of the year, the highest minimum temperatures in the country are in Ceuta, at 10.6ºC from January 25 to February 8; Melilla, at 9.7ºC from January 4 to 18, and Cádiz, at 9.5ºC from January 14 to 28.

Over the month of December 20 to January 20, the highest early-hours temperatures are 10.9ºC in Ceuta between January 7 and February 5; Melilla's 9.9ºC from January 3 to February 1, and Cádiz's 9.6ºC between January 2 and 31.



What about the Canary Islands?

Being not far north of the tropics and firmly embedded in the sub-tropics – which start around the southern tip of mainland Spain – it's a completely new ball game in a Canarian winter.

For a start, the coldest week of the year is the last week in January; the coldest fortnight in the daytime is the second half of January, and the coldest fortnight overnight and in the early hours is between the second and third week in January in the province of Las Palmas (encompassing Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa), and the last week of January and first week of February in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (comprising the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro).


Late January and early February is when it gets coldest in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - but with average lows of 16ºC and highs of 21ºC, you won't have to bother scraping ice off your car windscreen before setting off for work in the morning (photo: Flickr)
The coldest month of the year in the daytime is the whole of January, but the coldest month overnight and in the early hours differs between the two provinces – in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, February is the chilliest month for nights, and in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Graciosa, the chilliest month overnight is the last three weeks of January and the first week in February.

The average night temperature in the provincial capital of Santa Cruz de Tenerife – the city of the same name – at the coldest time of the year is a balmy 15ºC, and the average daytime figure at the coldest time of year is 21ºC.

In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the provincial capital city of Las Palmas (sixth picture), the figures are much the same – an average deep-winter low of 16ºC and high of 21ºC.

Winters in the Canary Islands are long, but are mild and comfortable, rarely dropping below 13ºC even at night; summers are hot, humid on the coast and dry inland and in the mountains, but marginally milder than on the Mediterranean or south coast of the mainland, tending to max out at around 30ºC in the shade at the warmest part of the day.

A NEW Covid vaccine 100% 'made in Spain' could become a viable alternative to those currently on the market or about to be released, and is due to start the clinical trial stage very shortly after having been found to provide total immunity in mice.


Dr Mariano Esteban jointly leads the team developing three Covid-19 vaccines, one of which is expected to be signed off for clinical trials to start in the next two or three months (photo: CSIC)
Virologist Dr Mariano Esteban of the National Biotechnology Centre at Spain's National Research Council (CSIC) is heading up a team developing three different vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and says the one which is most advanced will be tested on humans this spring.

Along with Dr Juan García Arriaza, joint head researcher, Dr Esteban (pictured) says the CSIC-Biofabri jab will initially be trialled on 112 volunteers to see what effects the doses have on humans.

Phase 2 will expand to 500 volunteers to monitor its safety and immunity effect, then Phase 3, the final step, will involve between 20,000 and 30,000 healthy people, aimed at making sure the vaccine is, in fact, effective.

So far, the CSIC team believes the drug will offer longer-lasting immunity than those currently being administered – potentially for several years – and would be suitable for combining with other versions now in use, meaning it would be suitable as a booster.

“Right now we're just finishing off trials on animals, on hamsters and macaque monkeys, so we can send a file with the results of these to the Spanish Medications and Healthcare Products Agency [AEMPS] and the European Medicines Agency [EMA]; if we've managed to meet all the requisites, we'll get approval to move onto the clinical trials,” says Dr Esteban.

“In the meantime, the Spanish firm Biofabri is already manufacturing batches to use on human volunteers.”

Once all trials are complete and the vaccine is signed off for production, it is likely to be used nationally either as a booster or among those who have not yet been immunised, and also in other countries worldwide which may need it, including, and especially, in developing nations.

Dr Esteban says 'considerable funding' will be needed for its production, however; to achieve this, the CSIC is attempting to drum up corporate support as well as State finance.

“Let's bear in mind that some countries have poured millions into mass production of vaccines – and from the clinical trials stage onwards, costs increase astronomically,” he explains.

“Spain cannot always rely on everyone else. We can't always leave it up to other countries to solve things. We need a corporate fabric capable of producing the vaccine, so we've already begun seeking agreements through the CSIC itself, the ministry of science and innovation and Spanish companies.

“We then need to maintain this logistic so we can act quickly whenever we need to; that's where the CSIC plays a major part, because in addition to our fundamental knowledge, we help provide the transition from research to the production sector.”

Data gathered so far show that the CSIC-Biofabri jab protects the recipient from becoming ill with the virus, prevents its becoming fatal, and blocks the replication of the virus within the person's system.

It is also very 'stable', says Dr Esteban, and can be stored and administered 'anywhere'.

“Also, we're seeing that it provides a wide level of immunity, and, we believe, a longer lasting level of immunity,” he explains.

As for how it differs from the Pfizer-BioNTech, the Moderna and the 'Oxford vaccine', or AstraZeneca versions, Dr Esteban says the CSIC-Biofabri immunisation uses 'a much more complex RNA structure'.

Until AEMPS and the EMA authorise the start of clinical trials, an appeal for volunteers has not yet been made, although previous trials, for Janssen, took place in eight different hospitals in Spain and sought people of all ages without any of the type of health conditions that could cause a Covid contagion to become much more serious or potentially fatal.

In all cases, volunteers are very closely monitored once they receive their trial dose, having gone through a stringent selection process.

Finding volunteers for the trials needed on the over-65s was harder for this reason: Not because of fewer people in that age group coming forward – in fact, hospitals involved said their phones were 'ringing off the hook' – but because it was difficult to recruit enough volunteers over 65 who did not have pre-existing health conditions.