Garden Design in Alaró

Alaró sits inland, at the foot of the Tramuntana, with the Puig d’Alaró and its ruined castle above the village. A garden built here works under different conditions than one on the coast — and can afford plants that would never survive a south-east summer.

What’s different here from the coast

No salt. That opens up the plant list considerably. Hydrangeas, roses, and many perennials that stand no chance in Port d’Andratx do well here — provided you’re honest about the water.

More soil, and better soil. The terraces around Alaró have been worked with almond and olive for centuries. Instead of rock close to the surface, you often find real, deep clay soil. That’s a gift — and it has a flip side: clay holds water, and plants used to drought will not tolerate wet feet in winter.

And it gets colder. Frost is possible on January nights in the inland hollows. Bougainvillea, tender palms, and much of what is taken for granted on the coast belongs against a sheltered wall here, or not in the border at all.

The slope and the terraces

The dry stone walls around Alaró belong to the place. Where they still stand, we restore them and build the garden into them rather than replace them. Where they’re missing, we set new ones in Mallorcan natural stone, matched to what’s already in view.

The view of the mountains

On the coast, you compose toward the sea. Here it’s toward the Tramuntana — and that changes all day. Flat and grey in the morning, hard at midday, and in the evening light that’s the reason people came in the first place.

A garden in Alaró should frame that view, not compete with it: calm planting in the foreground, one cypress for scale, and a place to sit that faces west.

What grows here that fails on the coast

The plant list is the design. Everything else follows from it.

We’re happy to work with Viburnum tinus, Laurus nobilis, Pistacia lentiscus, hydrangeas and roses in sheltered spots, along with sage, catmint and grasses for the open areas. Olive, almond, fig and cypress remain the structure — they’re the language of this landscape anyway.

The real mistake inland isn’t drought, it’s excess water. Clay soil holds moisture for weeks. A cistus or rosemary that grows without trouble in the south-east will rot here in February if it sits in a hollow. We set anything sensitive slightly raised, with coarser material in the planting hole so water can get away.

Winter matters more here

On the coast a garden is mainly a summer garden. In Alaró more people live year-round, and winter is long enough that it needs designing for.

That means evergreen structure that still gives something in January, almond blossom in February as an event, a seat that catches the afternoon sun rather than the north wind, and lighting that’s already needed by six.

What we take on

Design with a planting plan and a solution for the ground, dry stone walls and paths in natural stone, irrigation, planting, and execution by our own team. As well as reworking existing gardens whose systems were never adjusted to the planting.

Water, here too

The inland gets more rain than the south coast, but that’s a relative advantage, not a free pass. We still plan with drip irrigation, hydrozones and covered ground. Where the island stands on water overall is set out under water and gardens in Mallorca.

Just bought a property here? See a garden for your new home in Mallorca — what to expect on water, permits and timing.

Let us look at your plot

Alaró, Orient, Consell, Binissalem. We’ll come and see the soil, the aspect and the view, and tell you what’s possible. J&P Design, landscape architects in Mallorca since 2008.