Ponte de Lima Garden Festival evolves with 11 ‘Sleep’ proposals until 31 October

The garden “Dreamlike Space [garden-pavilion]”, created by a Colombian architect for the 2026 edition of the Ponte de Lima International Garden Festival, has included an extra feature from its opening days-one neither its designer nor the team of gardeners who built it had planned for. A bird has made its nest in one of the garden’s shrubs.

While the unexpected visitor came as a surprise, it also foreshadows the changes these installations undergo during the five months in which they are open to visitors. Renewed each year, the gardens continue to develop throughout the festival.

Ponte de Lima Garden Festival gardens change over time

The plants used in the displays grow and reshape the spaces. Some are unusual, such as the air plants, or tillandsias, suspended in another of this year’s gardens, “Dreamlike Tillandsias”, created by four Portuguese and Brazilian authors. The gardens also gradually become home to birds, frogs, butterflies, dragonflies and other species.

“An interesting aspect of the gardens is that visitors can come now, at the opening, then return in a month or two to see how they have developed. I think that is also what makes the festival so appealing: we can follow its evolution over an extended period,” says Sandra Pereira, Head of the Environment and Green Spaces Division at Ponte de Lima Council.

She stresses that, when the event closes on 31 October, the temporary gardens that have been on display since the 29th “will be different”.

Eleven ‘Sleep’ proposals and next year’s theme

The 21st edition, themed around “Sleep”, features 11 proposals selected through an international competition. Alongside these main gardens, there are 11 projects created by pupils from Ponte de Lima’s school groups, as well as the two most-voted entries from the 2025 edition.

Around 25 gardeners built the installations. In 2027, they will once again get to work on new proposals based on the theme “Smart Gardens”.

“Every year, we have to reinvent ourselves. This project has the advantage of keeping us constantly active. For the gardeners themselves, having to study, interpret and build the designs is, I think, something they enjoy and that inspires them every year,” says Sandra Pereira.

She recalls that from November until the end of May, the festival site is closed to the public and becomes “a building site” as preparations get under way for the following edition.

A changing challenge for the festival gardeners

“I really love this job. They are temporary gardens, and that makes them even more enjoyable and challenging. Every year is different, and there is huge anticipation about managing to meet the deadline we have to get them ready. It is wonderful,” says Fátima Pereira, who has worked as a gardener at the festival grounds beside the River Lima for seven years.

“It is part of our lives, our everyday routine. We forget we even have a home because we devote ourselves completely to the project,” she says. Here, she adds, “we are much more than gardeners: we are carpenters, bricklayers-we do a bit of everything”.

She admits that “it is hard to dismantle some of them at the end because they are so beautiful, but we already know that the next one will be an even more beautiful creation”.