Malta Green Festival 2023
The annual Malta Green Festival took place in early May at St George Square, the main square in Valletta. A lovely experience to be a part of since roughly 18000 plants decorated the capital’s main square in a huge variety of colors and shapes for the visitors to explore.
The visitors found themselves in a harmonious green and leafy breathing space, as a contrast to the usual sandstone-colored capital without much greenery. There are several small islands of plant arrangements in the middle of the square with a few footpaths for the visitors to comfortably stroll and experience the festival from every angle. Plenty of park benches around the square gave the visitors a chance to rest their legs and admire the plants at the same time.
Plants and greenery creates peace
The presence of flowers and plants generates a lot of peace and tranquillity, allowing us to destress effectively. Instead of reliving our day-to-day stress, we stroll around and allow our thoughts to succumb to the world of beautiful plants and colorful flowers, at least for a short moment.
The visitors appeared to appreciate the botanical and colorful main square, and seemed to hang around for quite a while before moving on. There seemed to always be a steady stream of wide-eyed visitors who witnessed their beloved main square in a new way. The Valletta Green Festival had its last day the 7th of May, although, the plant arrangements still remain one week later. Perhaps the people of Valletta discovered a newfound admiration for a green main square and want it to remain this way indefinitely?
Plenty of plants but little botanical diversity
There was a large variety of flowers, bushes and trees. Al of the flowers was rather common and are often featured at public places across Malta. The experience would have been even greater if they had a section of rare plants and succulents, to take the festival to the next level. Since most of the 18000 plants that are present are repetitive, with the same flower arrangements. Which, of course, does not make it any less beautiful.
Some of the plant species
Some of the present species were Pittosporum Nana, Callistemon (Bottle brush tree), Hydrangea, Olea Europea, Nerium, Eugenia Etna Fire, Bougainvillea, Laurus Nobilis, Petunias, Metrosideros, Polygala, Cupressus Semprevirens and lots more.
The purpose of the Valletta Green Festival 2023
The Valletta Green Festival is an initiative to raise awareness of the environment, such as environmentally friendly habits such as recycling and increased awareness of waste disposal. Along a pedestrian street nearby, vendors had set up small shops and were selling a large variety of sustainable and eco-friendly merchandise.
