These laurels are hardy Oct 19, 2021

These laurels are hardy

Go back 15 million years and you"d find most of Southern Europe looking like this fantasy forest: thick, scrubby underbrush canopied by wizened laurel trees. An epoch or two of human agricultural advances cleared those ancient woods, but patches persist on a few temperate Atlantic islands—especially here on Madeira, a Portuguese-held island off northwest Africa.

© Val Thoermer/Alamy

palette

Today in History

Oct 19, 2018Portland celebrates its bounty
Oct 19, 2020A cliff-hanging complex of temples
Oct 19, 2022Wartburg Castle overlooking Thuringian Forest in Germany
Oct 19, 2023Mekong River Delta, Long An, Vietnam
Oct 19, 2024International Archaeology Day
Oct 19, 2025Apples ready for harvest in Minnesota

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 7, 2022National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Dec 9, 2020It s Computer Science Education Week
Jul 3, 2023The dog days of summer
Apr 24, 2022Dark Sky Week
Jan 5, 2020Digging the birds
Jan 2, 2019Tesla, the visionary
Oct 10, 2023Mount Sopris, Colorado
Nov 4, 2020Caribou on the move
Jun 14, 2021A Flag Day tradition
Sep 9, 2020Where the bearded reedling sings
Aug 22, 2022Burrowing owls
Dec 11, 2025International Mountain Day
Jul 27, 2020A stunning sight in Mexico s wilderness
Jun 19, 2021Surf s up—Down Under
Jan 12, 2026Eurasian otter and pup, Estonia
Dec 30, 2018Adorably evolutionary sea sheep
Oct 25, 2019The lemurs of Madagascar
Sep 12, 2019Astrotourism at its finest
Jul 11, 2023World Population Day
Nov 9, 2020Autumn in Piedmont
Feb 16, 2026Presidents Day
Jan 15, 2018Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC
Jan 29, 2026Milwaukee City Hall, Wisconsin
Mar 17, 2023St. Patricks Day in County Waterford, Ireland
Mar 30, 2021Best fronds forever
Aug 24, 2018A new park with a new mission
Feb 16, 2025Happy World Whale Day!
Jul 27, 2019Longer days mean warmer sand
Feb 25, 2021Trevi in bloom
May 7, 2021Deep in the North Woods wetlands