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:

Jul 13, 2020Welcome to the Hoh
Oct 11, 2023National Fossil Day
Nov 8, 2025Bandon Beach in Bandon, Oregon
Nov 5, 2024US Election Day
Oct 21, 2022Bald cypress trees in Georgia
Mar 16, 2020I ll call for pen and ink
Nov 24, 2021Chocolate Hills
Jul 25, 2023Laguna de Torrevieja, Spain
Aug 14, 2026Wildlife crossing near Zakrzów, Poland
May 18, 2024International Museum Day
Apr 8, 2018It’s Draw a Bird Day
Oct 8, 2018Float on
Jan 14, 2026National Take the Stairs Day
Sep 25, 2024Sequoia National Parks 134th anniversary
Oct 30, 2020Who s there? The largest owl in the world
May 26, 2019Racing toward history
Aug 6, 2019Storks ready for takeoff
Nov 14, 2021First Cliff Walk
Jun 9, 2026Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy
Jun 18, 2019From garden to table?
Oct 16, 2024National Fossil Day
Jun 17, 2020Don t go chasing waterfalls
Jan 23, 2020Across the great plains of Africa
Nov 12, 2022Alaska Bald Eagle Festival
Oct 7, 2025Fall colors below Mount Sneffels near Ridgway, Colorado
Aug 10, 2018Assembling the Smithsonian
Mar 13, 2020Jerte Valley in bloom
Apr 19, 2019Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park shines
Dec 2, 2025Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act anniversary
Oct 2, 2023World Architecture Day