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:

Aug 17, 2022Freshwater plants in Aquário Natural, Brazil
Jul 10, 2024Collared aracari in Costa Rica
Oct 29, 2020Let s get lost
Jun 9, 2021Ring of fire
Aug 30, 2022Regional Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli, Italy
Apr 17, 2020It s a ruff life
Oct 23, 2023Corn maze in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania
Dec 31, 2024New Years Eve in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 10, 2019Groovy!
Sep 27, 2023Via Krupp, Capri, Italy
Nov 7, 2018A triumph of light
Nov 2, 2020Waiting for winter
Jan 24, 2019Lights, camera, Sundance
Aug 22, 2021A wild, craggy corner of the United States
Nov 15, 2019Mesmerizing murmuration
Dec 2, 2025Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act anniversary
Nov 16, 2023World Philosophy Day
Mar 28, 2022Kawachi Fuji Garden
Sep 4, 2019Social climbing
Nov 11, 2019On a Healing Field for Veterans Day
Oct 16, 2022Prince Christian Sound in southern Greenland
Jul 11, 2021Why, aloe there
Feb 4, 2019Sitting down and taking a stand
Jun 22, 2023World Rainforest Day
Aug 26, 2025Trullo buildings in Alberobello, Apulia, Italy
Dec 20, 2021Ministry of Fun Santa School
Apr 10, 2022Siblings Day
May 24, 2024European Day of Parks
Dec 29, 2019Helloooooo, Innsbruck
Sep 11, 202120 years later