Gardens Open for the 10th time. Fall Edition is almost here

O Open Gardens festival is back for its 10th edition. Dedicated to Autumn, it takes place on the last two weekends of October. days 22 and 23 e 29th and 30th. Lisbon's city gardens will once again be open to the city, free of charge. For the 10th edition, the festival will open 10 new gardens, revisit 10 others with guided tours by experts; and, for the first time, besides the contemplation of Nature, the festival will allow the contemplation of Art.

The Open Gardens festival was born in 2017 "from the desire to publicly debate the issues of ecology and sustainability through the opening of gardens - a seemingly simple strategy for promoting contact with nature, debate the issues of environmental awareness, and more ecosystem-friendly models of living"read the press release. Throughout nine editions "practiced several visitation models to the gardens and activities were developed in several axes, crossing arts and culture with botany and sustainability, promoting knowledge within these themes".

The program of this 10th edition will open 10 new gardens. Two of them with accompanied visits on specific days:

• a Alto da Eira Community Gardenin Penha de França, which will have guided tours on October 22 and 29;
• the Raiz Farm, a start-up of urban agriculture with a proposal of vertical gardens and that can be visited on the 22nd and 29th at Arroz Estúdios.

Free to visit on any day of the festival will be:

• the cloister of the Santos-o-Novo Convent;
• the garden of Grilo's Palace;
• the garden of the Mitra Palace;
• the Barbadinhos' garden;
• the garden at Quinta de Santa Clara;
• the courtyard of the Hotel Valverde;
• the courtyard of the hotel;
• the Monsanto Biodiversity Space.

On the other hand 10 bouncing gardens that you will have, however, "unprecedented guided tours" with experts, are:

• the Estufa Fria (with Ivo Meco);
• the garden of São Bento Palace (with Teresa Andresen);
• Tapada das Necessidades (with João Albuquerque Carreiras);
• the Gulbenkian garden and the legacy of Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (with Aurora Carapinha);
• the Ajuda Botanical Garden (with Teresa Chambel);
• the vegetable gardens of the Instituto Superior Técnico (with Silvia di Salvatore);
• the Refood vegetable garden at Parque das Nações (with Maria Gonçalves and Indira Andrade);
• the garden of the Museum of Lisbon - Palácio Pimenta;
• the Monteiro-Mor Botanical Park (with Rui Costa);
• the Permalab, from the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon.

The list of gardens is "rethought in order to integrate proposals whose type of cultivation or associated philosophy promote a closer relationship with gardening and the contemporary garden".we read in the same communiqué. "Research gardens are thus presented where, through different methodologies, we find answers for the future."

One of the novelties of this edition is presentation of 10 "artistic objects" in the gardens throughout the festival. They were challenged "multidisciplinary artists interacting in landmark green spaces, to expand the dialogue of the arts with unique places, while stimulating the involvement and bringing communities closer to new forms of expression capable of increasing questioning regarding the state of the world". There will also be dancing, performances, short story reading, and other performances.

"This is the year we most effectively clarified our identity. We are a green movement. We want greener cities and seeded heads."says the organization of the Open Gardens festival. "The 10th edition will be marked by the cry for urgency on a global scale and the consolidation of the project's initial objectives, in the effective presentation of proposals that present practical solutions and promote a change in mentalities."