More than a million visitors have visited the last twelve editions, approximately half a thousand designers have already applied to our festival, garden enthusiasts, architects, as well as landscapers who love nature, the environment, gardens and green spaces; "this festival has grown due to its originality, its creativity and innovation, within what is a developmental strategy based on the preservation of cultural and environmental values ", revealed the Mayor of the Municipal Town of Ponte de Lima, Victor Mendes, at the official opening of the 13th edition of the Festival, this year under the theme "The Garden of Discoveries".

On this year's theme, "Jardins das Descobertas" (The Gardens of Discoveries)- the Director of the Festival, Francisco Calheiros said that "it is appealing as Portugal is directly linked by virtue of its historical discoveries, but also due to the discoveries from a scientific point of view, And this was shown in several of the gardens that are present. The essence of this festival is on the one hand to enrich the attractiveness of Ponte de Lima, but on the other, it is not only a festival of Ponte de Lima, it is also regional and emblematic of the whole country due to its uniqueness at a national level."

The Secretary of State for Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation, Célia Ramos was the guest of honor; this year the Festival hosts gardens on three continents, from Argentina, Brazil, Austria and Italy to the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Portugal.

The Secretary of State for Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation stressed the persistence of the project "The International Gardens’ Festival of Ponte de Lima is one of the most persistent and unique projects implemented at a national level. It is not only unique but has continuity, as it has affirmed itself from year to year as a national and international reference of the art of landscaping, a taste for the worship of gardens and gardening itself, in a deep connection with the preservation of heritage and the protection of the environment. "

The Mayor of Ponte de Lima also confirmed the internationalization of the Festival "The IFJ is an international reference", recalling the Garden Tourism Awards, integrated in the international event "2013 North American Garden Tourism Conference" in Toronto, Canada and recently with the distinction "Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe" - EFFE Label 2017-2018, by the European Festivals Association, said that these distinctions are "a source of pride and a source of satisfaction, but also an increased responsibility for us. In 2013 we were awarded the best festival in the world by a jury based in Canada, and precisely due to the impact it has had for us in tourism, in the municipality of Ponte de Lima and in our region; fortunately, in 2017 we have already just been awarded with another internationally recognized award from the European festival association, which has conferred us a brand, a seal of guarantee, the EFFE brand - "Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe" – which means that the festival is at its highest level, not only in regard to gardens, as incidentally, this is the only garden festival in the world that is part of that platform. "

Confident in the success of another project, the Mayor of Ponte de Lima said that "This will surely be a successful edition of which you will not want to miss the county’s School Gardens’ Festival." The educational community played an important role in this community involvement, continuing and being coherent with the Ponte de Lima policy of protecting the environment, which has had a direct consequence on the appraisal of heritage values, which are part of our strategy. This differentiating project is a lever of the municipality, hence we have been awarded the EFFE seal of guarantee, which in the end allows us to be on a European festival platform. It is a great honor and a great responsibility. The recognition of the work of this great team that has helped to build this project, like gardeners, carpenters, locksmiths among others who built this great international project.

Ending on the 31 of October, we welcome you to come and see the proposals of the 13th International Festival of Gardens of Ponte de Lima:

• The Globalization of Plants - Common House - Instituto S.João de Deus - Casa de Saúde S. José and Aroma do Vale - Portugal

• The Journey of the Discoveries - Carina Esteves and Maria José Cachaço - Portugal

• A Garden to Discover - Pablo Torralba and Maria Rosa Pina Burón - Spain

• Novaterra - Jose Souto - Spain

• El Secreto - Melisa Duque Fernández and Agustina Bazán - Spain / Argentina

• Inventionem Arcus - The Discovery of the Rainbow - Lea Rutz and Xenia Hofmann Germany

• The Discovery of the Senses - DRIADES Landscaping - Daniele Costa and Regiane Freitas - Brazil

• Garden of the Seven Continents - Mara David Lalic, Michal Gajkowski, Petra Muller, Roland Wuck - Boku University - Austria

• Discover the Discovery - LoStudioQ - Ilaria Tabarani, Lollo Decembrini and Carlo Giannone - Italy

• Intersezione Ponte de Lima - Aris de Bakker and Karola Pezarro - Netherlands

• El Jardin del Circulo - Masayuki Tanaka - Japan

During the months of June and July, the Festival can be visited from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., in September, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and in October, it closes at 6 p.m. On Monday mornings the Gardens’ Festival is closed in order to carry out maintenance work.