The newly designed garden in Freedom Square outside Parliament, which welcomed visitors back to Valletta as from the beginning of the month, is here to stay.
This is a major step in the city’s urban greening whereby the Valletta Green Festival’s legacy will continue to be enjoyed all year round.
A total of 25% of the plants and trees that introduced the largest edition of the Valletta Green Festival have been donated to Valletta. The garden outside Parliament now has a more linear form to allow space for the usual activity including large scale events such as Carnival.
Held over five days, the festival took place across the city, starting at City Gate and continuing towards St George’s Square, where the main activities took place. This year’s infiorata was designed by local artist Zach Ritchie on the theme of ‘Zero Pollution’ and featured a colourful turtle inspired by this year’s European Green Week theme, ‘Zero Pollution’.
The 80,000 flowering plants that made up the Valletta Green Festival infiorata, were collected by several local councils who in turn have been getting creative.
The Żabbar Local Council has designed ‘Il-Venda tal-Fjuri’ with over 25,000 plants, by which it is sending its best wishes to Malta’s Eurovision ambassador Destiny and encouraging votes for Malta.
Another major urban greening project that the Valletta Cutural Agency has embarked on is the Roof Garden at the Valletta Design Cluster, which will continue to serve as a new lung to Valletta’s Biċċerija area. This new sanctuary of peace includes Olive, Judas, Pomegranate, Oak, Frangipani and Virbinium trees along with several herbs, shrubs and flowering plants. The garden also features a pond and a pavillion and is open daily between 8am and 6pm.
