It was through social networks and not through the media that a project was born that began seven years ago and that now, the mayor, Juan Ramon Valdiviahe wanted to make it public. It is the creation of a botanical garden dedicated to the olive tree. This project was presented in 2017 by the Protected Designation of Origin of Priego de Córdoba. The aim is to create a botanical garden with 60 or 70 varieties of olive trees, including the native and most widespread crops in the region.
Since last Sunday afternoon, September 15, Valdivia has been spreading it on its social networks, the number of criticisms far exceeds the acceptance of the project itself. The disagreements are generated by the chosen location: one of the largest green spaces that the city of Priego has, more precisely, the Fairground and Multipurpose Park ‘Niceto Alcalá-Zamora’, which is an area of several thousand square meters with a wide variety of trees and natural grass. To carry out the project, almost half of the area of the grass gardens would be affected, a total of approximately 2,700 square meters.
An educational purpose
According to the mayor in his profile Facebook“The main objective is educational and not touristic, seeking to train its visitors in the olive grove sector and its surroundings and showing the characteristics of each variety and the importance of the olive tree environment, wrapping the future botanical garden in a mantle of aromatic plants such as alder, mint, oregano, rosemary, wild sage, santolina, white thyme, thyme, etc. which are responsible for many of the essences of our EVOO“.
Regarding the current vegetation, the The city hall It has a report in which the transfer of five trees is evaluated: a soap tree, an ash tree, a false pepper, a ‘sophora’ and a love tree, all considered to be poorly located due to the dimensions they will reach in the future.
Currently still small in size, there are guarantees of being transplanted to another green space where they will be better located and will be able to develop properly. On the other hand, it is advisable to eliminate seven trees and shrubs: an oleander, an acacia, a catalpa, a willow, a thuja, a white poplar and some rose bushes. The justification is its “poor phytosanitary status”, which compromises its future.
Faced with so much controversy, Juan Ramón Valdivia said that “we are totally open to possible changes that are necessary for the prieguenses understand it, support it and defend it. Otherwise, we will not continue with the project.
