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A popular song says that tender little buds of myrtle take their time to bloom. And indeed, this plant usually doesn’t flower until well into the summer. When the air of Sant Joan arrives, we can see it adorned with white flowers, shiny leaves, and an exquisite scent. If someone tells you to come see the myrtle blossom in March, they are deceiving you.

Now let’s turn it around. If in March a summer-themed advertisement is shot in Menorca, what we are really being shown is a fable, a fiction, a mirage. The beaches will have few people, of course, because there are few people on the beach in March. But this will not be the landscape that visitors will find in the summer.

The myrtle is not just any plant. Humans have paid attention to it throughout history. Greeks and Romans dedicated it to their goddess of beauty and love. It has been part of legends, gastronomy, medicine, industry and spells. Perhaps it blooms late, but it has had other qualities that have been undeniably valued.

Menorca also joined the tourism phenomenon later. And its incorporation has been slower. Some people complain weekly about how difficult it is to implement certain activities and projects on this island. They wave the flag of economic prosperity and competitiveness and call for the elimination of limits. But the island’s value lies precisely in the opposite.

Back to the summer advertisement. The point is not so much that advertising lies. A large part of marketing does that. What stands out are the lures being used, the images shown in the commercial, the atmosphere chosen to accompany the product being sold.

Why is a summer ad filmed in March? Because empty beaches are more valuable than crowded ones. Why do the characters swim at a pristine beach? Because a natural beach holds more social value than an urbanised one. Why do they travel along roads and paths with no other vehicles in sight? Because mass tourism does not help promotion.

Look at the ads shown at tourism fairs. No hotels, no roads, no power lines… In the end, the economic world uses the very values that have been preserved. The things that—thanks to the great efforts of organised citizens—have been protected, precisely because limits were set. That which we have limited is what brings us the greatest value.

Years ago, when part of the population still lived in rural areas, meeting with a loved one wasn’t always easy. That is why people would try to increase the value of the encounter by bringing flowers. With few resources, one had to take advantage of the seasonal blooming offered by nature:
In the place where I lived there were no bouquets, only tamarisk flowers, so that’s what I sent you.

The protagonist at the beginning of this text had his eyes on a magnificent myrtle plant, shiny and fragrant. Each week he hoped to see it full of flowers and to pick a sprig to take to his romantic meeting. He always had to wait a few more days. But precisely because of that, it was the most observed, recognised and cherished plant in the whole area.

 

(This text is an adaptation of the original article published by Miquel Camps, as coordinator of territorial policy for the GOB, in the Menorca newspaper on 23/06/2025).