Calle del Cosmos

Whoever reads the sign will think of the universe, but the name was born in a garden. The cosmos is a flower: Cosmos bipinnatus, also called Mexican aster, an annual plant of the daisy family, native to the meadows of Mexico. It came to Europe as ornament for its generous flowers, which open white, pink and deep red from summer into late autumn. The explanation lies in the fabric of the neighborhood. Valdeacederas holds one of the largest bouquets of botanical names in Madrid, a street herbarium where the calle de las Azucenas, the calle de la Genciana and the calle del Cantueso live side by side. The chance of the name also gave it a lookout: the street ends at a rise from which, on clear afternoons, the sierra cuts out against the horizon and neighbors lean out to watch the sun go down.