Re: Back here, at 40°C
- Subject: Re: Back here, at 40°C
- From: D*
- Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 08:04:18 +0300
Hi Alessandra and everyone--
--I too have been having list problems but I think I can now both receive
and send.
--After two 35 degree days in Corfu, I suspect your 40 is coming our
way...not for long, I hope.
--Alessandra, your Olive garden sounds delightful, and the colour scheme
reminds me of the effect I've been trying to achieve in a bed dominated by
our old lemonītree, with the yellow of the lemons reflected on the ground in
the silver-leaved gazanias and dwarf Achillea (which incidentally is
spreading like wildfire and will need to be contained). From late April to
June the red-purple geranium sanguineum rambles through this and the
artemisias, to be replaced later by the blue-purple silver-leaved salvias
and the agapanthus. Now I've been inspired to add chartreuse to the mix.
--I've never managed to keep potentillas alive for more than a couple of
seasons. Is there a particular one that is more suited to our climate? I
looked up Plectranthus tomentosum on Google and didn't have any luck. I
think I'll also try the Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain.'
--Thank you for the inspitration
Cali Doxiadis
Corfu, Greece
From: Vinciguerra, Alessandra <A.Vinciguerra@aarome.org>
To: Medit (E-mail) <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 2:53 PM
Subject: Back here, at 40°C
> Hi to everybody,
> my name was somehow "forgotten" by the server and I was without any
message
> from the list for quite a while. I missed it, but it took me some time to
> realize that you could not possibly be all out there gardening. So I asked
> for good Sean's help, and here I am, back again. In the meanwhile I've
been
> doing lots of gardening, following the various threads that cross my
life...
> for instance, yesterday I ordered about 60 scented orchids, for a garden I
> am consultant of, and now I am about to order ca.100 rose bushes for La
> Landriana garden. In the latter we are currently revising the Olive
> garden, a hedged in, formally designed area sorrounded by olive trees.
The
> olive garden is based on a very strict color scheme: glaucous, grey and
> chartreuse foliaged (artemiasias, salvias, noticeably officinalis,
> o.icterina and interrupta), purple and lemon-yellow flowered
(alchemillas,
> potentillas) plants. I must commend Plectranthus tomentosum (Vicks plant)
> for its performance here: not only it has bravely covered all the ground
it
> was assigned, it keeps blooming constantly, and survives with not that
much
> water, creating a lovely background for taller plants. I wouls also like
to
> recommend the mix of Helycrisium petiolaris "Limelight" and Verbena
> bonariensis, and mention Ipomoea batatas "Margarita" and Salvia
verticillata
> "Purple rain" as wonderful combinations in this range of colors. Very
> refreshing in the heath.
> Actually, the main issue this time of the year is the incredible
heatwave.
> Rome is taken by a grip of hot days, people faint during the Pope's
> audiences, to our unconfessed joy, >:), tourists get fined because they
> dive in the monumental fountains, and we MUST irrigate, at least enough to
> keep things going. Only at night we can hope to get some breeze.
> What is happening in the rest of the world, outside of the Mediterranean?
> Cheers,
> Alessandra
>
> Alessandra Vinciguerra
> Superintendent of the Gardens
> American Academy in Rome
> Via Masina,5
> 00183 Roma Italy
> Tel. 39-6-5846444
>
