Members in Saudi Arabia or other Middle East Desert Climates
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Members in Saudi Arabia or other Middle East Desert Climates
- From: D* F*
- Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 10:02:09 -0800
Dear Sean O'Hara and the Medit-Plants group,
This is my first attempt to communicate with this group, (or any group
on-line), so please excuse any faults in proper e-mail etiquette. I am
currently working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the landscaping of a palace,
and was wondering if there was anyone in the group who might have direct
experience with gardening or designing landscapes in such a climate. I
find that it is difficult to find other professionals here locally whom I
can share information with, and most of my direct experience is with more
benign climates such as San Francisco and the subtropics and tropics, and
would really appreciate corresponding with someone who might know of, or
actually have experience with, a large variety of plants as grown in an
extra-mediterranean climate, (pushing the definition of mediterranean, I
know), such as Riyadh's.
I find it interesting that one can find trees such as Delonix regia and
Roystonea regia growing and doing well here, but that trees which I would
have thought perfectly hardy, such as Schinus molle and Ficus rubiginosa
"Florida" literally can't take the heat. (They start melting down about
August when the temperatures approach 50 degrees centigrade, and cool down
to 40 at night). The minimum temps here in the winter months can dip down
to 0 or even 3 below for a few hours at a time, and then get back up to 10
degrees by noon, although that doesn't seem to preclude growing trees such
as Plumeria obtusa.
My general question to the group has to do with finding people with whom I
might be able to trade info on what are the limits to the use of Medit
plants in such a severe desert climate. We are currently attempting to
grow such classic medit. plants as Acanthus mollis, Zantedeschia
aethiopica, Kniphofia uvaria, Cupressus sempervirens, Lagerstroemia x
fauriei hybrids, Myrtus communis, and a lot of them seem to really be
struggling through the worst of the heat. I'm also interested in hearing
from people who may be pushing the envelope in the direction of
subtropicals and tropicals in such a desert/mediterranean climate zone.
My own garden back home in Berkeley, California is very eclectic, as most
East Bay Area gardens tend to be, (It must be something in the water...),
and is heavy on succulents, Bromeliads, Heliconias, Melastomaceae family
members and cool growing subtropicals from high elevation tropics such as
the Andes, Himalayas and the Organ Mountains outside Rio de Janeiro. I'd
also be interested to know if anyone knows of sources for some of the
indigenous species of Arabia, such as Adenium arabicum. the yellow
flowering Delonix species from the Asir Mountains, etc. Hope to hear from
someone, thanks. david feix at davidfeix@yahoo.com
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The Mediterranean Climate gardening web project
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