Re: Curious why this site seems so quiet?

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Oh well. As for the choice of plants, I am with you (and David). We grow an (impressive) range of plants going from true tropicals (that we DO water, of course) all the way to pre-desert or real desert. We don't really "grow"on purpose some iconic mediterranean plants because, being in an island right in the Mediterranean sea, they grow on their own and make our natural flora- and create a wonderful background; but I like to add from other shores of the same sea, besides form all over the rest of the world.
 Actually exploring new, unusual or long forgotten plants, stretching the limits, envisioning different methods and approaches to cultivate them, observing, widening ones experience and learning is a very important part of my gardening life, and I woudl not accept to put limits to such a wonderful world of possibilities.
All this happens in Ischia, La Mortella gardens (www.lamortella.org) - for those who joined recently or, very legitimately, don't know about me. :)

Alessandra

On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 1:36 AM, B. Garcia <p*@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 5:53 PM, david feix <d*@yahoo.com> wrote:

I haven't checked in with this site in some time, but I see that it seems to have little to no traffic these days.  Kind of sad...  Are people who used to post here now more active on the MGS web site?  It would be nice to see more exchanges on this forum, I miss the exchange of information. 

Nothing much to report from here in Berkeley, where the usual suspects are doing their thing, and the various Aloes, Magnolia soulangeana cultivars, first South African bulbs, etc are all looking prime.  I'm also somewhat surprised to see further continuing cold damage on many succulents here in Alameda and Berkeley, even though it hasn't dipped below freezing again since mid January.  Aeonium canariense, Agave attenuata 'Ray of Light' and Senecio mandraliscae have continued to show further damage as if they are still getting frozen, rather strange...

I've also got a South African Cussonia spicata finally blooming for the first time since being planted out over 20 years ago now, not really beautiful in inflorescence, but definitely interesting:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20217462@N02/8439612746/

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I'd noticed the decline as well and most of the recent traffic kind of became "Help me figure out this plant". NOT that that's a bad thing but that just seemed the direction the list was going.

I and my parents moved from our old house into my grandmother's old house due to ah.... financial difficulties maintaining two. Long story short, this house had just about no planting at all. It had the classic 1950's era juniper, juniper,juniper, river stone scheme. I took all of it out (which was quite a job... the neighbors were all very impressed) and have been slowly adding tot he garden since june. I actually took a few of the plants from the old house with me because they were either hard to get, or I just thought they were so nice I wanted them over here. I can only imagine what the people who moved into our old house have done to the gardening I did. So I've been building up from what is essentially a blank slate (and trying to work with the numerous river stones in the front garden which I felt were easier to work with than paying to have them carted out of here). 

Down here by Monterey, we got nipped by the cold. It hits about 28F/-2C. I didn't lose anything, but I did lose foliage on most of my sensitive plants. However, most of them seem to be growing back fine.  The Sonchus canariensis lost all of its leaves, and its growth tips but I'm seeing little sprouts all over the stems. Marcetella moquiniana also had tip damage but it's currently showing some really nice regrowth. Geranium maderense lost its leaves but I see new sprouts on it as well. Hopefully as the weather warms, I'll either see some of the hidden damage or some really nice regrowth. Interestingly, the one plant I thought might see some trouble which doesn't seem to have been affected at all by the cold snap was Schefflera taiwaniana, which I had read conflicting information about how much cold it can handle. Its leaves didn't even see any burn from the cold. 

My most favorite plants that I've bought for this garden were some Parajubaea torallyi which I'm hoping take off and do well. Not so worried about surviving the weather here, but more the transplanting (I was quite careful with them). Palms can be pretty sensitive to that sort of thing. Should they make it and thrive, they should be a nice change of pace from the usual Phoenix canariensis, Washingtonia robusta, Trachycarpus fortunei, and Syagrus romanzoffiana which are incredibly common here. 

But, like you, my interests are a bit further out from strictly Mediterranean climate plants. I tend to grow things which should be suited here, but tend to like a little more water than our climate would naturally provide. So, I find myself reading about a lot of the plants our European members grow but not having much input on them (and, probably the only true Mediterranean plants I have are Cistus and rosemary, and that's it). I'm far more into plants from South Africa and Australia though.