R: I: Wondering about the members...

The climate in the garden is rather mild and with a tipically mediterranean pattern. The island is small and its climate is totally influenced by the sea. Normally it rains quite a lot in November, then a little in December and Jan, again in Feb and  half March and then the rain rate goes down. We have perhaps some rainy days in May every other year but as a rule there is no rain at all from mid May to the end of October, with  the occasional shower in September. Let's say 5  months of drought; however if the winter has been rainy (such as this one which is quite ecceptional with VERY high rainfall) native plants can take rthe summer droughts quite well. We have the lowest temperatures in January , average lowest is 7°C, even though there have been colder nights, but  the garden has never been below 0°C - and anyhow when it gets so cold at night, the weather is also clear and  the following sunny days warm up the air at once. From May onwards the highs are steadily above 25°!
 C and  stay there until the beginning of  October, with the highest in the area of 40°C.
The garden is milder then the rest of the island; its position was carefully selected when the Waltons bought the property, in that they looked for a south facing piece of land, whith a hill on the back that would shelter it from the northern cold spells that  sometimes reach the island from the main land.
Still, we have very strong winds; fortunately the garden as I said is sheltered from  the northern one, but we have Libeccio (a southern wind taking its name after Libia, it is very dry and often carries red desert sand) and  Scirocco (southern-west, named after Syria, very hot); normally winds come in rows of three day, according to the folks here "wind on the first day is born, on the second day grows and on the third day dies". 
The island is a spent volcano with many "secondary" volcanic (geothermal) activities being rich in hot springs (not in the area where the garden is, unfortunately: it would have been a cheap source of natural heating for the glasshouses!).  This means that the ground, the rocks, the whole geological structure is warm, and that there is much sea evaporation - which turns up in constant humidity. Therefore the island is lush with vegetation; actually it has always been known as "the green island". Unfortunately we do not have any water source in the garden and have to BUY it from the aqueduct, that imports it from the main land though underwater giant pipes. This is a huge expenditure.
We filter all of the water we buy through an osmosis plant, because it comes  with a whole range of salts and metals. We try to use it selectively and as I was saying in my other message I am slowly converting most of the upper garden to a very sober water diet. Tree ferns and most of the tropical plants need a lot of water; moreover being practically on a rock bed we have a very high natural drainge rate. 
The soil is volcanic: porous, fast draining, acidic in the valley, neutral on the hill and -hear hear- clayish/heavy in some areas on the back side  of the hill. 
It means enormous Camellias, ferns and hydrangeas in the valley, Agaves and Aloes and Salvias and Proteas on the hill, roses and peonies and irises on the other side of the hill.
:)
The whole range: a gardeners's dream! 

We mulch, mulch, mulch. Nothing goes wasted, every by product of the garden or the house (or the tea-house bar, with its tons of coffees and teas and orange squeezes) is composted or shredded and brough back to the soil. Most of the soil we garden on is, so to say, home made; I had its vitality tested a couple of years ago and the result was that it is vey rich with different strains of mycorrhizas. In the winter, we fertilize with horse manure; but in open season we have to use chemical fertilizers for odour reasons - our visitors would not approve of the manure!
Actually the garden is famous for its scents (all the citruses, the enormous brugmansias, the self-seeding cestrums and mirabilis, to mention but a few) and we would not want to distroy its reputation ;)! 

Native vegetation goes from low maquis to Quercus ilex forest and includes of course Myrtus communis (La Mortella means the place of Myrtles), Rhamnus alaternus, Arbutus unedo, Euphorbia dendroides and carachias, Cistus salviaefolius and monstspeliensis, Lonicera caprifolium, Erica arborea, various brooms, Carob, Smilax, etc etc. Many introduced plants have naturalized, for instance the Echium candicans, that self-seeds every where on the hillside and is quite wonderful. This we leave, but the list of "inhouse" escapes is amazing, from Acer to Zanthedeschia; we "weed out" gingers, palms, camellias, hydrangeas, dracaena draco, cobeas, ipomeas, mandevilla, millions of Passiflora, billions of lantanas... 
Fortunately we do not threaten  the local flora, these thugs never go beyond the garden boundary, as they do not find suitable conditions out there. Anyhow this would bring us too far- the island as I said is small, intensely inhabited and has been lived in since Minoan times; so the influence of man on the landscape is all pervading. 

Something that will make this Med-group proud is that we still grow a Rhamnus alaternus hedge chosen on Sean's advice during his only visit years ago. 

I really hope you will be able to come back Sean! And of course all the others are welcome to visit. 

Best,
Alessandra



Alessandra Vinciguerra
Bass Superintendent of Gardens
American Academy in Rome
Via A. Masina, 5
00153 Roma
alessandra.vinciguerra@aarome.org
+39 065846444



-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: N Sterman [T*@PlantSoup.Com]
Inviato: ven 16/01/2009 17.17
A: Vinciguerra, Alessandra
Cc: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Oggetto: Re: I: Wondering about the members...
 
Wow, Alessandra, what a fabulous story!

I remember when I visited you at the American Academy in 1999 (I can't  
believe it was 10 years ago!), you were in the early phases of  
restoration.  Now, it sounds like you are the superstar of Italian  
horticulture.  Congratulations.

Your work at La Mortella sounds like the proverbial dream job.  I  
especially love the fact that you mix music and culture with gardens -  
they are together the most important ingredients for a happy life!

Just out of curiosity - tell us about the climate at the garden -  
temperature highs and lows, when those highs and lows occur, and what  
the average rainfall is.  And what is the water source for the island?

I dream of visiting you and your gardens again...

Best

Nan


On Jan 15, 2009, at 10:55 AM, Vinciguerra, Alessandra wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Well, Nan, yes I am still gardening, and so busy that I hardly have  
> the time to do anything else- ofr instance ahving a personal life!
> I still work for the American academy in Rome as Superintendent of  
> the Garden but basically after having finished the restauration and  
> rejuvenation of the gardens there I became a sort of outer  
> consultant and cut on the time passed there. I now go there once a  
> week to review activities, assign garden tasks, plan etc, except  
> when we undertake serious, important garden projects - in these  
> cases I stay longer. I have a very good team of gardeners and  
> arborists that keep the gardens going.
> Meanwhile I became Garden Director at La Mortella  
> (www.lamortella.org) the gardens created by Russell Page and Lady  
> Walton in Ischia,an island off the bay of Naples. Lady Walton, who  
> is now elderly, passed into my hands the total management of the  
> complex - gardens and cultural activities alike;  actually she  
> founded a charity, the William Walton Foundation, to run the gadrens  
> and I work for this charity.
> I basically live in this island most of the time now, and yes, I do  
> mediterranean gardening quite a lot, not only because the island is  
> in the middle of the eponymous sea, but also because I started a  
> major project to transfrom  several parts of the garden into   
> "waterwise" areas.
> La Mortella  is  divided into two parts, the moist, shady, tropical  
> looking, sheltered valley with stunning collections of tree ferns,  
> palm trees, tropical cycads etc, and the sunny, dry-ish, windy,  
> exposed hillside - that I am developing into a serious Med-garden.
> I have  a lot of fun experimenting with plants, and in a way I see  
> this garden as a trial ground to test plants for gardens in the  
> South. I am building a sort of living archive; just to mention a  
> few, I currently grow  about 40 different vars of  Japanese maples  
> (Acer palmatum and japonicum) growing in a shady corner of the  
> oriental garden, I decided to test them because I had read somewhere  
> (possibly on Pacific Hort?) they are the only maples that can stand  
> southern climates and I can now confirm they can actually make it in  
> our extreme conditions - in almost full shade. I am doing the same  
> with roses - huge climbing roses such as Laevigata, La Follette,  
> Gigantea but also smaller ones- and clematises, the texensis and  
> viticella group, plus some species clem. I recently planted a small  
> arboretum of Oaks from hot areas, and a few months ago we received  
> as a gift a collection of Aloes that I intend to develop; you can  
> read the story on our website, here: http://www.lamortella.!
> org/content/view/74/188/lang,en/.
> During the last 3 or 4 years  we built an open air theatre, besides  
> several other garden features, and made the total of this steep,  
> vertical hill garden wheeelchair accessible. We built ramps  
> everywhere, a huge (and expensive) effort, as we made a point in  
> integrating the ramps into the landscape and make them look as  
> though they were part of the original dry stone walls.
> The place has an intense musical programs run in conjunction with  
> music schools and conservatories, with about 80 concerts a year plus  
> masterclasses and residencies, and we have open air concerts with  
> youth orchestras (we only work with young musicians and students).
> I oversee all this as well.
> We  have 6 gardeners and various other staff for a total of 25; the  
> garden is open to the public from april to november and has about  
> 65.000 visitors a year.
> There would be more to say, but maybe it is enough for now.
> So you see I do not have much time to contribute to the discussions,  
> but I read you all a lot!
> Best to everyone,
> Alessandra
>
>
>
> Alessandra Vinciguerra
> Bass Superintendent of Gardens
> American Academy in Rome
> http://www.aarome.org/#place5
>
>
> Director
> Giardini La Mortella
> The William Walton Trust
> Fondazione William Walton e La Mortella
> www.lamortella.org
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
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