Re: Pistacia lentiscus source in California? & General topic: Shady Med Plants

Hi Cheryl,
I am gardening in the south of France and have a small garden downtown. So I have an holm oak and planted lots of cyclamen under it. They are doing very well (Cyclamen coum and hederifolium). There is too a Salvia ianthina actually in flower but I admit that I'm watering this bed (I am lucky to get water from a well). There is also Erigeron speciosus 'Grandiflorus' that flowered from february to june and Euryops pectinatus that does not seem happy and no flower for the moment (too shady I think). I forgot also the iris formosana : they flowered in april but are not very strong ( I suppose I should put more compost around them) You are right for Acanthus as they are seeding themselves too much. In the wild, I did not notice anything growing under these oaks as they have low branches and are seeding themselves a lot. About geranium macrorrhizum, what I can see here in my garden is that it is not happy if no watered at all. It can grow in shade but need watering in summer. Myrtus communis is ok in shade but needs some water too in summer. Mine is flowering for the first time in completely shade. 
I have no experience with Phlomis samia.
Hope this will help.

Chantal Guiraud
running the seed list for MGS
Montpellier (France)

Le 4 juil. 09 à 01:44, Cheryl Renshaw a écrit :


Hello fellow mednuts,
I'm working on a mediterranean planting plan where two of the four garden beds are in nearly complete shade--they get about two hours of afternoon sun in the summer. I'm trying to keep pretty strictly to plants from the four 
non-California mediterranean zones for this garden.
One plant I'm considering using is Lentisk or Pistacia lentiscus, though I'm not sure I can keep it small enough. That may not matter, as I haven't had any luck finding a source. Does anyone know of a nursery selling these in 
California, or should I look for an alternative?
I'm also interested in hearing about people's experiences with mediterranean gardening with shade. In the Mediterranean, what grows under holm oaks? What 
are your favorite understory plants? I'm looking at using hellebores
(argutifolius and sternii), considered acanthus but it's a pest elsewhere on 
the property and I don't think I could get it okayed, maybe Geranium
macrorrhizum? Myrtus communis is definitely in. Maybe Phlomis samia?

Thanks,
Cheryl

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Cheryl Renshaw
Santa Clara (Silicon Valley)
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