R: Shady Med Plants

We have a whole woodland of Quercus ilex, and many shady areas in the garden as well, so we cover all possible range of water managements- from well watered to virtually dry. I find that two great plants for shady areas are  Plectranthus - almost all of them do very well in shade, some species requiring more water than the other, and  the ubiquituos P. argentatus is sa plant we could not live without - and the New Zealand "Renga Renga Lily" Arthropodium cirrathum - great performance and very little needs in term of water. Also, Pelargonium tomentosum (peppermint scented) should grow well in your situation.
Best,
Alessandra


Alessandra Vinciguerra

Bass Superintendent of Gardens
American Academy in Rome
Via A. Masina, 5
00153 Romajavascript:SetCmd(cmdSend);

and

Garden Director
Giardini La Mortella
www.lamortella.org



-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu per conto di Chantal Guiraud
Inviato: mer 08/07/2009 9.47
A: cheryl@wr-architect.com
Cc: Medit-Plants
Oggetto: Re: Shady Med Plants
 
Hello Cheryl,

No, I never tried Iris unguicularis in shade. But there is Iris  
foetidissima doing well in shade with red berries after flowers. My  
soil is the same than you but I added lot of compost.
Yesterday, I talked with a friend of mine on this topic and she told  
me that she grow Ixias (bulbs) with cyclamens under the oaks.
I'm gardening since 30 years and I  just realise that if I prune the  
low branches of my shrubs I can plant more things under them. Of  
course, The twenty first years, I had 8000 square meters in the north  
of Paris and now I only have 2000 square meters.

Chantal Guiraud
Montpellier, France



Le 7 juil. 09 à 09:05, Cheryl Renshaw a écrit :

> Merci, Chantal!
>
> I expect to be watering this bed as well (but hopefully not a lot).  
> It's not
> directly under an oak tree, but there is a large oak to the south  
> of it that
> shades the bed for all but about 2 hours in summer (and entirely in  
> winter).
> The soil is heavy clay (adobe), just to make things more interesting.
>
> Have you tried Iris unguicularis in your bed? From what I read, it  
> appears
> to be a shade-tolerant iris, too...and it gives you winter flowers.  
> Bonus!
>
> Thank you for explaining how holm oaks grow in the wild. They are
> occasionally used as street trees around here, so the only trees  
> I've seen
> have been staked when young so they have tall straight trunks (and  
> lots of
> space to walk under or to grow plants).
>
> Anyone else gardening in mediterranean shade?
>
> Cheryl
>
> --------------
> Cheryl Renshaw
> Santa Clara, California
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chantal Guiraud [c*@modulonet.fr]
> Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 9:46 PM
> To: cheryl@wr-architect.com
> Cc: Medit-Plants
> Subject: 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
>>
>> --------------
>> Cheryl Renshaw
>> Santa Clara (Silicon Valley)
>>
>>
>
>


______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
______________________________________________________________________



______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
______________________________________________________________________
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index