Blue summer
- To: <m*@ucdavis.edu>
- Subject: Blue summer
- From: "* F* <o*@wanadoo.fr>
- Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 20:18:04 +0200
Yes, we grow Agapanthus in France !
In the garden we planted a group of Agapanthus 'Tinkerbell' in contrast with
a bed of Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' in half shade, OK that's a bit
easy but still very effective. Behind that some Tulbaghia violacea flower
during at least six months and a nice clump of grey foliage, Ajania
pacifica, stays very neat all year round.
My favourite is Agapanthus inapertus, with its very dark rich blue flowers,
just beautiful ! I love the blue flowers in the heat of summer (every
day above 30 °C this week, and it starts to be difficult to sleep at night),
with the sky becoming a very light blue because of the heat and right at the
end of the garden, the sea which always changes colour depending on the
light.
We planted near the house a whole group of blue flowers, they seem to cool
down the burning air. There we have lots of lavenders, Lavandula x
intermedia 'Seal' light blue, Lavandula x intermedia 'Hidcote Giant', a bit
darker with long stems, Lavandula 'Goodwin Creek Grey' (thanks Rachel for
those cuttings !), Lavandula x 'Richard Gray', dark flowers, compact habit
and beautiful foliage... We mixed together at different places Perovskia
atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire' and Verbena bonariense which self seeds happily.
Caryopteris incana and Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Kew Blue' are budding,
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides is already in full bloom, Verbena tenuisecta
and Convolvulus sabatius fill the holes between other plants, Salvia
chamaedryoides 'Agentea' is flowering for the second time, Scabiosa cretica
seems to never stop. And to help catch the eye, a large clump of the rather
invasive Achillea coarctata, golden yellow, which flowers from April to
October without stopping for a breath.
Did I tell you we never water our garden ? We just let the plants flower
when they want and grow as they will. That's what we call low maintenance :
no water means little weeds, and lots of fun in a "natural" garden. If a
plant disappears we just say it wasn't the right one for the right place and
try something else. We do a bit of tydying up though about twice a year,
just for the pleasure of trimming and shaping a Teucrium fruticans or a
Pistacia lentiscus, or cutting back a Buddleja globosa which has become a
monster...
Olivier,
near Montpellier, South of France
