Melia azedaracht

Dear Sean and others,

I don't know a lot about Melia's longevity, but I have a couple of
information  about the tree. The first  comes from Lady Walton, the owner of
the gardens at La Mortella, Ischia: an eccentric, amusing, energetic though
ageing Argentinian-born lady,  who is an excellent gardener and a superb
story-teller. Well,  she says that Melia is planted everywhere in Argentina
as a Patio shading plant. The reason being that the tree is poisonous, so it
does not attract insects, therefore  birds never stop on its branches. As a
consequence, the people sitting under these branches are spared birds
droppings... Quite an useful advice, I would say.
The second thing I noticed during a trip to Sicily, and it confirms what you
said about Melia's resistance to drought. I saw them growing in really arid
conditions, in the volcanic isalnd Pantelleria, among rocks, with no water
except the scarce winter rains. They  have naturalized there, and provide a
welcome and refreshing green canopy (wind resistant as well), besides the
shade,  in an otherwise dry landscape.
I love the flowers, just like Sean does, but I find that the leaves are just
as interesting, being a beautiful, dark green  The fruits hang from the bare
branches for a long time, and they are a nice sight on a winter day, when
they hang  like that. I like it less when they fall, because  they can rot
easily, so they are better raked and disposed  at once (children have fun
with the seeds, and make necklace etc... not ofr nothing it is called the
Bead tree.)
Melia comes easily from seed, and is a fast grower: a three year old sapling
I planted in my brother's garden reached tree-size (about 20 ft x 12 ft) in
a couple, maybe 3  years. What is more interesting, it quickly attained an
old-looking shape, with a rough bark and heavy  limbs. I hear there is an
umbrella shaped form, M.a. "Umbraculiformis", that is considered more suited
as a street plant, but I've never seen it. 
I think it is a highly recommendable flowering tree for Medit gardens. 

Ciao,
Alessandra
due to eat in a few minutes the first crop of green, summer figs!
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