Re: Off post subtropical plant discussions
david feix wrote:
>
> To others in the medit-plants group, I apologize if a
> lot of my posts appear off topic, or not reflective of
> truly summer dry mediterannean climate plants.
David
I doubt you would find all that many growers even in the Mediterranean
itself who stick religiously to just their basic dry-land flora. Look at
all the bougainvilleas one sees in pictures of the Riviera for
instance..
A lot of the fun for serious gardeners in any climate zone seems to be
in seeing how far out they can push the boudaries of the growable
(though few go so far as our two maniacal British menbers!!!)
I think one of the fascinating aspects of gardening is the extent to
which, in any climate zone at all, microclimates can enlarge the
possibilites. For instance I would have said it was impossible to get a
tangarine to ripen in my valley, but up the road from me a friend did
just that. It was a tiny plant with no more than two or three fruits and
tucked into a hot corner by her house, but indubitably she one year
achieved the supposedly impossible.
So except to anybody fanatically attached to their local indigenous
flora only, I would say "go to it and show us how clever you can be in
enlarging your repertoir". It may give the rest of us ideas too and spur
us to try somthing new and exciting.
Quite a lot of my garden would fall in the temperate category, but up on
my high sun-facing terraces it is really good Medit. country (and we
even get largely the winter rain/summer dry weather to increase the
resmblence). Below I grow my roses and herbaceous borders, camellias and
rhododendrons but up there are lavenders and other silvery leaved
plants, rockroses, rosemary, sage, thymes and oreganos and so on, and
also a selection of natives from dry rocky places including the very
handsome Marlborough daisy (Pachystegia) and selected hebes.
The terraces are also the best places for the miniature daffodils,
especially the less hardy hoop petticoat types, which really seem to
like the summer baking. Also happy up there are Scilla peruviana,
several miniature flag irises and a number of miscellaneous bulbs
including the South Africa Sparaxis, Ixias and Babianas (the latter
particularly fine) and the summer-flowering Chincherinchee
(Ornathogalum) .
Actually, the Scilla is extraordiarily adaptable, as it grows and
flowers as well in a cool shady border as its brother out in the sun.
So please don't try to put us into straitjacket, but let us continue to
indulge our ingenuity and creativity and share our truumphs (and
disasters too) with with the group.
Moira
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
