The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Perennials => Topic started by: happyinthesun on February 14, 2014, 06:20:30 PM
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Hi all am new on here. We are moving to Spain permanently later in the year we have had a proper here for several years but never done much with the garden but as we are going to be living here we thought it was time to sort out the garden and am looking for advice e of what is best to grow in Spain.
Our garden is mainly paved with a small border so our plants will be mainly in pots, we would like colour in there and our back fence is already a wash with bougainvillea. Any advice e on what else will look good please. It is a south facing garden with very little shade.
Thank in anticipation
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Hello, Happyinthe sun.
I am not an expert on garden design but a combination of a south-facing garden, little shade and most plants in pots strikes me as a recipe for a difficult life.
Perhaps you can start by creating some shade and structure, e.g. with a pergola and/or shrubs/small trees, and adding the colour later. What about having some of the paving removed so that you can put more plants directly into the ground?
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I have a large palm tree in the middle of the garden that give a lot of shade over most of the borders if that's any help. I just wondered what plants grow well in Spain as I know a lot of the plants here in the UK would not survive over in Spain
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There's actually a lot of plant suggestions right the way through the Forum, so do browse a bit!
Here are two good places to start:
You'll find some suggestions for a new garden in Spain if you click here (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=1284.0).
There are suggestions for plants that are champion for resisting drought if you click here (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=958.0).
Also, if you click here (http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/j-art-heat.html) you'll find two interesting articles from the MGS journal The Mediterranean Garden.
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Thanks for those links will have a look Great
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I like the look of the Blue Marguerite Does anybody know if they are they easy to purchase on the Costa Blanca? and what time of year is best to buy them?
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Am also interested in growing a Bird of Paradise in pots does anybody have any tips or recommendations for this plant please?
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Strelitzia regina (Bird of Paradise) needs a rich well drained compost, in a big (25 to 30cm) pot. If you start with a single plant, it should flower for you nicely in its first two years, but if it's happy you will find that it quickly forms a dense clump, and the foliage will then tend to swamp any flowers. So take it out of the pot and divide the clump - you'll need to chop it hard with a spade, it's as tough as old boots - planting the divided parts separately. Water and even feed it while it's growing, keep it dry as it goes more dormant.
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I think the only thing I would add to Alisdair's advice would be to avoid standing your pots where they got constant direct sunlight. I found that the flowers fared better when given some shade for at least part of the day. They didn't really appreciate the 40 degree temperatures we experience here during the height of the summer. Our 2 plants are now in the ground as they outgrew their pots and rather than try dividing them with a spade as Alisdair suggests (it might have needed a hacksaw), I decided to plant them out.
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Thank you both John and Alisdair for you great information. I am not sure whether to purchase some seeds over in the UK first or wait until I get back to Spain before starting this plant off.
Is there any particular species that are better than others for growing from seed?
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Some plants that are superbly adapted to container culture would include showy succulents. A large variety of Aloes, Agaves, Furcraeas, Beschornerias, Cotyledons, Kalanchoes, Sedums, Aeoniums, Dudleyas, Echeverias, Lampranthus, Rhipsalis, Crassulas Drosanthemuns, Senecios along with terrestrial bromeliads such as Dyckias, Puyas, Aechmeas can all grow in conditions from full sun to dappled shade, with but minimal irrigation. I prefer to group several taxa in large sized containers to minimize need for frequent watering.
Aloes and Agaves in particular make stunning container plantings. Some favorite Aloes include A. striata, tomentosa, castanaea, plicatilis, vanbalenii, speciosa, camperi, x delaetii, Johnson's Hybrid, thraskii, africana. Some favorite Agaves include A. striata, bracteosa, parryi, vilmoriana, Blue Glow, ovatifolia, franzosinii. Some of the African Euphorbias are also great, such as E. ammak variegata, mauritanicus, lambii, or European Euphorbias such as E. rigida, dendroides, characias, myrsinites.