The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Trees and Shrubs => Topic started by: Fermi on December 22, 2018, 01:41:50 PM
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I was looking for a topic to post pics of some shrubs which are quite low and could almost be ground-covers so thought I'd start this as a new topic.
Relhania pungens is from South Africa. It has sharp foliage which is green on top and silver underneath. The flowers are bright yellow daisies and are produced en masse. I discovered that the dried foliage burns very quickly! I wonder whether it has evolved to burn as part of bush regeneration the way a lot of the Australian bush does.
It's in flower now at mid-summer,
cheers
fermi
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Good idea Fermi - another continuing thread to look forward to.
Season's greetings to you and all our Australian members who's Christmas weather is so different to ours - although we are promised a sunny day after many gloomy wet ones.
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Teucrium subspinosum comes from Mallorca (according to the internet!)
Mine came from a friend in the Dandenongs ;D about 15 years ago.
It is quite drought tolerant and withstands frosts down to -7oC.
It flowers in summer with small mauve flowers and is apparently a magnet for cats (ours are kept indoors so can not confirm this)
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, I can most definitely confirm your allegation regarding the cats. >:( We have 7 plants in a row and have had to resort to a number of methods in an attempt to deter not just our own cats but the strays of the neighbourhood from not only sniffing them but rolling on them. They're addicted to them.
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Hi John,
good to have confirmation ;D
Another teucrium we grow that is sold here as "Cat Thyme" is Teucrium marum.
When we did have an outdoor cat she enjoyed rolling in this in utter ecstasy! Since she's been gone a few years you can see that the plant has become a bit overgrown - I must cut it back severely after flowering
cheers
fermi
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Goodenia ovata is a native of Australia and this variety is a ground covering plant with the typical yellow "violet-like" flowers
cheers
fermi
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New one to me Fermi - very unusual and pretty little flowers in close up. I love ground covering plants as long as they are not too aggressive. They protect the soil from extremes of weather and can afford protection to other plants if used wisely.
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Hi Carole,
yes, that Goodenia is an effective ground cover but it has taken a few years to become thick enough to do that.
Another Australian plant is Eremophila biserrata which trails along the ground but doesn't seem to produce enough growth to make it a "ground-cover" but it has interesting tubular flowers which attract the nectar feeding birds
cheers
fermi
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Ceratostigma wilmottiana ‘Forest Blue’ grows well in part shade on the south (cooler) side of our house.
We got this years ago and it has slowly increased it size but has stayed fairly low.
The colour of the flowers can be quite intense but they wilt quickly in the heat - not surprisingly since one of it's common names is "Tibetan Plumbago".
The foliage is a fresh light green which can turn red or orange before shedding in autumn
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi
My Ceratostigma, like yours, prefers some shade. At first I gave it too much shade and the leaves grew very big and the stems lank. After I gave it a little more light and a couple of hours direct sun mid-afternoon it very quickly produced new growth which was better proportioned. It also flowered very profusely which it had not done before. Now it has its winter red leaves. Looks good all year round for me.
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I have Ceratostigma plumbaginoides that also works well as a relatively low ground cover shrub. It has an arching habit and spreads well even in dry soil flowering profusely over a long period.. Another good blue subject.
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One of our favourite low shrubs is the prostrate rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis "Prostratus" ( I've been told this could be lumped into Salvia as Salvia rosmarina "Prostrata"!) - in the middle of winter it is alive with bees gathering nectar from its pale blue flowers.
It trails over rocks and the edges of beds very effectively,
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi,
Good to see your earlier posting of Teucrium marum. I saw it at a garden centre while I was visiting Umbrian this weekend and decided to buy one immediately.
My neighbour has cats but they don't wander out from their home. Notice I say "their" house and not "my neighbour's" :-) There are one or two strays around one of which took up residence in a sunny spot in my garden for a short while. I am afraid that using the shade of my lemon tree as a toilet got too much so I chopped up lots of thick twigs and stood them vertically both in the cat's favourite basking place and under the lemon tree. They did the cat no harm. They simply prevented him from sprawling out and from crouching and so he left to find a place where he was more welcome. Hope the new Teucrium doesn't entice him back!
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Hi David,
you'll have to let us know how you go!
Here's a dwarf shrub from near the Victorian/South Australian border, Pomaderris obcordata 'Mallee Princess' which flowers in winter
cheers
fermi
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Wow!
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That's beautiful Fermi, always interesting to see new plants I have never heard of even if there is no chance of obtaining one !
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Hi Fermi, on the subject of obtaining one of these fabulous plants, are they available commercially. My wife has a nephew who lives in Australia and he will be paying a visit to Cyprus next month. He lives in the Sydney area. Is there any possibility that he would be able to get hold of one of these plants and bring it with him? I know that Australia has very strict laws about taking plants and seeds into the country but does that apply in the opposite direction? Also he's a Cypriot and they are a law unto themselves! ;)
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Hi John,
we got our Pomaderris (and a lot of other plants ;D ) from a native plants nursery in Victoria http://www.goldfieldsrevegetation.com.au/ (http://www.goldfieldsrevegetation.com.au/) but he might be able to find it locally.
A Japanese friend says that he frequently takes plants back home from Australia but only once was stopped by customs on the way out of Sydney and had the plants confiscated - can't really say why!
cheers
fermi
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Another low growing native plant we have from Goldfields Revegetation Nursery is this banksia which is in flower now. The first 3 pics are from 2015, the rest are from late July 2019.
When we got it a number of years ago it was called a dryandra but that genus has been subsumed into Banksia.
Unfortunately I cannot find the label for a better identiification,
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, thanks for the info re the Pomaderris. We'll pass it on to Marios to see what he can do, he's a pretty resourceful guy. When I said he is a Cypriot I should have said London Cypriot, those who know what that means will understand! 8)
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Hi John
Another Australian plant that you could get him to look out for is Salvia 'Meigan's Magic'. It looks much better, at least in photos, than the Salvia Phyllis' Fancy' that I have. Perhaps Fermi or other Australian forum users could confirm? So far I haven't been able to track down a UK or EU supplier of S. 'Meigan's Magic'. All suppliers seem to be in Australia.
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Thanks for that, David, I'll pass the info on to Thea.
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When I first grew this daisy it was called Chrysanthemum hosmariense (I think), then it became Leucanthemum hosmariense. Now I believe its accepted name is Rhodanthemum hosmariense (Ball).
Whatever its name, it is a great plant for the garden with silvery, finely cut foliage, sparkling white flowers and buds with sepals which are edged in black.
It stays low to the ground when grown in full sun. After it flowers the flowering shoots should be cut back so I guess it should be considered a sub-shrub
cheers
fermi
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It's lovely, Fermi. What sort of soil is it growing in (I am thinking of my unyielding clay), and how drought-proof is it?
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Love this plant too- whatever it's name- it is certainly drought tolerant for me and long lived especially if trimmed back after flowering as a Fermi suggests. This helps to keep it compact and healthy in my experience.
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Re drought-tolerance:
For me, this plant (or a species very similar) tends to die-off during the summer (irrespective of watering) but usually sprouts from the dead-looking stems sometime over autumn-winter.
However, some of this behaviour may be due to its bad luck in being planted in parts of my garden where many plants are reluctant to grow.
It comes well from cuttings.
//Mike
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It's lovely, Fermi. What sort of soil is it growing in (I am thinking of my unyielding clay), and how drought-proof is it?
Hi Caroline,
sorry for not answering your question earlier! It's growing in heavy clay which has had some coarse sand added and in raised beds which helps with drainage. In lighter soils I've seen it growing in normal garden beds.
cheers
fermi
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Prostanthera calycina is another Australian native plant which grows to less than half a metre and is doing well in a raised bed, flowering in late spring
cheers
fermi
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This Hakea is one we got many years ago and planted in a sand-bed, possibly because it's a Western Australian species. However I've lost the label and the spikiness of the foliage is discouraging me from searching! [someone on Instagram has suggested it might be Hakea scoparia ssp. scoparia]
It's not fully frost hardy so we don't always get flowers; it survives well with very little summer irrigation,
cheers
fermi
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Calytrix tetragona - a prostrate form bought at Goldfields Revegetation Nursery in 2012
cheers
fermi
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Very nice, Fermi.
I wonder how well it tolerates being walked-upon.
Two of my common groundcovers (Aptenia cordifolia, Carpobrotus spp.) do not like it. If you walk on them, soon you see brown patches, and the dead can spread. (No, I don't have weedkiller on my shoes.)
//Mike
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I wonder how well it tolerates being walked-upon.
Hi Mike,
I can't say as it grows in a bed which isn't walked upon (if I can help it!).
We also have another form which isn't as prostrate - here are a couple of pics of it growing with Eremophila glabra
cheers
fermi
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Eremophila glabra in this form makes a low mound of grey highlighted with yellow-green flowers
cheers
fermi
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Thanks Fermi - super!
//Mike