The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Trees and Shrubs => Topic started by: CarolSmall on September 08, 2019, 01:13:47 PM
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I'm currently building a house in Agios Nikolaos Messinias, in the heart of the village and about 50 metres from the sea. It will have a medium sized garden of about 1000m2. I'd love to plant a Jacaranda in the garden but, whilst I've seen many such trees in Kalamata, I've not seen one close to my village.
Given that they survive in Kalamata I assumed that they would survive in AN since it is, after all, about 20 miles further south. Also, comparing the weather statistics for Kalamata and AN the average low temperature would seem to be even more favourable in AN (8c in February) than in K (6c in February).
But I have my doubts. After all, as I said, I've not seen one around AN; and the RHS says that the minimum temperature they can tolerate is 5c - and I feel sure that from time to time the temperature must drop well below 5c, given that the average low is 8c.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? And, if you think a Jacaranda wouldn't work, could you recommend another tree of similar size and with a similar wow factor which would be suitable in a mediterranean style garden?
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The received wisdom is that Jacaranda don't do well by the sea - but maybe someone with first-hand knowledge can comment? What season were you wanting it to flower?
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Hi Carol, welcome to the Forum.
Here in Cyprus we are situated roughly 2 km inland from the sea at an altitude of approx 30/40 m asl.
We have 4 mature Jacaranda trees (3 grown from seed). They do look spectacular when in flower but are rather messy when they drop. The carpet of blue looks nice initially but less so when they get onto the soles of shoes and cat's paws and are trodden into the house!
As you say they will withstand a certain amount of cold but they do need protection from the wind while they establish, and as Caroline rightly says they do not appear to like coastal locations.
As for a few possible alternatives:-
Bauhinia variegata (Orchid Tree), the variety 'Candida' has white flowers.
Cercis siliquastrum (Judas Tree)
Grevillea robusta its shallow roots can be invasive.
Koelreuteria paniculata (Golden Rain Tree)
Lagunaria patersonii native of Australia, withstands coastal conditions. Spectacular when covered in waxy, pink flowers. On the down side not for nothing is it called the Cow Itch Tree as seed pods are full of highly irritant 'hairs', so careful siting is essential.
Melia azedarach tolerant of most conditions. Fragrant flowers in spring followed by poisonous berry-like seeds that create a mess when they fall.
Paulownia tomentosa (Empress Tree) Tolerant of frost. Foxglove-like flowers and giant velvety leaves. Very fast growing. Does better with some wind protection.
As I said just a few suggestions, there are several more that I'm sure would be suitable.
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Metrosideros excelsa, Pohutukawa. Very tough, flowers at Christmas time here in a blaze of red, but takes a while to get established.
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Caroline, Go ahead and plant your jacaranda. Our holiday home is very close to you: on the edge of Lekftron, just above Stoupa - a few minutes' walk from the sea. We planted two jacarandas there about 25 years ago and they have grown very well in spite of the occasional salt-laden gales. I'm told they flower every year, though we're always a little too early to see them ourselves (we go only in "gardening times", early spring/late autumn/midwinter). Koelreuteria also does very well for us, as does Melia azedarach, both producing lots of self-sown seedlings.
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Thank you to everyone who answered me - and I apologise profusely for not having replied to your posts at an earlier date: I had expected to get a notification when someone posted a reply, and had taken the lack of notifications as meaning a lack of responses! I now know to check back in occasionally to this site to see what's happening.
Anyway, that being said, you've given me a lot to think about. I take on board the comments about the messiness of them - I've seen this mentioned frequently on various web sites - and I shall think carefully. Thank you, Alisdair, for your post - given your proximity to me, it gives me confidence that were I to plant one it would survive. And thank you also to Caroline and John J for the alternative suggestions which I shall check out before finally making a decision.
I'm so glad I found this site!
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Hi Caroline,
For years I asked why we didn't have Jacarandas in Rome and then, about 5 years ago, they started springing up all over the place. The local council are planting them too. The ones I know in Rome are still doing well despite 'The Beast from the East' a couple of winters back. Down to -7°C for a few nights running. I also know that there are mature trees in a place called Axa near Acilia, which is a couple of km from the coast. https://www.google.it/maps/place/Axa,+00125+Rome,+Metropolitan+City+of+Rome/@41.7602386,12.2887555,18652m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x1325f3b6f3361e19:0x82c7974ae0d4921c!8m2!3d41.7659275!4d12.3721623
Every afternoon in the summer there is the Ponentino which reaches Rome. A sea breeze which is warm. I don't know how salt-laden it is by the time it gets to Axa but there must still be some salt.
I would give the tree a try. I have very fond memories of them from when I lived in Cairo where they were enormous splashes of blue in early spring.
https://www.climatestotravel.com/climate/italy/rome
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Caroline, if you click on Account Settings in blue, top right, then in the drop down list on Notifications, you can select if (and how) you'd like to be notified about replies to your posts. I'm sorry you had to wait so long for your answers!