The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Water => Topic started by: John on July 12, 2011, 06:37:30 PM
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This is quite a distinct aquatic plant which will also grow in bog conditions. It is quite tropical looking and is in the virtually exclusively tropical family the Marantaceae.It hails from the southern parts of North America including the USA. I have seen this plant on numerous occasions in Normandy, France where it seems to be quite hardy though it isn't a plant that could be called very hardy. It will need quite a bit of space and grows to about 2 m high. It should be quite happy in the Mediterranean but I cannot recall having seen it there myself.
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We use Thalia here in our ponds and also it is very decorative in big containers fieled with water.
Climet seems to be very good for it, it dries out in winter but comes back in Spring.
As you mentioned it should be limited to a small area.
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I purchased Thalia dealbata in 2008 and it thrives in my patio in a big "zinc" container. It looks very tropical and I love it.
There is another wonderful water plant that I bought in South Africa perhaps 20 years ago : Aponogeton distachyos. This corm thrived and colonised the small brook which was running through my garden close to Paris area. I never saw it in any french nursery and nobody knows it here. Indeed it is hardy, at least in northern France, flowers in autumn and spring, has a divine scent of vanilla and It followed me of course when I moved to Montpellier.
See here (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=125.msg292#msg292) for separate discussion about the Aponogeton.
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My husband has built me a raised pond in my new garden. It is not yet finished, but being very impatient, I ordered and received some pond plants back in the winter.
When they arrived, they had to be planted straight away, so I put them in the half finished pond.
The Aponogeton distachyos I put right at the front of the raised pond, so that I could smell it easily.
When it flowered, I leaned over to smell it, slipped on the rough unmade up path, and ended up with my whole head under water!!!! :-[ :-[ :-[
It seems to have got over that, as it has grown and flowered beautifully since then. Now that it is July and hot however, it has gone into it's high summer minimalist mode.
I haven't yet got Thalia dealbata, but I grew it in Cornwall, where it was evergreen, even when the pond froze.
Daisy :)
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It was interesting to drop on this info about Thalia as a few weeks ago I came across it for the first time here in Cyprus. It was in a family-run, back-garden-type establishment. I thought I'd try it out and bought a clump. It's obviously too early to judge how it will perform but I'll keep an eye on it with even more interest now.
John J
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Here it does very well. It used to grow in a "marshy" planter by one of our fountains, now it has moved and can be found in the planter right across. Seems to be very happy, and becomes quite big. It is not a thug like some giant aroids that we grow in the faountains - actually there are many in its original planter that overwhelmed it. I suppose this is why the original plant in its first location disappeared and it has reappeared where there was less competition.
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Here a pic I took yesterday - it grows for several years in a small bassin together with Equisetum.