Dear Forum members,
Now we have found a house and a garden in the Sierra de Monchique in the Algarve a dream has come true. A piece of land surrounding the house that screams at me to be planted with treasures.
But it feels as if I would have to learn gardening again. There is a grove of old cork oaks which produces a nice dappled shade. Does anybody have gardening experience in these conditions? How competetive are cork oaks? In unspoilt cork oak forests there is a very dense and varied undergrowth, can this be imitated by using suitable garden plants instead? Can Camellias grow under cork oaks? There is one camellia in the garden (in full sun) which means they can grow there and a flowering understorey of Camellias and the like below the cork oaks would look nice..... Or am I on a dream trip? I would probably have to water the Camellias in summer, will the cork oaks tolerate summer water? It would be a shame to lose them.
Looking forward to hearing from you
Uli
