[Bolanthus]

One of the most dreadful sights for a gardener is to come up and see his/her beloved flowers dried and dead.
However, in the Mediterranean region “dry” doesn’t always mean dead, and in many occasions “dry” can turn out to be really interesting and beautiful too.
The pictures below are from natural places or from places recolonized by plants (the last ones are from an abandoned iron mine in the island of Serifos)
I think it is all about the combination of colors (a range of terracottas and grays) and the combination of textures and forms!

Ballota acetabulosa and Phlomis fruticosa (also a grass; Cerastium candidissimum -the more whitish to the left- ; Euphorbia acanthothamnos the teracotta top right)


E. acanthothamnos   (also B. acetabulosa; C. candidissimum; Aphodeline lutea to the left; Verbascum undulatum to the right, but you must scroll the bottom bar to the right to see it)






B. acetabulosa and P. fruticosa


At the center a E. dendroides



From an abandoned mine in Serifos, a place recolonized mostly by E. dendroides and B. acetabulosa


same here


and same here (please ignore my friend!)



and here the dried heads of the Phagnalon -don't they look like tiny straw beach umbrellas?  :-))

[Alice]

Goes to show how much we have been conditioned to see only the green and lush as beautiful!

[oron peri]

Can not agree more.. 3ed photo is just stuning,

Many horticulture magazines like to show gardens when compleetly frozen,
i find this state not less beautiful.
Thank's for sharing these images Aris.

[Alisdair]

A perfect advertisement for the truly mediterranean garden - thanks very much indeed, Bolanthus/Aris!

[David Bracey]

I`sure Olivier Fillippi would love to see these pics.  He is always saying how beautiful a mediterrnean garden is in the height of summer

[MikeHardman]

Very nice.
I love tones of grey and brown, too; sometimes just browns alone - can give an almost sepia-toned effect.
My photo of Eryngium maritimum is an example. Granted, one plant can't constitute an association, but the brownish sand provides a similar effect visually).

[Bolanthus]

You 're welcome  The acknowledgement of the beauty of the garrigue/phrygana –even in summer dormancy- was probably the reason why I became a MGS member

[Marilyn]

Oh, what gorgeous photos, thank you for sharing these, Bolanthus/Aris!

The more time I live in the Med, the more I love the mid/late summer season. Especially towards the end of September, when everything becomes very muted in colour, the olives very silver, the shrubs very brown or beige, the cypress and pine very dark green and the soil often that rich burnt orange. I feel like the plants are waiting, holding their breath, expectant of rain. It is so peaceful.

It is one of the things I always like to talk about with our hotel clients, this different rhythm of seasons. So many people say they find this time of year "sad" - I had colleagues who said the same about winter in England - but I find it beautiful to see plants in their natural state: sleeping, resting, gathering energy, waiting for the rain. I think we have a lot to learn from them!

Here are some photos from my garden in late summer (I think some of these were posted already as accompaniment to my TMG article, apologies for the repetition if so):

[Marilyn]

(By the way, the main constituents of the dry meadow pictures are Trifolium angustifolium, Lagurus ovatus and Bartsia trixago (syn. Bellardia trixago); the other photo is of Santolina chamaecyparissus.)

[Alisdair]

Lovely,Marilyn; thanks!

[Marilyn]

Ooh, thanks for the mod on Bellardia - had no idea. Glad you enjoyed the pics.

[MikeHardman]

Marilyn - Nice! And I like the subtly different palettes.
Also the first one ('seeds3.jpg') makes interesting use of flare on the lens (further to my photographic discussion with Daisy re fogging) - giving the effect of receding into the (mistier) distance