Category: Plants
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Tagetes patula / erecta
I used to find the tidy orange marigold borders in Swiss gardens incredibly stuffy. I also did not like the scent of marigolds, so I would have never have planted them. But I’ve tried them here as companion plants in the veggie garden and if nothing else they do make a splendid show of color…
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Caryopteris clandonensis
Caryopteris is one of my favorite shrubs, but for a long time I thought it was a somewhat misguided beginner’s purchase: Filippi only gives it a mere 2.5 of 6 on the drought-resistance scale. However, in this garden it has turned out to be surprisingly tough and has even survived under less than ideal circumstances.…
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Calamintha nepeta
One of those plants that “ought” to work here but just didn’t. Calamintha (or Clinopodium) nepeta is a minty herb, growing across the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as in more Northern regions. It grows on moderately dry rocky terrain and walls and loves alcaline, calcareous soils. Technically perfect conditions for it to grow…
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Bougainvillea spectabilis x glabra “Violet de Mèze”
Bougainvillea is one of those quintessential “Mediterranean” plants and a Must-Have to cover courtyard walls or fences in large, bright, pink, purple, red, or orange flowers all through the summer. Bougainvillea is generally not frost-hardy and since we do get some frost in this area I chose the variety “Violet de Mèze” at the yearly…
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Colutea media
Colutea media “Copper Beauty” seems to be a longer-blooming cultivar of Colutea arborescens, a native of Southern Europe from Spain to Roumania. In the wild it grows in well drained, chalky soil, mostly on dry slopes and rocky meadows, and likes full sun. Colutea media blooms from May through September and its flowers turn into…
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Ficus Carica – Fig Trees
Figs are the quintessential Mediterranean fruit tree and when we moved here in 2022 I was so happy about the miniature grove of fig trees at the very back of the garden! But in that summer and fall we didn’t see a single fig. Having no experience at all with fig trees and lots of…