Category: Plants
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Beyond Pinus Pinea: Trees for the Mediterranean
We’ve had horrendous wildfires last summer where 17’000 hectares (42’000 acres) of pine forests burned up within a few days. Then, this winter, we’ve had endless rain with widespread flooding and finally, last week, a windstorm with gusts of up to 160 km/h over several hours. Seeing the violence of the fires and seeing all…
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Euphorbias
There’s practically no mediteranean garden – indeed not even a wild mediterranean landscape – without Euphorbias. I love the luminous bright green color and the pretty little flowers of wild Euphorbias appearing all over the place in February and March when there’s not much else. And I have grown to love the structural look of…
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Echium amoenum Red Feathers
This Iranian native is a pretty little (40x20cm) perennial in well-draining soil. I planted it in February 2025 and hope it has survived its replanting in the fall and the very wet winter we’ve been having. It flowers in late spring and doesn’t need a lot of water. It may reseed itself. In Iran it…
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Mediterranean Iris
Live and learn… I had always thought of Iris as a delicate and overbred plant for experienced gardeners. But when I came here I found out that Iris is one of the most robust, hardy, drought and heat resistant flowers there are. Iris varieties grow wild everywhere around here, from small Iris lutescens in the…
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Smyrnium olusatrum
It was worth a try. I noticed this bright green plant growing in big swathes in the shade of a hedge along the Canal du Midi in 2023. Since I was then still in the phase of throwing plants at the garden to see what stuck I decided to try them out in a similar…
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Mediterranean Fruit – the Orchard 2025
It’s been a year since the last orchard “status report” 2024. Time for an update: Pyrus / Pear Tree “Clapp’s Favorite” I covered the ground around the tree with horse manure and green waste in October. In April the tree looked very good and bloomed profusely. In May it suffered from a heavy attack of Dysaphis pyri…