Category: Plants
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Anisodontea
Anisodontea or Cape Mallow is another plant I would never have thought of planting myself but which I had grown rather fond of. My mother gave it to me 2021. It had been grown from a cutting as an indoor plant in cold Ulm, Germany. When we came here I planted it in the garden,…
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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 graphic look of…
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Morus albus – Mulberry
Small fruit like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries etc. are difficult in this Mediterranean garden at 50masl. It is simply too hot and dry and even mulched and in half-shade it’s almost impossible to keep them watered enough for them to truly thrive. One small fruit will do famously though: mulberries. Though originally native to China and…
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Delphinium orientale
In May of 2024 I fell in love, madly and unhappily. Because this beautiful self-seeded visitor to my garden has never come back since and it is impossible to find seeds or plants to buy. It seems to be so rare that there’s not even a Wikipedia-article on it. From what I can gather from…
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Cistus
Cistus, along with Helianthemum, Halimium and Tuberaria, are members of the rock rose family. They are native perennials of the Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern regions. These small evergreen shrubs can be found all over the garrigue here which is what convinced me to plant them in our garden. They bloom mostly in April…
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Mediterranean Strawberries?
Stepping out into the dewy garden on a summer morning and gathering a handful of strawberries for breakfast – a gardener’s reality in Switzerland and other Northern regions. Down here, for me, alas, it remains a dream. It may be different in the nearby hills but at 50 masI it is simply too hot and…