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The rather small old pear tree (half trunk), which had not been pruned for ages, produced only two pears after my first heavy pruning in early 2023. In the spring of 2024 it had developed masses of steeply vertical water…
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Eleagnus ebbingei (submacrophylla)
Heavenly Scent & Drought Resistance in One. The side of the garden towards the neighbors is largely planted with Eleagnus x Ebbingei, now known as Eleagnus submacrophylla or “Chalef” in Garden-French. This shrub was totally unknown to me and when…
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Little Beasties everywhere
Birds and bees don’t change all that much between countries and gardens. But there were quite a few little beasties I had never seen before, including a large Western Whip Snake, crawling at speed straight up the embankment, hissing and…
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Portulaca grandiflora
Portulaca: One of those simple and seemingly “stuffy” plants that I had always ignored – until I needed to find some pretty summer ground cover for two large pots on the terrace. These plants are everywhere and they are so…
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Aloe Vera
Well, it turns out that Aloe vera is far from an easy plant to maintain in this Mediterranean region. Outside on the terrace it hated the sun, it hated the rain and when it was in the shade it produced…
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Melons: Cucumis melo and Citrullus lanata
Mediterranean climate should be good for melons one should think. Alas it is for some but not for others. I had ordered several types of “Dry Farming” melon seeds at Seedshunters.com and tried to grow them in 2023 and 2024.…