Tag: flowers
-
Ajania / Chrysanthemum pacificum
Not having done my usual research, this turned out to be somewhat of a misguided purchase last October. Ajania pacifica or Chrysanthemum pacificum is a native of the main Japanese island Honshu, where it grows along the Pacific coast – it’s thus not really suited for the heat and drought of this Mediterraean garden. Last fall…
-
Clematis flammula
What was ordered and planted as “Clematis flammula rubromarginata” in November 2023, turned out to be “Clematis flammula Sweet Summer Love” in July of 2024. Which is a good thing because it’s actually a lot prettier than the variety I had ordered. “Clematis flammula Sweet Summer Love” grows to about 250 cm high and 100…
-
Ipomoea
No garden without the large luminous flowers of Ipomoea purpurea “Heavenly Blue” or “Grandpa Ott” – my favorite color varieties in my previous gardens. But it turns out to be just too hot and dry for them here. I did try sowing them but if they come up at all they need to be watered daily…
-
Vitex agnus-castus latifolia
Vitex agnus-castus is a native of the Mediterranean region, known since antiquity and always believed to be an anaphrodisiac (“chaste tree”), although this has never been scientifically proven. It is widely cultivated in warm, temperate regions, loves full sun, a well-draining, loamy, neutral to alcaline soil, and is hardy to −15 °C as well as pretty…
-
Nerium oleander
Oleander is one of those plants that seems to grow in every Mediterranean garden and is also seen all along highways, roadsides, and public spaces in southern France. It is native or naturalized in many warm regions from northwest Africa and the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, the Arabian Peninsula, southern Asia and even southern…
-
Verbascum
Verbascum is a family of over 400 different species of flowering plants, commonly called mullein, some of which are used in herbal medicine. Verbascum species are native to Eurasia with the Mediterranean being the home of the largest number of varieties. But despite this and despite Verbascum being well-suited for dry and chalky soils, I’ve…