Tag: perennials
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Agastache aurantiaca
Another one of those plants where it pays to look very closely… Garden centers will sell Agastache aurantiaca as suitable for Mediterranean climates, mentioning maybe that it comes from Mexico. Looking closely however, it is native in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango which are both mountainous. Thus it likes cool nights, cold winters,…
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Ballota or Pseudodictamnus
One of my favorites for a dry garden: Ballota pseudodictamnus and Ballota hirsuta. Anyway that’s what garden centers will sell them under even though apparently they should correctly be called Pseudodictamnus mediterraneus and P. hirsutus – who cares. Both are very similar and fascinating in appearance. Ballota pseudodictamnus is native to the Eastern and Southern…
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Nepeta
When I came here I had some bad memories of Nepeta becoming the mangled victim of deadly cat passion with my own and the neighbors’ cats rolling around on it, digging it out, eating it up, and finally killing it. But it turns out that not all cats are created equal regarding the effects of…
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Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Unsung hero of the dry garden. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides – the “blue-flowered leadwort” – is a native from Western China. It grows and grows, unfettered by heat or drought, and blooms from June through September in a very beautiful bright blue over somber green leaves. The leaves may also turn red in the fall. I had…
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Dorycnium
These two mediterranean plants belong to the Lotus genus. They need light, poor, and well-drained soil, are very drought tolerance (code de secheresse 4-5, according to Filippi) and tolerate frost down to -12℃ if planted correctly. Both are supposed to have a limited lifespan but to reseed themselves easily. So far they haven’t done so…
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Teucrium – Germander
Teucrium, also known as “germander”, is a large plant genus with about 250 species of flowering perennials and shrubs worldwide. Most of them are native to the Mediterranean region and thus are pretty heat- and drought-tolerant while also being frost hardy to -10℃ or more. They are simple to cultivate, have no great demands besides…