Tag: perennials
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Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca Citrina
This subspecies of Coronilla valentina has pale yellow, scented flowers from January through April. It is a small (about 100x100cm), evergreen Mediterranean shrub, at home in brushy, dry habitats such as the garrigue. It needs well-drained soil and can take half-shade. It is hardy to -15℃ but likes warm and sheltered conditions. I’ve planted it…
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Viola alba & odorata
My soil improvement measures seem to bear fruit (and the rains in the winter have certainly helped) to finally see dainty purple and white viola pop up in the shady, moist corners of the February garden. And I never even planted them! Viola alba and Viola odorata are Mediterranean natives but both grow in a…
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Lavandula
One of the quintessential Mediterranean plants, lavender comes in a variety of types, differing in size, height, and blooming season. It is not easy to tell them apart and depending on where you buy them they may all just be called “Lavande” (this is my major beef with most regular garden centers). All lavenders are…
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Antirrhinum
I always judged Snapdragons to be a bit of a stuffy, boring flower for stuffy, bourgoeis gardens. How unjust I was – and how wrong. Since they kept popping up in my garden uninvited I have learned that Antirrhinum are a Mediterranean native and very drought-tolerant. They can be annuals or short-lived perennials that grow…
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Perovskia atriplicifolia
What a perplexing plant! I see it everywhere around here with its great big bushes of purple flowers abuzz with bees in late summer and fall. Perovskia are supposed to be superbly drought-resistant plants, thriving and rapidly growing in even the poorest, most arid soil. Yet none of the ones I’ve been planting in my…
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Verbena bonariensis
Another one of those plants that seemed not suited to this area but simply took a year to establish itself. In 2023 I sowed and planted Verbena bonariensis into the then still more or less empty garden. They grew and flowered but stayed small and during the summer they constantly needed water just to survive.…