Tag: scented garden
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Mediterranean Iris
Live and learn… I had always thought of Iris as a delicate and overbred plant for experienced gardeners. But when I came here I found out that Iris is one of the most robust, hardy, drought and heat resistant flowers there are. Iris varieties grow wild everywhere around here, from small Iris lutescens in the…
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Roses for a Mediterranean Garden
A garden without roses? It’s possible but is it necessary? I did my research in 2022 and chose what I thought was a varied selection of robust roses. My experience so far shows that there are huge differences between varieties, even those said to be robust and resistant. And there are a lot of aspects…
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Syringa vulgaris
I love the scent of lilac and the flowering season is always too too short. Even more so in this Mediterranean garden, where it lasts all of two weeks in April. The rest of the year the shrub seems solely focused on surviving. It is an old plant, growing in all-day full sun on the…
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Rhamnus alaternus
Rhamnus alaternus is an evergreen shrub with small fragrant flowers in spring and red berries in summer. It is native to the Mediterranean region, pretty drought-tolerant (Filippi code de secheresse 4 of 6), hardy to -12℃, thrives in sun or shade, and can grow up to 5m high. It can grow in hedges or by…
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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…
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Spartium junceum
In June the countryside down here is full of these wonderfully bright yellow, fragrant shrubs that can grow up to 3×2 meters. Spartium junceum is a native of the Mediterranean Macchia and Garrigue in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa. It is also found naturalized in other regions with a similar climate, like California…