Tag: shrubs
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Colutea media
Colutea media “Copper Beauty” seems to be a longer-blooming cultivar of Colutea arborescens, a native of Southern Europe from Spain to Roumania. In the wild it grows in well drained, chalky soil, mostly on dry slopes and rocky meadows, and likes full sun. Colutea media blooms from May through September and its flowers turn into…
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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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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…
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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…
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Santolina
Somewhat unspectacular plants, but very good shrubs to have in a Mediterranean garden. Santolina chamaecyparissus An evergreen Mediterranean shrub, growing to 50 x 80 cm. The very aromatic, grey-green leaves have a scent reminiscent of Chamaemelum nobile. The round yellow flower heads appear in May-June. Santolina chamaecyparissus has been a feature of Mediterranean herb gardens…
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Medicago arborea
Medicago arborea is a native shrub of the Mediterranean Basin, where it grows wild on rocky shores. It is used as fodder for animals and apparently the leaves can be eaten in salads. I haven’t tried it yet… Like all Medicago, it can fix nitrogen in the soil. It grows up to about 150 x…