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Aesculus parviflora
July 2008
The first AGM my wife and I attended was Tuscany 2003. Part of the programme involved us being let loose in Florence for half a day. This merely served to whet the appetite and we resolved to return one day for a more leisurely visit. It took 5 years but in June of this year we made it. Along with Florence we spent time in Pisa with the Leaning Tower as the primary objective but also intending to visit the Orto Botanico, one of the oldest in Italy dating from 1543. June is probably not the best time to judge any garden in the Mediterranean and the Botanical Garden was pleasant if not spectacular until we rounded a bend and were confronted by a tree covered in a mass of white flowers. The information plaque identified it as Aesculus parviflora and it turned out to be not so much a tree as a small copse of suckering stems. The photo is a close-up of one of the flower panicles.
John Joynes
Flowers of May Wreath
May 2008
In Greece on the morning of May 1, we make a wreath of all the available flowers to hang at our front door for good luck. It stays there till St. John's Day (June 23), when it is traditionally burned in a bonfire, and the children jump over the flames three times. No doubt it's a remnant of pagan midsummer rituals. These days, especially in the cities, you can buy ready-made wreaths at florists, but the home-made ones are the best. Mine has a base of woven ivy branches. I tried to include everything that was in flower on that day, though I ended up leaving out those wildflowers that wilted or lost their petals when cut, like the many different kinds of cistuses.
Cali Doxiadis
FLOWERS OF MAY WREATH 2008
Allium, wild, white and pink
Antirrhinum, various different
Broom (Spanish)
California poppies,white, yellow and orange
Camellias
Campanula
Cerastium tomentosum
Chamaemelum nobile
Choisya ternata
Dandelions
Dianthus corsicus
Euphorbia dendroides
Gladiolus byzantinus
Iris germanica
Lavandula dentata
Lavandula ‘ Goodwin Creek Grey’
Lilacs, white and purple
Marguerites
Ophrys, 4 different
Orchis (Bee orchids), various different
Pelargonia, various scented
Philadelphus
Phlomis italica
Phlomis fruticosa
Roses, various different old varieties
Rosa Banksiae yellow
Rosa Banksiae white
Salvia officinalis
Scilla hyacinthoides
Serapia, 2 different
Sweetpeas, various
Viburnum ‘Snowball’
Weigelia
Tristagma uniflorum
March 2008
A member of the Alliaceae family formerly known as Ipheion uniflorum, the small whitish-blue Spring Starflower makes a good companion to the clumps of Iris unguicularis in my Languedoc garden. It starts flowering in March when the Algerian irises cease to bloom, proclaiming the arrival of spring. It self-seeds freely.
Jean Vaché
Euphorbia veneris (Aphrodite's spurge)
February 2008
Euphorbia veneris (Aphrodite's spurge) is a perennial herb, 15-30cm tall but with a tendency to a prostrate habit. Its yellow-green flowers appear from February to June. A Cyprus endemic, it is fairly common on rocky slopes, in forests and open garrigue in the Troodos massif area of the island. The Troodos mountain range occupies a large part of western Cyprus and was created by pressure caused by the collision of the African and Eurasian lithospheric plates. At its highest point (Chionistra peak) it reaches 1,952 metres above sea level.
The Agricultural Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment are currently conducting trials to assess the suitability of E. veneris for garden use. Although in its natural habitat it occurs between 600-1,700m, my plants appear to be quite happy at a mere 30m above sea level.
Photograph by John Joynes
A Winter Companion
January 2008
Iris unguicularis is a perfect winter-flowering inhabitant of my garden in the Languedoc. I do not recollect ever having planted it; birds probably brought it for it grows wild in the garrigue around my village. The common English name of this Mediterranean member of the Iridaceae family is Algerian Iris, while in France it is known as iris de Provence or iris d'Algérie. Once established in a garden it will thrive and spread by itself. I recently learned at Sparoza how to use two forks to uproot clumps that have become too big and then divide them by slicing through them with a large knife. Over the years, this iris has proved a faithful provider of winter colour in my garden.
Jean Vaché.
Resilience and abundance in nature
November 2007
Participants in the MGS Symposium in Athens saw a striking stand of Crocus
goulimyi blooming in the MGS garden at Sparoza, but the group that carried on to a tour of the south west Peloponnese were entranced by this mass display. James Cable the photographer writes:
I thought you might like this photo of a lovely display of Crocus goulimyi on the outskirts of a small town in the Mani. The area had been damaged by fire and this was a moving sign of nature's resilience.
A surprise find
July 2007
Growing in a courtyard in Pigadia, the capital town of the Greek island of Karpathos, this frost tender Plumeria, probably Plumeria rubra var. acutifolia is a surprising sight and wonderful specimen. The flowers are delicately fragrant and long lasting. A native of South America, in non-tropical climes the Plumeria loses its leaves in winter. Heather Hartshorne notes in Plants for Dry Gardens*:
“An open, angular deciduous shrub 2-4 m high with exquisitely perfumed flowers and a desperately ugly appearance in its winter bareness.” An excellently frank description. She goes on to recommend it as suitable for dry gardens “…it has plain cultural tastes being content with any well-drained soil and routine summer irrigation. It thrives in a sheltered northerly aspect with protection from frost. Its seasonal nudity is best camouflaged by shrubs like Melianthus major whose leaf cycle alternates with its own.”
* Plants for Dry Gardens by Heather Hartshorne, Allan & Unwin, Australia 1995. ISBN 1-86373-971-8
Photographs by Frances Pavlidis
Elderflower Cordial
It’s Elderflower time again so I would like to share with you a well tried and tested recipe from Hedgerow Cookery by Rosamond Richardson; perfect for hot summer days, and so easy to make.
20 heads of elderflowers (washed)
1.75 kg sugar
l.8 litres boiled water, cold
50 grams tartaric acid
2 sliced lemons
Put all the ingredients into a large pan and stir periodically for 24 hours. I added the sugar just as the water was cooling to help it to dissolve. Strain and bottle. What could be simpler?
Dilute to taste with water or mineral water. It is ready to drink immediately but will keep for several months. Mine has kept perfectly in the fridge for 12 months.
Jan Thompson
Italy
Sambucus nigra – European elder
An Easter Bouquet
Bearded Iris (unknown bicoloured variety widely naturalised in Corfu)
Bearded Iris (unknown yellow) cultivated.
Honesty
Arum Lily
Lupin (unknown variety, blue, wild or naturalised in Corfu).
Euphorbia dendroides.
A Central American senecio
The photo is of Senecio confusus just coming into flower. I believe the name very roughly translates to ‘confused old man’ – pretty appropriate for me, I guess. As the name suggests, it is a lax, ill-disciplined climber, though it’s too lightweight to be a real thug. The flowers are scented and it strikes very easily from cuttings. My plants grow up frames in dappled shade as I’m not sure that they would withstand the full heat of the sun in summer.
John Joynes
A delicate flower for the autumn
What do I say about the Hibiscus mutabilis? I sent the photo as the plant is in full bloom and the two flowers together looked such a nice shot. It featured in a past issue of The Mediterranean Garden (No 40) with an article by Meye Maier. I've had my bush for several years and it blooms profusely in both spring and autumn. A native of Southern China it is frost tender and produces a very lax, spreading bush/small tree. My plant has a double bloom that opens pure white, gradually blushing pink before becoming deep red as it closes and falls.
John Joynes
Cyprus
A Summer Stalwart
Just a short watering once a week will ensure that the South African Tulbaghia violacea keeps producing its pretty violet flowers throughout the hottest months whilst expanding into an attractive evergreen clump. The plant's unfortunate garlicy smell will not be too apparent if the clumps are distributed around the garden rather than massed. When the MGS visited the gardens of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2002 where the whole area around the azalea maze was mass planted with Tulbaghia, it was whispered that the designer had only subsequently discovered the plant's 'scent'.
Photograph by Davina Michaelides
A lovely plant in July as yet unidentified
Can anyone identify the plant illustrated below? It was purchased in Crete but I have also seen it in Cyprus. It is a perennial sub-shrub with long, narrow, lance-shaped leaves. In my pots it reaches a height of 50cm or more in moist soil, in sun or partial shade. The dark green leaves are up to 15cm long and about 5mm wide, with rather beautiful slightly asymmetric veining, starting from stems with short segments that have a faintly succulent look. The young stems have reddish striations. The tubular, five-petalled flowers, produced in summer, are of a good clear mauve colour (neither royal purple nor pale lilac) and are 4cm long, expanded at the mouth to 4cm in width. They have a fragile, papery texture and are held singly on fine, wiry pedicels, giving the plant a delicate, airy look. The flower buds are cream-coloured. The plant self-seeds profusely and tolerates low winter temperatures.
I'd be grateful to anyone who can put a name to this plant.
Flavio Zanon, Iraklion, Crete, Greece
From The Mediterranean Garden No 34 October 2003
Many thanks to those of you who have identified this plant as Ruellia brittoniana.
Photograph by Cali Doxiadis
April in Corfu
Text and photographs by Cali Doxiadis.
Traditionally poppies grow in wheatfields, but in Corfu I came upon a spectacular display in an onion field. The site is a terrace surrounded by giant olive trees overlooking the interior of the island near the village of Pelekas, home of our Web Manager, Jon Watts. The campanulas are unidentified, possibly a local Corfu variant of Campanula drabifolia.
Members of the MGS are invited to send a photo for the homepage of a flower or plant typical for the time of year with an accompanying short description.
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