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| It is a beautiful, warm, sunny day here to-day. I have spent the morning planting some new plants. I have planted; Agastache Summer Sunset Bouvardia ternifolia Choisya White Dazzler Diascia personata Hemerocallis Primal Scream Knifophia Mango Popsicle Sphraeralcea Childerley Ratibida pinnata Geum Nordick Geum Carlskaer Geum rubin Geum Firestorm ALL of these plants are brand new to me. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Are we envious? speechless (for the moment) |
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- Posted by daisyincrete 10? (My Page) on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 8:17
| Campanula, I do not for one moment believe that you are speechless. What would we do without your erudite waffle? Daisy |
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| Ho, but I am struck down with geum envy........and at last, I might be able to grow some. The common water-avens, g.rivale actually grows wild in our woods so after all those sad attempts (which withered away to nothing), I fully intend to get going with them. The geum chiloense types I mainly grew are lovely, especially some of the sterile (long blooming) ones such as Totally Tangerine and Firestorm...but will grow into enormous clumps which seem to need dividing every 3 years at least. The neater g.coccineum (I have had Cooky) tend to make smaller (quite tiny, in fact) plants with the brightest green foliage..... but it is the subtle (ahem) rivale hybrids I crave (those shy nodding heads, faintly blushing, the epitome of coy and winsome). Oh Sphaeralcea - yet more favourites - in fact, I love the malvas almost across the whole tribe (I am sowing iliamna rivularis, a completely new one to me). Missed the boat for more mallows now but have had some cuties at the sunny allotment. I bet you could grow pavonia and the terrific hermannias (tried, failed). When I was getting the allotment going, for some unaccountable reason, the agastaches passed me by completely - I regret not exploring these more when sunny vistas were the norm (instead of strangled brambly shadows). Liking the look of the bouvardia too - I can get my vermillion and scarlet hit with mimulus aurianticus and zauschneria (and the ever so accommodating zinnias).....but they never look as good under English skies as they would in that actinic Mediterranean gleam..... |
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| 'actinic' - oh, I must start using that one, Campanula. Daisy, where do you get your plants from? Can you get them in Crete or do you have to import? In which case is it complicated? |
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- Posted by daisyincrete (My Page) on Fri, Jan 24, 14 at 1:49
| Campanula, I used to grow Geum rivale in England. I had it up on a bank, so that I could look up into those "shy nodding heads". Luckily it was a damp bank, so it was very happy there. Here, I will stick mainly to the chiloense types. I can't imagine many other types liking it. Thanks for letting me know that Firestorm may grow into an enormous clump. Although, I am a bit mean with water. I only water once a fortnight in the summer, so it may not be so quick to make an enormous clump. My theory is, cram loads of plants in close together and keep the moisture in the soil. The trouble is, it is a tiny garden and I want more plants than I have space for. I didn't know iliamna rivularis or the hermannias. I had to google them. Oh no! They are lovely..... I have no more room. I have fallen in love with Hermannia pinnata. Look at this photo of it in the link below. It is yummy. Floral uk, The nurseries/garden centres in Crete are useless. They all offer the same plants. There are lots of bougainvilleas, hibiscus, gardenias, chrysanthemums et al. Not that there is anything wrong with these plants. In fact, I have most of them in my garden. But if you want anything a little bit different, you have to look further afield. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Hermannia pinnata
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- Posted by daisyincrete 10? (My Page) on Fri, Jan 24, 14 at 1:59
| Here is the link for Constantine Garden Nurseries (Cornwall Gardens). Unfortunately, they changed their website recently and you can no longer check on plants quickly. You have to plow through the alphabet to find things. They do grow a wide range of mainly herbaceous, restios and a few climbers though, so it is worth having a look. Daisy |
Here is a link that might be useful: Constantine Garden Nurseries
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- Posted by daisyincrete 10? (My Page) on Fri, Jan 24, 14 at 2:03
| Here is the link for Cotswold Garden Flowers. They are more expensive, but the plants are a good size. I was impressed with the quality. Daisy |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cotswold Garden Flowers
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| Thanks for that daisy - I can't actually put anything else in my garden as it is absolutely microscopic. I was just interested in whether you had any sources on the island and, if not whether, it was difficult to import plants? Do you have any of the fabulous Cretan wild flowers on your land? |
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- Posted by daisyincrete 10? (My Page) on Sat, Jan 25, 14 at 2:16
| Floral uk, it is not difficult to import plants within the E.U. In fact, when I first planned to come, I rang the relevant ministry. (It used to be called DEFRA, I can't remember what it is called now). They told me that I could take almost any plants I liked with me, There was a short list of plants I couldn't take. I remember rhododendrons, pyracantha and potatoes among others were on the no no list, but other than those, any plants, whether bare root, potted in compost or in my own garden soil, could go. So my husband and I, bought an ancient, cheap horse box, loaded our furniture and loads of plants from my garden in it, and set off across Europe. It was great fun. We stopped at various campsites for a few days or weeks on the way and at each stop, the plants would be unloaded, set around the horse box and watered. All the people in their smart mobile homes would stare at this ancient horse box with it's own garden around it. As for the local wild flowers, I am very fortunate because I am surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, mountains and the sea shore. I can walk or drive in any direction from my home and see a lot of Mediterranean plants in the most beautiful setting. But for my own garden, I want something different. Perhaps it is deeply psychological, but I want my garden to go on and on. I do not want it to aestivate for months every year. Long flowering periods and looking good year round, are very important to me in my tiny garden. The local Anemone coronaria.
The local Clematis cirrhosa which grows wild all around here, occasionally seeds itself in my garden too. But I have to take them out, it would get much too big.
More of the local flowers
...and the ancient horse box.
I seem to have gone of topic here!!! |
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| Thanks, Daisy - I enjoyed reading about your travelling garden and I loved the pictures. Don't apologise for the great entertainment. |
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| Hey, we are horsebox comrades! Ours is equally old (a Leyland Daf with timber cladding) but we are still living (partly) in ours. I have a couple of much dog-eared copies of Mediterranean Flowers and Greek and Balkan Flowers by Oleg Polunin - my absolute top class reference books for all things Med. Worth looking out for. Trying not to be eaten up with climate envy here (I always desired a warm place but looks like it is a chilly woodland now). |
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- Posted by river_crossroads 8b Central Louisiana (My Page) on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 16:06
| Hi Daisy, I have admired your beautiful roses before and enjoyed seeing more pictures of your area. Sorry, have not grown any of your new plants and failed with Agastache Summer Love (vs your Summer Sunset). And forgive me for asking instead of answering. I have gotten seeds for candytuft / Iberis umbellata (Brassicaceae) that I have read is native to Crete. The “candy” supposedly comes from Candia, a former name for Crete apparently, “tuft” from the knotted look. In the USA people reportedly grow the white color as a perennial. I’ve gotten seeds for the one that comes in shades of pink, reportedly a perennial in my z8b and warmer. Have you seen either the white or the pink either growing wild or being cultivated in Crete? My concern is that I may get too much rain for it as our avg is 55 inches / 140 cm. Low this severe winter has been 14F / -10C, high is apx 100F / 38C (rounding up). Hoping to attract butterflies. Thanks! River |
Here is a link that might be useful: Seeds for Pink Candytuft
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- Posted by daisyincrete 10? (My Page) on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 7:06
| River, yes Iberis umbellatus does grow wild around here. I think it grows throughout most of the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of it. I will have to look out for it this spring. It is an annual, not a perennial, but should flower for a long time if you dead head it. We do not get any summer rain at all here, so by mid summer, it is dropping it's seeds, ready for the next spring. However, with summer rain or watering and deadheading, it should flower for most of the summer. I used to grow it in Cornwall, England, which is a high rainfall part of the U.K. The bees butterflies and birds loved it. Daisy |
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- Posted by river_crossroads 8b Central Louisiana (My Page) on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 11:47
| Daisy, thanks so much, appreciate the info! Best, River |
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| river_crossroads - there is a white perennial Iberis but it is I sempervirens, not I umbellata. It is evergreen and flowers in spring only. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Perennial candytuft
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- Posted by river_crossroads 8b Central Louisiana (My Page) on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 16:47
| floral_uk, thanks for info! I wish we could give Daisy some more info. Can anyone else help with the original question? I killed the Agastache ‘Summer Love’ that is the same series as Daisy’s ‘Summer Sunset’ in a different color. I think I kept it too dry and gave it too much sun right after I got it and transplanted it to a clay pot. I wish I had kept the pot closer to my door so I could checked on it 2x/day, wish I had paid more attention to how the plant looked and less attention to the directions. I realize that other people are better gardeners than I am! Thanks again, Daisy and floral, River |
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