At Viveros Florena, our speciality has always been Mediterranean style plants – those that will survive the searing heat of summer, the odd frost in winter, vicious winds, poor stony soil and will do all that on very little water, becoming more and more drought resistant as the years go by whilst, of course, increasing in beauty!
It sounds like a very tall order but, believe it or not, there are lots of plants that slot happily into this category and we are well known for having a great range of them, which we are constantly extending. Over the years we’ve noticed that many of you do not want to splash out on water too much; we’re all realising it is becoming an increasingly threatened resource, so it makes sense to seek out these gems of plants and people do travel to us, from far and wide, to find them.
They tend to have a soft palette range which blends well into the campo – dusky visions of blue, lilac, pink with white and pale yellow. Leaves are usually small and often silvered. Growth is low and mounding, huddling out of the wind. They are perfect plants for banks, gravel areas and rocky outcrops.
We have a huge range of them but I want you to get intimate with a few very special ones that you may not know but would want to know!
Ballota pseudodictamnus, Grecian horehound, false dittany. Native to Turkey and the Aegean Islands, it forms a small densely-leaved shrublet, 30cm tall but spreading to 1m across. The soft, woolly, grey-green leaves are accompanied by inconspicuous white and purple-lipped flowers. It becomes very drought resistant, tolerating very poor conditions. Hummocking against even salt-laden winds, it looks lovely when shimmering with dew or raindrops.
Leucophyllum langmaniae, Texas sage is native to the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico – a good indication of how tough it is! It forms a slow-growing but exceedingly dense and tough mounding grey-leaved shrub, ultimately to about 1.5m and wide. Its lovely lilac flowers are produced in profusion through summer and autumn. Plant it in full sun and irrigate infrequently or not at all once established.
Nepeta x faassenii, Faassen’s catnip. Our cat, Florence, has a passion for two plants – kiwi vines (he will turn them out of their pots and rub against the roots) and catmint when it is fresh and in new growth. Both send him into euphoric frenzies! Nepetas are some of our best perennials in drought-resistant gardens being long-lived, easy to grow, showy lavender-blue flowers and fragrant leaves, and resistant to most browsing animals – except cats – and an excellent source of nectar to bees and butterflies. N. faassenii is a sterile hybrid from the Dutch breeders J. H. Faassen forming an aromatic, spreading clump around 50cm tall with a spread of 1m. Flowering best in sunny positions, they will tolerate a wide range of soil types, ranging from poor stony ground to dry clay; waterlogging is their enemy. There’s a lovely selection that I haven´t been able to find yet called ‘Purrsian Blue’, smaller and, of course, even more desirable to cats. You have to have it just for the name!
The oregano genus contains some 40 species native to Turkey, Syria and stretching across the Mediterranean region and south-west Asia. The genus name comes from the Greek oros meaning mountain and gamos meaning beauty – beauty of the mountains. Many have great culinary value, whereas others are more ornamental but the nectar of all oreganums is highly concentrated, with oreganum vulgare registering the most concentrated sugar-rich nectar of any plant. Hoverflies hover constantly around it – try it next to your vegetables or roses because hoverfly larvae have a voracious appetite for aphids and will help keep your plants clean. Oregano laevigatum Herrenhauser is one I want to introduce you to. It is, of course, an origanum but not one we would greatly use in the kitchen; its culinary properties are not great, it has little aroma and taste, but it does look wonderfully decorative. Upright to about 50cm high with an equal spread, in a sunny position it has dark, sultry foliage with wiry black stems supporting neat minute pink flowers backed by deep purple calices. It’s a lovely combination that is irresistible to bees and butterflies.
Antennaria dioica, charmingly known as pussy toes loves lean, gritty soil, full sun and very little water. It’s a ground-hugging perennial that will spread a foliage mat to half a square metre but only 5cm or so high. Clusters of tiny white or pink flowers, looking like pussies’ toes or pads, rise on stems to 30cm tall. It’s a sweetie worth trying.
Good companions for these would be grasses – the lovely fluffy pennisetum villosum or dark copper-bronze pennisetum rubrum, steely grey-blue leymus arenarius and fluffy and flowing stipa tenuissima. Or, for something heftier, there’s a huge range of phormiums with striped leaves – cream and green, burgundy or pink, cream, sage. Lots of lovely colour combinations to make your dry areas zing with colours that will softly draw the eye.
We have all of these in stock, with lots more too so call in and see us soon..
Viveros Florena, Cómpeta, Málaga.
Garden Centre, Landscape Designers and Constructors.
Winter Hours: 10-4 closed Sundays and Mondays.
Bio Food and Health Market every
Bio Food and Health Market every Wednesday morning.
Tel:689928201 Email:florenaspain@hotmail.com Web:viverosflorena.com
Facebk:Lorraine Cavanagh’s Garden Centre, Viveros Florena
