Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: The Mediterranean Garden

Friday, October 8, 2010

The Mediterranean Garden

Helleborus lividus April 2010 in the Cascadia Garden

Hypericum cerastoides May 2009 in the Cascadia Garden

Erica australis 'Holehird' February 2009 in the Cascadia Garden

Myrtus communis August 2010 at the Good Shepherd Center

Rosmarinus officinalis April 2010 in Seattle

Cupressus sempervirens March 2010 in Seattle

Sedum hispanicum September 2010 in the Cascadia Garden

The terms Mediterranean garden & Mediterranean plants can be somewhat confusing. Many Mediterranean gardens include xeric plants from other regions of the world with Mediterranean climates. Mediterranean gardens are sometimes defined by a formal, geometric style with generous use of stone, but usually with xeric plants. Such gardens are also called Italian gardens, especially when they include many sculptures & few plants, believed by some to be the epitome of good taste.

The Mediterranean climate is warm & dry, with winter rainfall & summer drought. Such a climate exists in coastal regions of central Chile, central & southern California, southwestern Australia & the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The plant communities in these places are known as maquis (or macchia) in Mediterranean Europe, matorral in Chile, chaparral in California, kwongan in Australia & fynbos in South Africa.

This Mediterranean garden is composed entirely of xeric plants native to the lands that border the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Asia & Africa. Plants that have a wide distribution beyond the Mediterranean Basin are excluded. Design this garden in any way you like, exuberant or restrained, formal or informal. Make this garden on ground that slopes to the south or west in Seattle. It must be well-drained & exposed to maximum sun. This garden will require little or no irrigation beyond the 1st summer.

Mediterranean Garden Plant List

Trees

Arbutus unedo (Strawberry Tree)

Cedrus atlantica (Atlas Cedar) Cedrus libani (Cedar of Lebanon)

Cupressus sempervirens (Italian Cypress)

Laurus nobilis (Sweet Bay)

Pinus halepensis (Aleppo Pine) Pinus nigra (European Black Pine) Pinus pinaster (Maritime Pine) Pinus pinea (Italian Stone Pine)

Pyrus amygdaliformis (Almond Leaved Pear)

Querqus ilex (Holly Oak) Querqus suber (Cork Oak)

Shrubs

Cistus albidus (White Leaved Rockrose) Cistus clusii, Cistus crispus, Cistus incanus (Soft Hairy Rockrose) Cistus ladanifer (Gum Rockrose) Cistus monspeliensis (Montpelier Rockrose) Cistus salviifolius (Sage Leaved Rockrose)

Dorycnium hirsutum (Canary Clover)
Erica arborea (Tree Heath) Erica australis (Spanish Heath) Erica manipuliflora

Genista aetnensis (Mt Aetna Broom) Genista cineraria, Genista florida

Juniperus oxycedrus (Spanish Cedar) Juniperus phoenicea (Phoenicean Juniper)

Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender, though not native there) Lavandula dentata (French Lavender) Lavandula stoechas (Spanish Lavender)

Myrtus communis (Common Myrtle)

Ononis fruticosa

Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem Sage) Phlomis italica: the epithet italica was given by Linnaeus as it had arrived from or via Italy, but the plant only grows in the Balearic islands.

Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary)

Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton) Santolina virens

Viburnum tinus

Perennials

Acanthus mollis (Bear's Breech) Acanthus spinosis, Acanthus syriacus

Achillea tomentosa (Woolly Yarrow)

Allium moly (Golden Garlic) Allium neapolitanum (Naples Onion)

Antirrhinum 'Dulcinea's Heart', Antirrhinum majus (Common Snapdragon) Antirrhinum sempervirens, most species are perennial, of the 17 species, 16 are found in Spain.

Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's Beard)

Crocus sieberi

Digitalis dubia (Dwarf Spanish Foxglove) Digitalis thapsii, Digitalis obscura (Sunset Foxglove)

Eryngium amethystinum (Amethyst Sea Holly) Eryngium bourgatii (Mediterranean Sea Holly) Eryngium variifolium (Moroccan Sea Holly)

Euphorbia characias (Mediterranean Spurge)

Galanthus ikariae (Green Snowdrop)

Helleborus argutifolius (Corsican Hellebore) Helleborus lividus (Majorcan Hellebore)

Helictotrichon sempervirens (Blue Oat Grass)

Iris filifolia, Iris lusitanica (Yellow Spanish Iris) Iris tingitana (Moroccan Iris) Iris xiphium (Spanish Iris) all closely related, these were used to create Dutch Iris.

Knautia macedonica

Narcissus bulbocodium (Hoop Petticoats)

Paeonia clusii (Cretan White Peony) Paeonia corsica (aka P cambessedesii, Corsican Peony) Paeonia peregrina (Balkan Peony)

Scilla peruviana (Portuguese Squill) the scientific name peruviana results from confusion over the origin of the specimens from which the species was described by Linnaeus, who received specimens imported from Spain aboard a ship named Peru, & was misled into thinking the specimens had come from that country.

Salvia argentea (Silver Sage)

Stipa gigantea (Giant Feather Grass)

Groundcovers

Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer)

Hypericum cerastoides

Lithodora diffusa

Sedum brevifolium, Sedum gypsicola, Sedum hispanicum (Spanish Stonecrop) Sedum ochroleucum, Sedum sediforme

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About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.