The
Mediterranean Garden Society

Past Events

We finished 2007 off with a splendidly entertaining, informative and witty lecture from Pat Mills on Understanding Roses. He brought sense to the bewildering array of varieties, outlining their history from Roman times, the Chinese strains and the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empress Josephine (whose middle name was Rose) in making them popular in Europe. His long experience of growing roses in the difficult climate of inland Spain (minus 15 degrees to plus 40) with no water produced many helpful tips on methods and suitable varieties. 2008 has been sparse for visits since we have run seriously short of venues. However we had an exceptional day in late May on the Costa Brava visiting the green Italianate garden of St Clothilde at Lloret del Mar which was a triumph of design from the 1920s. Then lunch at Judy and Geoff Jordan’s with the treat of wandering their 11 hectare garden which is slowly being hewn out of a wilderness of wild heather and planted with an intriguing collection of English and native flowering plants. After lunch we returned for the second time to Pinya Del Rosa, the extraordinary sixty year old cactus and succulent garden at Santa Cristina perched high on the cliffs above the sea. The previous visit three years ago in February was timed for the Aloe flowering. This time the massive tree-like cacti were cascading white blooms, beautifully set off by the shrieking peacocks fanning their blue tails on the pathways. The Opuntia collection here, some 600 varieties, is the largest in the world. We had our normal annual lunch at Banyuls Sur Mer on Sunday October 5th with a lecture from Gill Pound of La Petite Pépinière de Caunes on Dry Climate Plants for Catalonia.

A Day of Palm Trees and Succulents 2007
On a beautiful February morning, with more than a touch of spring in the air, around 20 members of the Catalonia branch of the MGS met at the palm and exotic tree specimen nursery of Eusebi Torrent Serra in Anglès, close to Girona.

Many of the trees were new to the majority of us, including the fascinating bottle-shaped Chorisia speciosa, with spike-like protrusions on the trunk. All of the trees we saw originate in Argentina or other parts of South America and are transported at a relatively mature stage to Spain. We also saw the Erythrina crista-galli, so-called because its orange-red flowers resemble a cock's crest or comb, and Geoffroea decorticans, which has an appearance similar to mimosa and is resistant to both drought and cold spells. The palms included superb examples of Butia yatay as well as Trithrinax campestris (blue needle palm) and the blue-hued Brahea armata.

We then continued on to Eusebi's nursery with its vastly impressive selection of palms, including enormous examples of Phoenix canariensis, as well as Sabal mexicana which is resistant to cold and wind, Cycas revoluta and Jubaea chilensis. The long lines of palms in oversize containers formed impressive avenues and at a certain point the wide pathway with stretches of Butia yatay on either side was reminiscent of the avenues at Luxor or Karnak.

Even more breathtaking was the third part of the visit, this time to Eusebi's private estate up on the hillside. Here we were faced with the astounding scene of 25,000 palm trees of various sizes, colours and patterns, surrounding his house, almost as far as the eye could see. Eusebi's grandfather and father were dealers in soil and it was his father who started the plantation and passed on to his son the passion for palms of every description.

After lunch in the warm sunshine in the port of Blanes, our last visit of the day was to the Jarn Bonico Tropical Pinya de Rosa, close to Lloret de Mar. This garden has a wonderful collection of cacti and succulents and was the original idea of the owner, Dr. Fernando Riviere de Caralt, who started the collection in 1945. The timing of our excursion was carefully planned to allow us to view the aloes in flower and they were a magnificent sight. Those in bloom were mainly the Aloe arborescens species (part of the multi-stemmed aloes group), and the rambling aloe group. Amongst these we could view Aloe striatula (yellow wiry stem flowers ) and Aloe ciliaris (hair-like structure with yellow-tipped, bright red flowers ). Also in flower in the creeping aloe group were Aloe distans (head-shaped flowers from dull orange to bright red) and Aloe mitriformis (creeping aloe with bright red flowers).

In the spotted aloe group, we found Aloe grandidentata (multi-branched, dull red flowers), Aloe maculata and Aloe zebrina (dull pink flowers).

Sadly enough, the most spectacular aloes of the single stemmed group were not yet in bloom: Aloe marlothii (very large bright orange-red flowers), Aloe ferox (orange to red, yellowish and even white forms), Aloe speciosa (flowers changing colour from red to greenish-white rosette).

It was difficult and even impossible to distinguish all the different varieties, as most of them are natural hybrids. Hybrids often grow more rapidly, flower sooner and produce more striking flowers than pure species.

The various collections of plants in the garden have been laid out systematically in large rock-enclosed beds with strong representation from opuntias and platiopuntias, cylindropuntias and austrocylindropuntias, Agavaceae and aloes. Plants have been sourced from their natural habitats, but also from other botanical gardens and private collections all over the world. American specialists regard the Opuntia collection here as one of the most important globally, and the collections of Agavaceae, aloes, yuccas and Mesembryanthemaceae (Aizoaceae) are considered to be amongst the best in Europe. The entire collection currently contains more than 7000 species excluding the local flora. Every year more than 1500 species are sown to increase the collection, which is based on original types and officially recognised hybrids.

The Pinya de Rosa Garden is located on a hillside with a view of the sea, and it is possible to walk down to the beach through a wooded area which belongs to the property. We were fortunate to be there when there were virtually no other visitors, which gave us the impression of having this beautiful park full of exotic foliage and flowers all to ourselves.

At first glance one might think that a day spent looking at palm trees and succulents is quite a narrow choice - but no, it was fascinating and inspiring to see what is available and what one can do with plants that make a major contribution to a drought-resistant and water-wise garden.
Liz Thompson and Dominique Cordonnier

The Head of the Catalonian Branch, Marjorie Orr, is a gardener of the happy amateur variety, who has slid down the latitudes from rain sodden Glasgow, through an extended stay in temperate London, building three gardens there from scratch. She is now learning to plant with a pick-axe in the vineyard soil of Banyuls and is in the very early stages of re-designing an old garden there.