Hot Summers in a Lemnian Garden 1.


 

Hot Summers in a Lemnian Garden 1.

Our gate, Almond on one side, pine on the other, pittesporums lining the drive

Lemnos is in the Northern Aegean, Latitude 39 in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the same latitude as Madrid, Ankara, Beijing and Denver. In the Southern Hemisphere, where we reside, this latitude is where you will find Wellington, Launceston.

The most severe heat arrives when the winds blow from Egypt. I had heard about the Meltemi, a northerly wind that can temper the hot summer humidity however during the years I’ve been going to the island these have not been noticeable. I have also not experienced the worst of the winter weather when the winds come from the opposite direction, north, from Russia! The worst of these are called the Vorias, which my neighbours tell me often seem to be lowing straight from Siberia.

It is the extremes of summer and winter that make it hard to grow plants from more temperate regions on this island. In summer, though the TV tells us there is a drenching going on in Italy we’ll sadly watch as the clouds pass to the north of the island. Thus we can have three or four months without rain. However this year was different. We had rain showers up to the end of June, and have just had an almighty thunder storm with more rain. Wonderful for the garden!

Plant  Toughies

‘Toughies’ are hard-hitting, and robust, and do well in most Med. situations. They are plants that have developed in certain ways to survive the droughts of summer and the frosts of winter. You’ll find that often flowers come in spring when the ground is still damp and the sun is less hot. Or they will have  narrow and leathery leaves to limit transpiration or spiky leaves, or thorns to prevent being eaten by goats!. 

But even toughies need care in a garden situation.

Albizia

Albitzia Tree



albitzia blossom

When I go for a walk along the coastal road in June I enjoy the sight and spicy scent of the Albizia trees in bloom along the side of the road. This low spreading tree with feathery leaves has a light graceful aspect and the flowers balls of pink stamens seem to be lightly sprinkled on the top of each tree. .  I read that these trees need summer warmth, moisture and a reasonably sheltered site, so I placed them alongside the wall in the front garden, in what has come to be known as the ‘hot garden’.

However though a ‘toughie’ and surviving along the roadsides in the garden they still need care. They are long stemmed and quick growing, and their long loose branches can catch the wind in winter and the strong  Lemnian winds could bring the whole tree down. So Anestis has  them very firmly and also cut them back hard each winter. Now they have stronger trunks and I think can cope quite well, though I’ve noticed that in a garden situation during the summer heat they tend to drop all their leaves, so I give a good soaking once a month.

Olive

Olive Tree

The olive, the two Mediterranean oaks, and the Aleppo Pine are trees that are found in all the countries bordering the Mediterranean. There are about twenty Olea species but the Olea europaea is the common olive and this is the one that is the source of olive oil. There are many cultivars with different size and quality of fruit, for example the large black Calamarta.

The main olive tree in our garden is very large and as old as the house, probably just over one hundred years old – though this is still young for an olive tree as they can live as long as 1,000 years. We let it grow tall in order to shade the terrace but it now needs some severe lopping to cut out some dead wood and encourage new shoots.

Most olive trees are pruned in order to bear more drupes. However, though we do not prune or spray, we had a huge harvest, all unmarked. So although I had to leave the island before they were black and ripe I picked a number of green olives and stored them into plastic drinking bottles which I then filled with salty water. Returning six months later I emptied out the salty water, rinsed the olives and then placed them into new jars with spicy vinegar. They are still a little bitter as I forgot to score them with a knive before bottling them,  but they are OK chopped to spice up potato salads or added to a cacciatore.  

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus in town

Eucalputus is a diverse genus with over 600 species of trees and large shrubs. I’m not sure which of the eucalypts is growing so well in the town of Myrina its huge truck blocking the pavement. However, to just take one, the Mountain Ash (Eucalptus regans) this is the tallest hardwood tree in the world, specimens grow to over 300 ft (100m) in Victori.  It has a long straight trunk and a small open crown. The bark is almost white and is shed annually in long ribbons. This eucalyptus grows in rain forests of Victoria where Takis and I live for half of the year. One problem with eucalypts is that they are so hardy they have become a pest in many places around the world.

Canna Lily

Canna Lily

This plant adds flowers to the garden (we have red and yellow varieties) but what I like about them is their leaves. These add variety to a bed of plants. Canna’s have rhizomes, not bulbs. The plant is also known as the Indian Shot Plant, as evidently the seeds were once used in shot guns. (Talk about a plant that is a toughie!

Pampas Grass

Pampas Grass

I have had pampas grass in other gardens where the plants were often left to cope by themselves. This plant is a real ‘toughie’ as it will grow practically anywhere, not fussy about soil or watering. It’s one of the grass family, and forms large clumps. It has tall plumes, up to two foot long which I enjoy using them as decoration in the house. There are 24 species native to Argentina and New Zealand but it gets its name because it grows on the pampas of Argentina. In early days of gardening in Australian it was often planted in the centre of a lawn as a specimen plant. However it is hard to cut back and sometimes it is easier to just burn the plant back.

Almond

Almond blossom



The old almond trees in the garden ten years ago

Almonds need well drained soils, do not like frosts, and need heat to set fruit. It is less winter hardy than peach trees, but the five old almond trees in our garden when we arrived were definitely survivors of a few cold winters. We are gradually losing them but still have three, with knarled trunks and signs of new limbs, having grown after old limbs have been removed.. In September we spread out plastic sheeting and then gather buckets of nuts after Anestis has attacked them with a long stick. We dry them out before taking off the outer covering. Then over the next few weeks our guests join us in cracking the hard shell and storing them in bottles, to be used in cooking, and as nut butter after Takis has roasted and minced them. Last year was a good harvest, but this year, unfortunately, I can see we won’t have many.

Oleander

Oleander

This is a bush that prefers dry, warm climates though in the wild it grows along water courses, in North Africa and in Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. In Greece this plant is appreciated for its flowers (pink, red, purple, yellow and apricot) that persist all summer. It is easy to cultivate as it is resistant to drought, tolerates root competition and can take drastic pruning. For all these reasons it is much grown in Greece used as a hedge or windbreak, planted under trees or even used as a pot plant.  At one time the Greek government had a policy of encouraging roadside plantings of oleanders.

However the whole plant is extremely poisonous. If parts of this plant are accidentally swallowed it can cause serious illness and even death.  There are stories in Australia of people being poisoned after using the stems as skewers for their barbequed meat, or of people using the sticks to light fires and succumbing to the toxic fumes.  It is probably because of this that in Greece it is said to be unlucky to have a plant in your garden, and so many choose to plant the bushes outside the garden walls.

Stone Pine

pines along the road

My pine tree I bought from a local nursery. It is also called an Umbrella Pine, and it makes a wonderful shaded canopy. There is one in the center of Myrina and a local coffee shop has set tables and chairs set under it. If mine grows to this size it will shade half the garden, though this does not worry me, for by that stage other plants will have grown, and the whole shape and outline of the garden will have altered.

These pines grow in forests around the coastal areas of the Mediterranean. The seeds are edible, and can be used in salads and pesto. They are drought tolerant and grow quickly so are good in plantations. In Lemnos one or two large gardens have planted these trees in groups and in a few places a municipality has planted small plantations. (It is another pine, the Aleppo Pine, that is tapped for the resin used in retsina.)

A pine in a field

pines in a part nearby

Pomegranate



Pomegranates



Pomegranate Tree

Since living in Australia I’ve been aware of a ‘pom’ as slang term for us Anglo’s, and I’ve wondered if this is from a rhyming slang, immigrant, becoming pomegranate, and cut down to ‘pom’? Another reason being that the arrivals from the land of apples were red cheeked.

In Greece it is called Rodia, and thus it is a very important symbol on the island of Rhodes. It is a small deciduous tree (with yellow leaves in autumn) growing to about 15 feet. It is grown in a wide variety of climates from tropical to warm-temperate, but the fruit will only ripen in hot dry summers. The fruit when ripe is an orange-red, with a thick rind surrounding a mass of reddish juicy seeds. I press the seeds to make juice. Another use is in salad recipes, the seeds sprinkled over the finished salad.

A bay tree in the herb garden

Some other Toughies

Bay, Sea Lavender (Limonium ), Fennel, Acacia Enchantments, Euphorbia, Fan Palm, Hemlock, Lantana, Pelargonium, Pencil Pine, Pittosporums, Tamarisk, Thyme, Yucca