Puglian plants to give your plot the sunny appeal of the Mezzogiorno
Creating an Italian-themed garden athome need not be just a pipe dream. Choose your plants well and the colours you loved so much on your summer holiday could flourish her etoo
Italian-style gardens have remained a constant with me. I love their meticulous geometric design of straight lines and circles, their gravel courtyards surrounded by overflowing flowers. Typical examples are made up of walls, pools, boxwood hedges, olive trees, the classic slender Italian cypresses, lavenders and ficus trees.
Then there is the art of topiary. Italian garden designers have been shaping evergreen plants into ornamental designs since Roman times. The intention was to underline their suppoed mastery of nature. To recreate this is a big undertaking involving time and money. So, perhaps looking at elements of the garden in floral terms may be a worthwhile exercise. Aside from the usual suspects of lavender, agapanthus, bay, thyme and rosemary, there are other Italian delights that are well worth investigating.
A recent opportunity to investigate this very topic came my way in the shape of an invitation from Puglia.ie, a new travel specialist in Ireland. This involved a week-long visit to the southern Italian province – what is essentially ‘the heel of the boot’ of Italy.
Buried away in the south, it possesses historical architecture and beaches untouched by tourists, and most importantly endless flowers and fauna that I had wanted to see for many years.
So, finally, this was my opportunity to investigate the more informal elements of Italian gardening, i.e. the plants that make up the backbone of their gardens, and to examine the many plants of the region. Thus I could recreate some Italian garden flair without having to resort to the more stringent traditional Italian topiary etc.
Ryanair has just recommenced its twice weekly service to the regional capital of Bari and I was on the first flight out with notebook and camera at the ready with a Puglia.ie guide to assist me in my endeavours as my Italian is enthusiastic but limited.
‘Buttercups’ in Puglia
Being spring, wildflowers were in prolific colours everywhere I looked. This had not always been the case, I was informed, and is thanks to the declining use of herbicides and the increase in organic farming, particularly in the region’s olive groves. Travelling through the countryside there are numerous chamomile plants and tasty wild edibles with the likes of chicory and blackberries beginning to emerge, though they are at their best later in the year.
Besides the endless and very welcome sight of olive trees, the star of the region was a mesmerising, stunning show of a clover-like five-petaled plant with soft yellow flowers, the Bermuda Buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae). It creates an endless sunny carpet under the olive groves and coastal areas of Puglia.
It is neither a buttercup nor from Bermuda, as it belongs to the wood sorrel family, and is now naturalised in Puglia, being originally from South Africa.
It is superbly pretty and cheerful but can prove invasive in cultivated grounds. Once established I am told it is almost impossible to eradicate. Not one to dig up and plant in your garden – just enjoy it or alternatively put it in a vase.
Perennially white
The Crocus Neapolitanus on the other hand is a little more shy and has no plans to be overly invasive. There are several species of crocuses in Puglia, this one was also scattered amongst the olive groves. Crocuses are perennial plants, native to Europe and North Africa with flowers that are cup-shaped and usually white. They have six petals and the flowers remain closed if there is no sun, a common trait to be aware of in plants from this region. While it may be difficult to track down this specific crocus, research tells me that Mr Middleton the seed merchant stocks some very similar varieties.
Livingstone Daisy
Lampranthus, also known as Livingstone Daisy, was flowering in purple and a magnificent orange all over the region and in town gardens while I was there.
I have grown these plants very successfully in a dry sunny garden in Ireland, but they do tend to make me nervous in the winter. A foul frost will see them off and they probably won’t survive most midland counties.
In Puglia the plants are found in dry, sandy areas usually on the margins of beaches and sand-dunes. They trail down cliffs and grow to an amazing size. Lampranthus is a succulent, so it is in simple terms a leafing cacti, with fleshy leaves and showy daisy-like flowers.
Different members of the family come in a variety of colours, from snow white and silver-grey through yellow and every shade of pink and orange to deep reds. As the flowers are sun-loving, indeed the name means ‘ midday flowering’, they will close tight at the slightest hint of cloudy weather.
Magical marigolds
Calendula was also prolific and it is easy to acquire in Ireland. Also known as field marigold, it grows in the fields and meadows of Puglia, ranging in colour from bright yellow to deep orange, sometimes with a yellow centre and sometimes brown.
Traditionally, the petals of
Calendula officinalis have been dried and used in cosmetics. Field marigold produces cheerful yellow flowers like large daisies that grow in profusion all over Puglia in late winter and early spring, and brighten up the olive groves before they are ploughed over ready for the harvest in the autumn.
I also caught sight of Alyssum Saxatile (Yellow Alyssum), the golden yellow plant so often found in gardens in Ireland and equally at home in Puglia.
One of my companions enquired about the whereabouts of poppies but within minutes they appeared en masse festooned along the road- sides. They have created what will be a lasting memory of the Puglia region. It is an easy species to grow in Ireland, although funnily it’s one I had omitted from my notes of plants I was on the lookout for.
In the coastal areas and on the plains are typical evergreens like the mystic Pistacia lentiscus and myrtle (Myrtus communis) which is easy to acquire in Ireland. The Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos) is most grand.
Potted olives
Then there was an Irish emigrant in the shape of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) growing in quite a few locations. There are also many familiar deciduous trees such as the hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and the sloe (Prunus spinosa).
Of course, all the olive trees are not merely ornamental. Puglia produces around 40% of Italy’s olive oil.
At home I keep three large olive trees growing in my south-facing garden. They can manage our weather quite well but are in pots for safety in case the weather suddenly gets extremely cold.
Pines play a big part in the landscape, the most common being the Aleppo pine, native to the Mediterranean region. Its range extends from Morocco to southern France, Italy, and Croatia. The famous Greek wine named retsina is flavoured using the resin from this tree.
The resin is also said to have been used as part of the mummification process in ancient Egypt.
In Ireland the Aleppo pine, like the olive tree, can manage the cold, bar the kind of winter we had in 2010. It’s the dampness in the soils that sometimes can kill them, so perhaps planting in a pot may work.
Being a big fan of heather, I was delighted to discover that the Apulian heather is a small example of the species, reaching up to 60cm in height and evergreen. Its blooms appear between September and the end of October.
However, Apulian heather is under threat and so has been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species in need of protection.
It is actually very similar to varieties available in Ireland so no need plunder these rare ones if you want to plant in Ireland.
Putting on a show
Flowering balconies play a big part in the appeal of Locorotondo, a pretty hilltop town where they have a ‘Balconi Fioriti’ competition which encourages residents in the white walled town to plant flowers in pots and window boxes.
Locorotondo has been compared to the white towns in Andalusia, but the competition has had the effect of enhancing the magnificent floral display of Puglia.
Geraniums, in particular, play a major role in the beautification of the town.
The plants of Puglia are like pieces of a jigsaw that all together make a magnificent impact, the Irish version means an unfinished jigsaw, but a handsome one.
The missing bits can be made up with a few specimen plants like buxus or bays. They will all need the Puglia prescription of ‘all-day sun’ to flourish meaning a south-facing garden is essential in Ireland.
A tribute to Puglia, however, may not be quite as difficult as I thought and certainly will be a thoughtprovoking project.
So, as daft as it seems, a touch of Mediteanean in an Irish garden, Puglia style, may not be impossible after all.