MEDITERRANEAN
GARDEN SOCIETY
CATALONIA
BRANCH NEWSLETTER
AUTUMN 2012 - Joan Ball (joanball53@gmail.com
Hi Everyone
I hope you
had a really good summer and that the heat did not affect you and your gardens
too badly. The autumn appears to be very
warm and also dry so a little more water may be necessary. Gill pound has given us some good tips, which
are below, and of course there is lots of information on this topic if you go
the MGS Website.
Future
events in the Catalonia Branch
- Wednesday
17 October – Lecture
organized by Carme Farre - Imagining and feeling identity by creating and walking through
Mediterranean gardens - M. Jesús
Buxó | Dr. of Anthropology, Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the
University of Barcelona
- Tuesday 23
October - Lecture organized by Carme Farre - Manifesto for Mediterranean
gardens - Louisa Jones | Dr. of Literature, Lecturer in History
of Art and specialist in the gardens of Provence
- Wednesday
24 October - Lecture
organized by Carme Farre - At the
heart of the invention of the modern garden: the Mediterranean - Michel
Racine | Landscape gardener, urban planner, DPLG architect, Lecturer at
the École Nationale Superieure du Paysage de Versalles
- Saturday
10th November – Xavier Argimon will give us a
tour of three gardens in Barcelona – Jardins de la Tamarita, Jardins de
Palau de les heures Jardins Rodrigo Caro – details of the gardens and
plants are attached.
- Saturday
15th December – South African Plants in A
Mediterranean Garden – we will watch a DVD on ‘A year in Kirstenboasch
Botanical Gardens – South Africa, and discuss which plants are best for
our climate – this will be followed by a 2013 Branch Planning Session and
Christmas lunch at my house.
- If
you are interested in attending any of the above events or have any idea
for future events please contact me joanball53@gmail.com
Past Events
· 22nd September – Visit to Soljardi
Fruit Nursery – Jordi Bronsom, one of the owners of Soljardi,
gave members a very informative tour around their extensive Vivero. The Nursery grows and cultivates an extensive
catalogue of unusual fruit trees, nut trees and fruit bushes. Jordi has extensive knowledge and experience
in growing and treating fruit trees – which was demonstrated in an informative
presentation on pests and diseases. For
further information or ordering of plants contact jordi at www.soljardi or info@soljardi.com.
Latest News and Views
Some
Advice from Gill Pound…
October
and November should bring some rain and are an excellent time for planting the
majority of plants - trees, shrubs, perennials and hedging plants – while
there is warmth and moisture in the soil - autumn plantings will generally be
better placed to withstand drought the following summer than spring
plantings. (I would make an exception for more tender items such as
plumbago and bougainvillea – these are better planted in the spring so that
they can get roots down before dealing with winter cold.) Most plants,
even if they are ultimately drought resistant will need supplementary watering
during their first summer or two. When you are choosing new plants for
the garden remember that this is a difficult climate; we have hot, dry summers,
quite cold winters in much of the region and strong winds. Check on the
drought tolerance and winter hardiness of plants you are interested in.
Choose plants that come from Mediterranean climate zones of the world, or from
other areas with similar climates rather than tropical or temperate zone
plants; they will perform better and require less watering.
When
planting remember to dig a square hole about twice the depth and twice the
width of the pot the plant came in (or root ball if you are planting a bare
root plant), mix the excavated soil with some organic material (such as compost
or terreau de plantation) and some sand or gravel to improve the soil and
use this mix to backfill the planting hole. First, unless the
weather has been wet, fill the planting hole with water and let it drain away;
meanwhile standing the plant in a bucket of water so that the root ball is
moist. Then half fill the planting hole with your soil/terreau/sand
mix and place the plant, fill around the sides with the soil/terreau mix and firm
into place. Keep an eye on the water requirements of your newly planted
items. For taller shrubs and trees you may well want to stake the plant
so that it isn’t rocked by the Languedoc winds. Note that the late autumn
is also the best time for any transplanting you want to do in the garden.
In 2013 I would like to have another educational
workshop from Gill Pound if there is anything you would particularly like know
or learn about please let me know.
Beetle-Mania continues….
In the summer issue Pam Benson shared with us how they were successful
in eliminating the Red Palm Beetle, Rhynchopophorus ferrugineus. Pam has kindly
updated us as to her progress
“We have been treating our Phoenix
Canariensis for 7 months now, spraying with Picudorojo de las Palmera” from
“Flower” every 4 weeks.
We have been delighted to see that even over
the very hot summer the palm leaves have stayed a deep green, even at the
edges.
The plant has grown strongly over the summer
and now has a conventional appearance, unlike the poor spike we left after the initial
prune in February (see photo).
Keen eyed observers will note that some of the
fronds are cut short; this is a legacy from the February prune. I intend to
remove these in the winter before spraying the cut edges with insecticide”
If you are not as
successful as Pam in treating your palms you must dispose of the Palm
immediately. The problem is that Palm
trunks are virtually impossible to burn, so must be ground to a powder which is
them passed into a chamber where it is suffused in super heated vapour to kill
any living organism. The sterilized sawdust can be re-used.
So it is important
that you use a specialized tree person to dispose of any trees. Please contact me if you require a
specialized tree person.
I would encourage you to be vigilant in searching this
problem out. The problem with the Palm
weevil plague is, as mentioned in the previous newsletters, an egg-bearing
female which can deposit 200-500 eggs in a single visit to a Palm tree.
However, this can happen a number of times on that one Palm and at different
times. We have seen Palms, literally crawling with maggots of different sizes,
as well as hundreds of cocoons housing the pupating grubs plus dozens of
adults. They reduce the fibres of the tree to lifeless pulp. The smell can be
quite awful (apparently like a dead fox). Heavily infected Palms are noisy! One
can hear the grubs munching away at the juicy fibres of the Palm on their quest
to grow to the required size, so that the parents can seal them into specially
woven cocoons where the grubs metamorphose into adults.
If anyone has any other advice and experience on how to
deal with the dreaded beetle please let me know joanball53@gmail.com
A New Member
I am pleased to introduce two new members that live in Calonge, Monica
and Bruce Ogilvy-Morris, who you may have met at a number of events. Monica runs the gardening group for the
U3A.
Leaflets
We are
hoping to get a new leaflet explaining the MGS and its benefits – which will
help us in marketing our branch.
Books
Juliet
Collins, one of the Friends of the Catalonia Branch has donated 50 copies of an
academic catalogue of every book, magazine etc. written about roses – the book
normally sells for 180 euros but we are giving them away free – if you would
like a copy then let me know.
Ask the Expert
Members can ask gardening
questions through “Ask the Expert” a personalised MGS service available through
the website. From the home page - click on “Gardening information”. From any
other page on the website click on the sixth item in the left-hand column,
which is simply “Information”. If you have a query about the service you may
contact David Bracey at bracey@wanadoo.fr
Lecture on
line
The Making of the European Mediterranean Landscape
The keynote talk given by Prof Oliver Rackham at the 2012 spring’s conference in the
Algarve is now available on line, with slides. The lecture is called “The
Making of the European Mediterranean Landscape” – and is a fascinating
description of the history and ecology of the Mediterranean, a subject on which
Professor Rackham is an authority. To watch and listen, go to
MGS AGM 2013
The AC has announced their
recommendation that the next AGM is to be based in Athens in November 2013.
This will be put to this year’s General Assembly in Adelaide.
WHATS HAPPENING IN THE OTHER BRANCHS
LANGUEDOC BRANCH
·
Saturday/Sunday 20 and 21 October - Autumn
« plantes rares » festival at Sérignan-du-Comtat
Saturday, from 10.00am, will be a plant exchange, open to all. To
register contact Marie Hollebecq at etienne.hollebecq@wanadoo.fr
On Sunday, from 9.30 to17.30, there will be a plant fair with 45 stands.
Olivier Filippi will give a talk on «L’alternative au gazon en zone
méditerranéenne» at 14.30. For a list of participants go to www.plantes-rares.com
· Thursday and Friday 6/7th December - Languedoc Branch AGM – Malaucène, in the
Vaucluse
ITALY BRANCH
·
Thursday 8
November –Villa Gardens of the Celio – In one of the greenest and least
populated parts of Rome, a visit to Villa
Celimontana – with spectacular old trees - and Villa Wolkonsky – the official
residence of the British Ambassador. For more details contact angela.durnford@mgsitaly.org
PORTUGAL ALGARVE
· Tuesday 13
November and Saturday 17 November –GROUP – Lectures and Fungi Foray on the Tuesday and exploring further afield in a
smaller group on the Saturday. Contact rosie@thebtf.net for more details.
·
Friday 1 to Sunday 3 March 2013 – CONFERENCE – Friends
and Foes in the Mediterranean Garden – Guest speakers: Roy Lancaster, Jim Gardiner, Elizabete Marchante and
Francis Hurst. Supplementary days of
visits to local members’ gardens. Contact Rosie Peddle for more
information and to express your interest in making a booking. rosie@thebtf.net Tel: 00351
289 791 869 or by post to
SPAIN COSTA BLANCA BRANCH
· Saturday
17
November – 11.00 –-- Meeting at
Edith Haeuser’s home in Jávea. News from the AGM in Australia, exchange of
experiences with an unusually dry hydrological year, and discussion about
possible branch activities in 2013. Contact Edith Haeuser at edith.haeuser@gmail.com
CROATIA
· A one-week trip to Croatia open to all
MGS members – April/May 2013 – will start in Dubrovnik, move on to the island
of Hvar, then into mainland mountains and back to the charming seaside town of
Trogir, with an excursion to Diocletian's Palace in Split. A two-day extension will explore Paklenica
and Plitvička Jezera National Parks. For more information contact Alisdair Aird
at alisdaira@gmail.com
UK BRANCH
· May 2013 – UK Branch -
Visit to the Hérault, France – Gardens,
vineyards and a visit to the nursery and garden of nurseryman Olivier Filippi,
guided by him. There will be a wild
flower walk led by Gill Pound, whom many members know as an experienced gardener,
speaker and propagator. Her nursery at Caunes is popular and respected by MGS
members in that area. There will also be at least one visit to a good wine
grower in the area with a wine tasting arranged by Master of Wine Rosemary
George, also a member of the MGS. The
dates for this visit are not yet known but it may be five or six days between
11 and 19 May.
Information:
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Plants for
special and difficult situations, also gardens and nurseries in Provence and
the Languedoc
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Members of
the MGS Languedoc branch have compiled several useful lists. Contact the branch head, Christine Savage,
at cs.savage@btopenworld.com
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Leaflets
Making a
Dry Garden
Mulches
and Compost
The Waterwise
Garden
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These are
now available in English, Spanish Portuguese, German and French as printed
leaflets or as .pdf attachments to an email.
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CATALONIA
BRANCH SITE
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http://mgscatalonia.blogspot.com/
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The MGS
Seed List
A seed exchange for MGS
members run by Chantal Guiraud. New seeds added following the AGM in Majorca
and visits to Costa Blanca as well as donations received in December.
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A list and information on how to order, see
MGS website: http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/seedlist.html
MGS members entitled to
10 free packets each year
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The MGS
Forum
A new,
live, internet forum for anyone interested in Mediterranean plants and
gardening. Send your garden/plant queries to the forum.
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Moderated by Alisdair Aird, Oron Peri and Fleur
Pavlidis this can be accessed at www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php
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TMG Index/Archive service
Articles from
past issues of The Mediterranean Garden journal
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To receive the
text of past articles by email contact the editor, Caroline Harbouri, at petrie.harbouri@on.gr. Find articles
by going to the website, go to MGS Journal, then click on ‘General Index’ for
an A-Z by topic.
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Information
about the administration of the MGS Minutes of General Assemblies and Administrative Committee meetings
Financial Statements
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Minutes of the Administrative Committee from 8th September
are available – please contact me if you would like a copy. Joanball53@gmail.com.
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