Last Thursday, June 16th, Sala Graupera visited the facilities of nurseryman Olivier Filippi, a nursery located in the south of France between Montpellier and Béziers.
O. Filippi has specialized for more than 30 years in plants adapted to very harsh conditions: summer drought, strong winds, poor soils, salinization and sea breeze.
One of his great passions has been, throughout his life, the collection of interesting botanical species from all regions of Mediterranean climate for the creation of his demonstration garden, and subsequent multiplication of the plants.
His enormous catalog offers more than 1000 species and varieties of plants for the dry garden. The availability of his production is scheduled each year for early autumn, which according to Olivier Filippi is the most suitable time of year for planting species in our area. In this way plants will receive all the water from autumn-winter and spring for their subsequent summer survival. During all that period of time, we will see few changes in our planted species but it will take care during this period to develop a powerful root system that will help it successfully survive the following summer. He recommends doing some watering, as long as necessary, these waterings must be deep and spaced over time. He told us that it is also possible to plant our gardens in late winter or spring, but then the care we will have to take will be greater, basically increasing the frequency of irrigation.
We also talked about lawn substitute species. He told us that we can plant these both in autumn and spring, but that each of these times has its pros and cons. Planting in autumn guarantees us adequate implementation of the species, since we will ensure survival of the first summer, against, as the aerial part of the plant does not develop, the appearance of weeds will be a problem to take into account. If we plant our ground cover species in spring, the species will quickly cover the ground, but their water requirements will be much greater the first summer.
We also saw in his exhibition garden how the vast majority of species in our area, adapted to drought, do not like waterlogging in winter. So he emphasized the importance of investing time in creating a good drainage system if our soil is clayey. As seen in his garden, all the planting is done on a bed about 20 centimeters thick compared to the original terrain. This allows natural drainage to the terrain after the heavy rains that characterize our climate.
Finally we will mention as an example some of the species that we found most interesting, Rosmarinus tomentosus, Ballota acetabulosa, Ballota hirsuta, and Stipa pennata.
Rosmarinus tomentosus is an endemic of a coastal strip in the provinces of Granada and Málaga. It occupies a very particular ecological niche, mainly in marine cliffs, with strong impact of wind and environmental salinity. It is a species with a compact habit, about 40/50 centimeters tall by 40/50 centimeters wide, and with persistent leaves, which blooms blue between winter and early spring.
It is a species that belongs to zone number 8 (-12.2ºC / -6.7ºC) and its preferred location is in full sun.
Image of Rosmarinus tomentosus. Source: www.otragranada.org
Ballota acetabulosa comes from Greece and Turkey, it is a compact and perennial shrub that blooms between the months of April and July, with light violet flowers. Its most common dimensions are 40/50 centimeters tall by 50/60 wide. It belongs to hardiness zone number 8 (-12.2ºC / -6.7ºC) and its preferred location is in full sun. Resistant to salinity and sea breeze.
Image of Ballota acetabulosa. Source: www.lookfordiagnosis.com
Ballota hirsuta from Spain and Portugal, has the same characteristics as B. acetabulosa, although with a somewhat larger habit, as it reaches 50/60 centimeters tall by 50/60 wide.
Image of Ballota hirsuta. Source: www.plantes-web.fr
Stipa pennata from southern Europe, with semi-persistent leaves, reaches a height of 20 or 30 centimeters tall, but when it blooms, its flower spikes reach 40 centimeters. It is a very cold-resistant species, as it belongs to hardiness zone number 7 (-17.7ºC / -12.3ºC). It prefers to be planted in areas in full sun.
Image of Stipa pennata. Source: www.boomentplant.be
To finish, we wanted to thank Olivier and Clara Filippi for opening the doors of their nursery to us, showing us their well-known demonstration garden and transmitting to us their passion for the botany of Mediterranean landscapes.