Hello everyone. I am clearing out much of my current landscaping and re-doing the whole thing. My house has a mediterranean design with three arches in front with a nice little patio. I am planing on puting three queen palms in front echoing the arches. I have several Cycads (King, Prince and Mexico Sago's plus some cardboard palms) and would like to add a couple of tree ferns. What other tropical / mediterranean plants would you add that would do well here in San Antonio? Any suggestions or comments? Anything would help. Thanks, George in San Antonio.
Best mediterranean / tropical garden plants for San Antonio?
Bouganvilla, it does well there. Very Mediterranean, very pretty. Also can be used in south facing window further north in Texas. Will fill a window with flowers if fed and watered.(Native Texan)
Lavenders are great and do very well here if they do not receive too much water.
George, It sounds like you have a nice assortment of evergreen plants. I am more into flowers and things that have done very well for me are Yellow bells (esperanza), Butterfly flower (clerodendrum ug.), Shrimp plant, Gingers in the shade, Duranta, and of course lantana of all sorts, and salvias of all sorts too. Also rosemary makes a nice large, blue flowering, evergreen shrub that is very easy to care for. Mine is ~ 3' tall and 8' wide and in constant bloom. I also love the Mountain Laurel, evergreen and sweet smelling flowers in the spring. Cannas give a nice tropical look and are also easy to grow. Most herbs do well in the area, and are Mediterranean type plants (think spegettii sauce ) good luck with your plantings. Margie aka Queen of Dirtland. :)
lol @ think spaghetti sauce. I grow oregano, rosemary, thyme, sweet marjoram, and garlic chives....now THAT's some serious spaghetti sauce! LOL.
I love your collection of natives Margie. My DIL just gave me some esperanza pods the other day (not sure which cultivar other than a solid yellow). I'm thinking of planting them in the spring after I make sure that the 3 stands of pampas that I dug up this year don't come back. How agressive are the ones you have? Am I just creating the same problem by replacing pampas with esperanza?
HI P-planter, Don't want to HIjack this thread, but the esperanza that is the best is not seed grown, but cutting propagated. Mine get about 6' tall and 4' wide. They do not self sow , so the 3 plants I have are very easy to contain. They bloom all late spring through til about Sept. Freeze to the ground and come back from the roots. hope this helps. Margie
Cool. My DIL's was still blooming on Thanksgiving. So should I wait to take cuttings next spring? before or after they bloom? Direct plant or root them in water? Sorry for all the questions and if this is off topic jester. I can start a new thread if you prefer.
no problem. The more info the better. I am considering a lot of different plants. As for the flowers, I have 20+ variaties of Roses plus 6 different variaties of daylilies. I think for my mediterranean
garden the Bouganvilla and rosemary are a must.
George
My 'Gold Star' esperanza (Tecoma hybrid) has sprouted lots of plants beneath it. I have read that these plants will not be true to the mother plant. It does not grow as large, blooms earlier and more prolifically than the regular yellow esperanza. It has been named a Texas SuperStar by Texas A&M. I have 2 other varieties now:
'Sunrise' (bi-color)
Tecoma hybrid
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/61000/index.html
'Orange Jubilee' (Tecoma alata)
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/60979/index.html
Tecoma stans var. angustata which resembles 'Gold Star' grows into a huge plant. My neighbor bought one of these thinking it was 'Gold Star' and has to chop it to the grouind periodically.
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/2047/index.html
Cuttings can be taken now (root in a container with potting soil) if you have a place to protect them from freezes and set them out in filtered shade when the weather is nice because they will need plenty of light in order to root well. However, rooting them is much better accomplished after they have come back (if they have frozen back) in late spring during the growing season. Ground plant them after they have rooted well and have put on new growth. If rooted during the winter, be sure we have had the last frost. These plants have trouble sometimes when you attempt to transplant them because I think they have a taproots. One of my neighbors dug up 2 of them after the roots were well established and lost both plants.