A View on Gardening in Cyprus
Most people wish to have a green garden replete with large lawns similar to those in other regions of the world. Perhaps this is exacerbated in Cyprus, which is one of the world’s more arid areas. We all have have a penchant for instant gratification, and when applied to gardening, the planting of tropical plants and vast lawns provides a quick solution, but a “noisy”, rather uniform look. Entire neighbourhoods look almost identical, with little or no space left for imagination. Millions of philodendrons, yuccas and tropical palms have been planted everywhere, with consequential over-consumption of precious water. What then is the alternative? The answer is quite simple:
A Mediterranean garden. Incidentally, this does not necessarily mean an arid garden with desert plants.
There is an enormous quantity of plants that are native to Mediterranean climates. Other such plants grow in the Americas, Europe and the Far East, and have the ability to adapt to harder, drier conditions. There are four main areas in the world that have these similar conditions: Australia, South Africa, California, Mexico, and of course, the Mediterranean basin. Nevertheless, plants from such areas look beautiful in almost any part of the world, and have the unique advantage of low-maintenance.
Hundreds of new plants have been introduced, with amazing success at that. Plants with different types of growth, leaf forms and colors have been found suitable to the Cypriot drip system of irrigation. Most plants native to Cyprus have actually had difficulties growing with this system, as they are not used to getting water during the dry season.
Some exceptions are: (photos will be replaced later)
Lauros nobilis,
Viburnum tinus,
Myrtus communis,
Plantanus orientalis,
Quercus calliprinus,
Q. boissieri,Q. ithaburensis,
Pistacia lentisus,
P. atlantica,
Styrax officinalis,
Olea europea,
Fraxinus syriaca,
Nerium oleander,
Vitex agnus-castus,
Retama raetam,
Spartium junceum,
Cercis siliquastrum.
Today there is rising competition among growers to introduce increasingly new and attractive plants. Certainly all gardeners, professional and amateur, can benefit from this fact.
Most of these Mediterranean plants are defined by a short flowering season. However, since they come from different parts of the world, they flower in here at different times of the year. For example, plants from Australia will flower in Cyprus in the winter. Plants from the Americas flower here mainly in autumn and summer. As a result, well-planned gardens can provide beautiful flowers throughout almost the entire year.
Nevertheless, it remains that gardens still need some basic evergreen plants to “cover” other plants in their flowering season. Additionally, they are also of paramount importance as not to spend all of one’s free time working in the garden instead of simply enjoying it
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