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Old 24-03-2004, 06:34 PM
Cereus-validus
 
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Default English ivy in need of shade and water in the desert

Its symptomatic of the lack of imagination of the average American gardener.

There are a huge number of dry land plants, including trees, shrubs, vines,
bulbs and succulents, that are vastly more interesting and more colorful
than the limited selection of plants that can grow in an English garden.

Many Dutch bulbs, especially Tulips, do better under the arid Mediterranean
conditions from which they originate than the colder conditions many
gardeners force them to grow.

The wide variety of succulents from all over the world that can be grown
under arid Mediterranean conditions almost boggles the mind.


"J. Del Col" wrote in message
m...
"Cereus-validus" wrote in message

. com...
Never understood why people insist on trying to create an English garden

in
the desert southwest when there are thousands of other more suitable and

far
more interesting Mediterranean climate plants that would do much better
under their conditions.

You will save yourself and your community much precious water by

planting
things that will actually thrive in your climate.



Indeed. Even Gertrude Jekyll, the panjandrum of English gardening,
expressed puzzlement as to why Americans wanted to replicate English
gardens in climates unsuited to them. She encouraged them to
experiment with native plants and others fit for local conditions.


J. Del Col