Dude, you live in England and you have seem to have no idea what we are
talking about. You live in a cloudy rainy climate. You have probably never
been to the desert Southwest of the USA nor have ever experienced truly dry
conditions first hand and you would surely quickly sunburn and shrivel away
under the intense summer head and dryness if you did.

Almost everything that presently grows in England is an "exotic" because the
natives had completely decimated the forests and wiped out the original
native flora ages ago. I have seen so-called wild flower books of England
and almost every plant in it was actually an introduced weed from elsewhere
in Europe, Asia or even North America. There is now even an aquatic Crassula
from New Zealand that has become a widespread pest in England.


"Brian" wrote in message
...
I feel that it is presence, rather than lack, of imagination that seems to
prompt all gardeners to attempt to grow the borderline possibles.Whatever
nationality. The flora of a differing climate always seem the most
desirable. Personally I have tried and failed with many so-called exotics.
Even a little success bring much pleasure~~ Palms and Eucalypts have
flourished locally for the last twenty years in SW England and await the
first real winter!!.
However I have never seen a deliberate mass of Ivy ~~ English or
otherwise. I can think of little less desirable.
Best Wishes.
"Cereus-validus" wrote in message
. com...
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