Mediterranean Climate Garden

The area is protected from the north and has a warm, sheltered excellent micro climate with a south facing slope, sheltered from the prevailing wind.

 

In 2013 the Garden was fully renovated and new paths of resin-bonded gravel installed. The soil  heavily modified by working in lots of grit to improve drainage and the steep back slope terraced using dry stone walling.

The plants were laid out geographically into the five areas of the world that have a Mediterranean climate of cool, wet winters and hot dry summers: coastal California, coastal Chile, Western Cape of  South Africa, SW Australia and the Mediterranean Basin.

These sun-loving collections contain many borderline hardy plants which have established and survived remarkably well. Notable successes have been Banksia marginata from S.E Australia and Tasmania and Correa ‘Marian’s Marvel’ (Australian Fuchsia) which is a garden hybrid.

  • Banksia marginata Dec 2016

  • Echium pininana May 2015

  • Correa ‘Marian's Marvel’ Dec 2015

  • Judas Tree May 2022

  • Judas Tree May 2022

  • Jovellana violacea

There is an Olea europaea (Olive) and three specimens of Cercis siliquastrum (Judas Tree).

Extending over the central path is a vigorous Quercus suber (Cork Oak). This is a native of the Mediterranean and grown commercially in Spain and Portugal where the bark is regularly stripped to supply cork for wine bottles.