Mediterranean Gardens

When we think of Mediterranean gardens we immediately think of lavender, sage, clipped box and tall Italian cypress trees and indeed these are the basics for a Mediterranean garden.

If you are thinking of creating your own Mediterranean garden other plants to include are members of the sage family, nepetas (cat mint), santolina, rosemary, juniper and citrus plants.

Mediterranean gardens often contain a lot of clipped plants and box, rosemary, santolina and yew are all good candidates for clipping. All could be clipped into low hedges and then filled with different herbs or lavender, box and santolina could be clipped into balls and scattered throughout the garden.

If you are hoping for some large green topiary shapes -balls, cones or spirals- and you have not the patience to wait for box to grow you could think of training some young laurel bushes. These grow very quickly. The end result is not as good but it is much quicker and can act as a stop-gap whilst your box shapes grow.

Think about having an area with rows of tight clipped lavender to evoke the lavender fields of Provence.

Italian cypress provides height and drama to the garden and could be planted in rows on either side of the drive to give a real Mediterranean touch. For a slightly more modern touch cut the tops of the cypress trees turning them into topiaries.

Colour is largely restricted to the blues and purples of the lavenders, nepetas and sages but some pink can be introduced with some flowering cherry trees and with large bushes of cistus and their pink rose like flowers.

If you live in a fairly frost-free area include some olive trees, perhaps in pots which along with the citrus trees could be moved to a sheltered spot over winter.

Looking for inspiration visit some of the lovely Mediterranean gardens in the South-East of France.