Costalife Magazine - Flowers, Foliage, Fruit

Images: Hover to view

Sowing Your Own
by Simon Hill

Of all the plants for the summer border, available for sale at garden centres, Antirrhinums (Snapdragons) are some of the most familiar. They belong to a large plant family (Scrophulariaceae) that includes among its many members the popular Foxglove. From the time of the Victorians, Antirrhinums have been used extensively as formal bedding plants, as often seen in municipal bedding schemes.

Our region has many native plants that have been taken by horticulturalists and developed to become more attractive and suitable for gardens. The Snapdragon is no exception. Wild Antirrhinum majus can be seen growing throughout our area from spring into summer. It is often seen by the roadside, growing out of concrete drainage dykes, on old walls, or springing from dry rock with the barest of nutrients to nourish them. Good examples have a cluster of tall stems and stand to more than a metre. For the garden, hybridisation and selective breeding has resulted in a huge range of heights, flower forms and colours.

Many gardeners think of plants such as Antirrhinums as annuals that will not survive beyond one season. In fact they are perennial and even the choicest garden variety will happily overwinter throughout our region, except where there is hard frost. Plants can sometimes seed themselves to reappear in following years, but the seed is very fine, and the ants probably steal most of it. Cuttings can be taken in autumn and overwintered in sheltered pots ready to plant out again as soon as temperatures permit. This is worth doing if the plant has proved to be exceptional, either in terms of overall health or its vigorous flowering, and if you can't be sure of finding it again. Plants can be raised from seed, which can be tricky, or it may be easier to spend a few Euros on more plants!

As I mentioned earlier, Foxgloves (Digitalis) belong to the same family as Snapdragons, and they, too, can be found growing in their native habitat in and around the mountain ranges of Málaga. In appearance, these plants are not much like those we may remember in the gardens of our childhood or growing wild, or like those magnificent horticultural creations that have enjoyed a renaissance in the last few years, helped by the shows that determine garden fashions.

There are foxgloves native to southern Spain and specifically to our region. Digitalis obscura is a lowgrowing shrub-like perennial plant with spikes of deep orange to reddish-brown trumpet flowers that can reach 1 metre, usually discovered growing in mountain woodlands. D. purpurea is a biennial species that contains the poison digitalin, a heart stimulant, formerly used in the treatment of cardiac problems. Its flowers are also borne in tall spikes and are usually mauve in colour. This species also occurs in N. Europe. Here, it can be seen growing in cork oak forests to the wetter west of our region, mainly at the higher altitudes.

While I would love to have a bed of showy hybrid foxgloves in my lowland garden, I have to face the fact that, where I am, it is far too hot and dry in summer to suit these plants, as it is over most of our region. Are there any other plants producing showy spikes of flowers that could used to similar effect?

One possibility is garden delphinium hybrids, also producing spikes of flowers in a range of forms and colours. Unfortunately, these are water hungry and intolerant of intense sun and heat. In our region, they are probably best treated as annuals, sown in shade in August, and transplanted to their flowering position in October to bloom in spring or early summer. Somewhat easier to grow is the native annual Dephinium stavisagria (spanish name:

albarraz), which is locally common in the mountains and self-seeds freely in gardens when it likes the soil (not mine unfortunately). This resembles the horticultural delphiniums and has spikes of pale blue or bluish-white flowers that reach 1 metre under good garden conditions. It belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and contains toxic alkaloids, as do many members of this family. If you want to grow these plants, collect fresh seed from the wild or from a friend’s garden, sow directly into prepared ground just before the autumn rains, and hope for the best!

There is another group of annual delphiniums that can make a good show in your Spanish garden: the larkspurs (Consolida spp.). These are native plants that have been hybridised and bred to yield single double forms with colours ranging from white through pink to dark blue. Given good conditions in the garden, when these are sown in autumn they grow throughout the winter to flower as large plants in spring, have a long flowering period and self-sow. Good value for the cost of a packet of seed!

Another great plant to grow from seed is Cosmos bipinnatus. Originating in tropical America, these daisies, white or brightly coloured through pink to crimson or purple with yellow centres and feathery green foliage, are more than able to cope with the intense heat of our summer. You can find them for sale in garden centres, but bought plants never seem to do well. Better to buy seed of a good tall strain, sow it in shelter in January, in plugs, and transplant to flowering position in March. Such plants reach a large size and flower profusely for much of the summer.

Lastly, there are one or two common ‘weeds’ that flower along the roadsides and can be great in the garden if you allow them to remain. Every May, in my garden, plants of Andryala integrifolia (Spanish name: Cerraja lanuda) produce a show of bright lemon yellow daisy-like flowers over several weeks. These are borne in clustered woolly heads, on stems rising from a basal leaf rosette that develops over winter. Wild Annual Bugloss or Echium vulgare (Spanish name: Viborera) also regularly seeds itself in my garden. Bristly leaves and stems give rise to blue or pink tubular flowers. Seed of improved garden forms is readily available and should be sown directly into the ground in autumn.

Of course, I have only scratched the surface here. Dig a little deeper to find lots of different annual plants that, without spending any more than the cost of a cheap packet of seeds, can be used to beautify your early summer garden for years to come!

Now is the time for many street trees to be in flower. Look out for the stunning orange spikes of Grevillea robusta, and the showy scarlet flowered Brachychiton acerifolium.

Good gardening!

For questions or enquiries, please contact Simon Hill: FINCAROSABLANCA@telefonica.net