Gardens of the Amalfi Coast

A little while ago I went on a wonderful holiday in Italy, entitled Gardens of the Amalfi Coast and took a few photos.

Villa Rufolo, a 13th century merchant's villa in Ravello.


It quickly became apparent that Italian gardens are quite different to British ones, they rely more on views and structure, rather than the lush planting that our climate allows. This is one such stunning view. At the very bottom on the right is Sally Nex, a lovely person who was our horticultural guide for this trip. She is a freelance who writes regularly for the RHS magazine.


Essentially structure.


A courtyard within the villa.


And another stunning view.

Villa Cimbrone a short distance away also in Ravello.






You can see what I mean about structure and views.

Orto Botanico - Botanic Gardens of Naples


I have obviously left out a lot of pictures. I just wanted to give a flavour of Italian gardens, and show some exotic plants.

 

Very lovely @PeterS . Thanks for sharing!

 

@PeterS how lovely those pics are as you say such a different way of gardening, but quite stunning, especially love pics 4 and seven and no 3 would make a lovely one for the GC November photo comp thanks for sharing

 

Lovely photos, thank you.

 

Palazzo Reale di Caserta - outside Naples


The Palace (not shown) was the former Royal Palace of the bourbons and designed to outdo and be larger than Versailles. It was reputedly the largest building in 18th century Europe. This water feature is 3 kilometres long.


Fountains part way up.


And in the English garden, they had to have a ruined grotto.

Villa Ravina - island of Ischia


Whilst I am not exactly a fan of cacti, this was the most impressive of all the gardens for me. The shear size of them was overwhelming.


Alluaudia ascendens from Madegascar can grow up to 40 feet. We were told its a very early development of cactus. The extreme heat caused cactus leaves to evolve into spines. But this plant had both leaves and spines.


That will keep the neighbour's kids out.


I loved this. Odontonema strictum from Mexico. A bush up to 6 feet from the Acanthus family.


A stunning view.


By the resturant area, we saw this. A coffee plant with beans growing.


Chorisia insignis from Peru and Argentina




Clerodendrum wallichii. I have seen this for sale in a garden centre in the UK.

 

La Mortella - still on Ischia - former home of William Walton

This was a huge garden on a steep slope, with many flowering plants.


Caladium bicolor 'Candidum'. There are some truly spectacular Caladium about, especially the red ones. There are over 1000 cultivars. But they are tubers that go dormant and have a tendency to rot off when you try, or at least when I try, to revive them back into growth.


Vanda, a stunning epiphytic orchid. You can buy them in the Uk, but they are expensive and I have never had the courage for fear of killing it.


Aechma. The last two were growing in a greenhouse.


Spathoda campanulata - African Tulip Tree




Thunbergia grandiflora, a relative of our Black Eyed Susan (Thunbergia Alata). I showed this in the Wisley thread because of its unusual hanging racemes of flowers. I am growing it myself, but I have never seen the flowers hanging in this fashion.

 

Villa San Michele - island of Capri


Wonderful statuary




And views


Again the garden emphasis was on structure, but a couple of exotics caught my eye. Iochroma cyanea. What a fabulous colour.


And a Callistemon - Bottle Brush Bush.


And so to bed. This was our view after arriving back on the mainland from the hydrofoil.

 

Looks like you had a good time Peter.

 

Agree I think both of these plants are fabulous colors

 

Beautiful pictures there. The climate is changing in Italy like everywhere else. It is becoming more rainy and snowy in the south and milder in the north. So it could be that in 10 years from now there will be a totally different
landscape from now!

 

What an amazing, beautiful place you went to Peter ... and you appear to have had good weather to boot! Thank you for sharing your holiday with us.

 

Hey, Peter and The Shineys may have been crossing paths ...