gardening in Italy

hi,

My family have bought a house with a large garden in Northern Italy and would like to create part of it into an English country garden. The winters are very cold and summers very hot and dry. Does anyone know of any English plants which would survive? Apparently Day lilies and Arum lilies do well .

Cheers, Sally

 

I am a north-italian who wanted an english cottage garden. I moved to Germany.

I find that the extremes of temperature are just too much to pursue an english style garden without a huge amount of effort. Winters are cold and WET and summers are very dry. Much of the soil is heavy clay, and the water sucks: hard chalky water, forget about camellias and rhododendrons. It is just impossible to keep things going from mid june well into september unless you are willing to spend a fortune in irrigation.

In my experience there are two solutions: concentrate on plants which bloom in autumn and spring and consider high summer a sort of dormant period (consider that late march is already spring in North Italy and there is no serious fros until half or late november, in most years, so that makes for plenty of blooming months) or concentrate on blooming shrubs, which tolerate summer dryness and winter cold better than erbaceous plants. All the lovely annuals and perennials that people grow in Germany and England bloom and go in a puff in the italian summer heat. Many subjects that you would grow in the sun up north need to stay in half shade or even shade down south.

English roses do extremely well in Italy, and grow huge,but they are not really remontant. They bloom a lot in may,and then go to sleep until september. "Le toscane" roses from Rose Barni (you will find them in the garden shows, or google Rose Barni) have the look of David Austin roses but do better in the heat.
Lavenders, Vibrnums, Hibiscus siriacus, Osmanthus fragrans, Bay tree, Abelias, campsis, wisterias, all do very well. Hydrangeas only in full shade. Ceanothus needs some shade too.
Santolina and limonium, iris, sage and thyme, cistus, hypericums, all like the summer climate, even in sun, and are a good base to carry some colour through the season without insane watering. Better concentrate on foliage colour, if you want summer show, rather than flowers.

All the spring bulbs will do if the ground is half decent.

I don't know exactly where in Italy you are, visit some flower show, if you can. Orticola, in Milan and "Tre giorni per il Giardino" in Masino are among the best in north Italy. In september there is a rather decent flower show in Guastalla (between Parma and Reggio Emilia). It is a good chance to see what is for offer and enquire about plants from people who are used to the climate (not many italians speak english though). The stalls exposing the logo of the Vispi association generally belong to especially dedicated and knoledgeable plant growers.

Best wishes for the new garden and house, K

 

Hello sallyrosalind,
where in north Italy is the house?
My advice is: since the climate is misbehaving everywhere and you cannot really predict what will come next, be daring and try a bit of everything...
I come from the Turin area, in a place near water, so therefore quite humid and I can tell you that fruit trees and roses, fuchsias, herbs, lilies and vegetable grow effortlessly and well: but that is far from the cottage garden, you can object...
If you have a chance to visit a local market, which has always a seed stall, they would certainly stock just what grows in that area, so just pick what you fancy...
PS see if you can locate your area in this map...
http://www.i-h-g.it/clima.htm

 

Hello Sally, it's always easier to go with the flow and work with what you've got unless you really enjoy a challenge and want to spend a lot of time gardening. I think I would be happy with vines, olive trees, herbs etc. but Ivory seems to have given some good practical advice that you can start from, it sounds like an exciting project either way so good luck with it.

 

Hello,

It sounds like a challenge either way-post loads of pics to inspire us.


PS It is quite shaming at how well foreigners speak English, I never get further than Como te llamos? and J'habite a Bolton. Although I have read a great deal of European literature it has always been a translation. Otherwise it would be like me reading a computer manual-pointless, of course.

 

Hi,

Many thanks for the very useful tips. It sounds as if there is a lot of hard work ahead. You are right Claire, my Italian daughter-in-law to be speaks excellent English - no accent and perfect grammar.