Natural Parasol !

You may be interested in our natural parasol .. it's a Maple which we pollard every year ...it's taken a few years to achieve the superb shade it offers us now ...protecting both us and some plants from the sunshine ... shade temperature today 37�° !!! M-L



[ 19. June 2006, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: Mona Lisa ]

 

Hi Mona Lisa.I like the Avata.Great minds think alike, and also the Parasol.Did you plant the Mapel or was it there when you moved in to your house?

We have got a small japanese weeping cherry that we put into our front garden 3 years ago, which is just getting big enough to give us some shade, so we are thinking of getting a little seat to put underneath it to give us some shade from the heat of the British sun, when we get it.

I expect you are guaranteed nice hot weather in the South of France...Lucky Devil

Mind you 37 in the shade would be too much even for a blonde like me

Kandy

 

I suppose the Avatar was a natural choice with a name like mine :rolleyes: !! The tree was the ONLY thing in the garden when we came 17 years ago - since when like Topsy 'it just growed and growed' and we now have what our French friends and neighbours call a 'petit paradis' ....it's very full, similar to an English cottage garden, with some exotic touches like oleanders,plumbagos, lemons and pomegranates.... and if not carefully tended can take on the guise of a jungle in a matter of days at this time of year .....apart from the brown grass that is !! M-L

[ 11. June 2006, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Mona Lisa ]

 

That is a 'cool' looking tree, love the shape. I have been lounging under my own parasol of fronds today.



BM

 

Mona Lisa, I can't see your picture, just the dreaded red cross. Anyone else not seeing it?

 

Nope gone.

 

I cant see it either :(

 

I saw it yesterday but now it's gone!

 

Cant see picture either :rolleyes:

 

Mona Lisa, I should have shared these pictures with you in response to your natural parasol thread. It is a Catalpa. :D





BM

 

Hi BM We have Catalpa's growing here all over the place, they have lovely white flowers...your's looks a healthy specimen !! My natural parasol should still be there ...has someone dug it up !!!!

Here's another one I planted earlier !! :D M-L

PS The original should be back now !!

[ 19. June 2006, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Mona Lisa ]

 

Order restored M-L
:D

 

When I went to Bilbao I saw they grow catalpa as avenue trees, they looked fantastic laden with pods.

 

BM The Catalpa (Bignonia catalpa )
really is a stunning tree and the seed pods that form after flowering, I think, give it a 'triffid' appearance....The flowers are both male and female (hermaphrodite).. the roots are highly poisonous !!!! I see that you have yours in a huge pot .......do you put it under shelter in winter ? M-L

 

Morning M-L, I have three. One is the parasol type, I have one grown as a proper tree and another part coppiced and grown as a multistem. They are all permenantly planted with no protection. I have similar trees like pawlonia and they all seem fine in our winters. The main enemy is wind but they are pretty resistant to all but the most vicious of gusts. Fortunately the type of tree that they are they respond pretty well to a bit of wind pruning. Only draw back to the catalpa is it is the first to fall and the last to open but its worth it.