Andrea Morris

Hi All

Wonder if anyone out there can help me please? I have to design my garden of my new house in Turkey - near Antalya on the south Mediterranean coast. The design is no problem, but what trees, shrubs and perennials can I plant on a soil with pH value of 7.9 (slightly alkaline)? I don't have my gardening books with me and I'm a bit stuck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
Andrea

Turkey gardener

Andrea,

I found your post searching myself for good vegetable gardening tips online. We have lived in Turkey for a year now and can relate to your plight. I don't have lots of advice but thought I would share what I have noticed around me. Rosemary makes a great shrub in this area. Turks grow some of the most beautiful roses and there are lots of lilacs around to choose from. Hope this helps!
Katie

michael

Am a gardener moving to Kas so thought I would try and help. Needless to say avoid ericaceous. Traditional plants Lavs, Santolina, Ruta, Rosemary, Trachelospernum, Jasminum,Nepeta Helleborus argutifolius but not other hellebores,Cytisus, Euphorbia wulfenii cultvars and subsp. I admit that some need a bit of help getting started likt the trachelo and argutifolius but aridity is no problem by year 2 barring severe drought. Non traditional, grasses, prairie plants, echincea, rudbekia, gaura, verbena, even aster. Under the shade, euphorbia var robbiae, but dont put akebia or acanthus. Succulents good also. Portaluca etc and crassula family. Trees try the Albizia, Arbutus var, even jacaranda, juniperus. Get groundcover in at same time as main planting to save moisture. Good luck, hope you can find that kind of stuff see the links in www.alantana.com/links . the mediterranean garden society are also very helpful and would send you a list

valerie shuttleworth

I have a small garden here in coastal Kalkan, just 20 Km north of Kas and have found these last two years that acanthus thrives really well here and produces very dramatic effects. I came from Cornwall where agapanthus was so splendid and am having some success so far. They will be better when I have a garden with sun. We enjoy lemons, olives and musmulla from our trees and wisteria is fabulous here but I have had to hold back the grapes as they take over everything and create such a mess for 9 months of the year with falling leaves. I love the Morning Glories and Passiflora but they are not everyones cup of tea!
Thank you Michael for such detail. I have found the Heidi Gildemeister book, very useful but have not been able to find any information from Turkey itself. Are there any publications or garden societies?

michael

Have been in Kas for 8 months now and have been planting many plant species with varying degrees of sucess. To amend a previous post, ericacious are fine here, heather grows wild at a little altitude. Also, I said that acanthus would not do well but am completely wrong, both spinosa and mollis are in their element. Success so far with different types of lavender, they sell angustifolia, dentata, stoechas of sorts and I have collected lots of wild lavender which is booming. Of course the hibiscus, mellissa, etc and the plants which one sees everywhere but plants which maybe unknown to expats are the Jasmine they call 'full' pronounced 'fool' which has a large jasmine flower and is shrubby. Its great, tough and like to be kept cut back, scent is amazing. Dwarf bougainville is cuter but smaller than the usual. The fern they use here is not for shade and I like it very much, not sure what the name is but ubiquitous. Am growing verbena boariensis amongst other things, from seed and this will be a good filler as turkey does not sell herbaceous as much as I like although the shrubs are spectacular. Will report back at some point on how plumaria (frangipani) and Cymbopogon (lemongrass) work out.