A beautiful garden, well structured, without significant maintenance worries, with moderate watering, this is not a dream! The Mediterranean garden combines all these advantages and, once well installed, will allow you to enjoy a holiday landscape throughout the year.
It is a dry garden made up of plants that accept difficult conditions, such as strong sunlight for long hours, resistance to strong and drying winds, and lack of water. The simplicity of its maintenance makes it the favorite garden of those who do not have many hours to devote to gardening.
Creating a Mediterranean garden entirely allows you to give light and color to your garden, given that this type of space is mainly characterized by exceptionally bright colors that provide a suggestive aspect to the green room.
From the very name, it is easy to understand that the Mediterranean garden reproduces in its space typical Mediterranean panoramas, the presence of luxuriant and flourishing vegetation, with unmistakable spring scents.
The Mediterranean garden takes its cue above all from Islamic gardens for its courtyard-garden structure around which the house developed; it is usually also characterized by the presence of waterways, perhaps with the installation of fountains and vibrant vegetation. Flowery and fragrant.
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The layout of the Mediterranean garden
A sloping garden facing southeast is ideal for creating this type of garden; the water will not stagnate there. Rocky areas can be developed to avoid excessive erosion and serve as a setting for various plants. Near the entrance, the essential cypress will be planted as a sign of welcome.
On the walls climbing plants such as Bougainvillea can be trellised; in the South, it flowers almost all year round. For its fragrance, jasmine will do wonders; the big one with its large orange bells throughout the summer will advantageously adorn a pergola unless you prefer to install a vine or a wisteria there, it’s all a matter of taste, but the possibilities are many.
Create a Mediterranean garden
Those who want to build a Mediterranean garden will leave the square shapes with apparent features to opt for a less-defined arrangement. In the Mediterranean garden, the plants are left free to occupy the space, according to the conditions of nature.
The shape of the Mediterranean garden is natural and not sought after. The plants are arranged in a very accessible way, but the space they will occupy in the park must be considered as they must not be an obstacle to the normal activities in the park.
Usually, Mediterranean gardens are created to make shaded areas, especially in the warmer seasons. We can say that there are two types of Mediterranean garden styles, the Arab style garden, and the Renaissance style garden.
The Arabian-style Mediterranean garden is decidedly more practical but at the same time intimate, characterized by different streams inserted harmoniously into the park together with the vegetation. In contrast, the Renaissance garden is decorated with large fountains, terraces, and stairways that make it decidedly showier.
Since the Mediterranean garden’s primary utility is to create shaded areas, it becomes essential to cultivate a tree with a reasonably wide crown such as mulberry, carob, oleander, or various other trees typical of the Mediterranean scrub. Succulent or aquatic plants can also be included in the Mediterranean garden to enrich the waterways.
The simplicity of the Mediterranean garden means that it is also necessary to insert various flowering plants that perform a purely ornamental function, such as roses, geraniums, begonias, fragrant jasmine, or bougainvillea.
When the project is born, it is necessary to start by choosing whether to realize it naturally or artificially, since many people love a lawn to walk on while others want paved gardens.
Usually, those who want to create a garden of this type prefer to opt for the lawn since it creates a particular contrast with the flowers planted in the park, which is why many opt for the choice of fresh soil but also resistant to high temperatures by growing Cynodon dactylon and the Stenotaphrum secundatum since they require little water and resist humidity.
Some want to recreate a Mediterranean rock garden by integrating mineral and rocky elements, made with Mediterranean scrub bushes typical of coastal areas, plants accustomed to drought and poor soils, such as evergreen Mediterranean shrubs, or even lavender, thyme, strawberry trees, as well as to heather and agnostic.
Many prefer to recreate hidden environments within the garden to create greater privacy. For this reason, it becomes essential to use Mediterranean walls, objects for protection, hedges, or flower beds.
Better to opt for plants that tend not to move due to strong winds, so better to use climbers, which are aesthetically very beautiful and contribute to both embellishing and protecting the intimate spaces of the Mediterranean garden.
As for the space dedicated to waterways, it might be interesting to recreate a lake or install a fountain, given that Rivers often accompany Mediterranean environments.
In this circumstance, however, it is essential to pay attention since both the lakes and the fountains being made with stagnant water could attract insects such as mosquitoes, becoming an annoying problem over time. In this circumstance, it is advisable always to use biological filters and not chemical products, especially if you decide you want to put some fish.
Mediterranean garden plants
Indeed in this type of garden, it is necessary to cultivate Mediterranean shrubs, or plants typical of the Mediterranean scrub, such as laurel rosemary and olive trees, or plants such as citrus and palm trees.
If you decide to create a Mediterranean garden, it is necessary to remember that it needs more care given that different types of plants are housed that often require extra care and attention. The Mediterranean garden’s design is necessary to make it cared for, harmonious, but above all functional. This is why it is also required to evaluate the insertion of some types of plants but, above all its combination, carefully choosing the fertilizer and watering them according to what is established by each species.
If you fear the presence of insects, it is good to opt for the use of natural fertilizers, absolutely avoiding chemical remedies as they could deteriorate the plant by altering its naturalness.
Planning a Mediterranean garden: our advice
The Mediterranean garden is a type of garden that stands out for its layout and especially for the kind of plants it hosts. It is above all a relatively dry garden, with plants reminiscent of the south of France or other Mediterranean countries (Italy, Greece…), holidays, and the sun.
By definition, the plants found in Mediterranean gardens are pretty hardy, particularly resistant to high heat, wind, and lack of water.
All these characteristics, when added together, allow Mediterranean gardens and flowerbeds to have many advantages for gardeners who do not have much time to devote to garden work. The hardiness of the plants found there means that these gardens do not need a lot of watering and other maintenance.
The other main advantage of the Mediterranean garden is its aesthetics! Even by mixing the different minerals and plants, a Mediterranean garden is often very structured, which gives it an almost geometric balance. Lavender, olive, oleander… Typical Mediterranean plants are warm and fragrant, so the Mediterranean garden is colorful and fragrant!
HOW TO DESIGN YOUR MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN?
The many advantages of the Mediterranean garden also have some disadvantages.
First of all, it is better to have very light soil, so avoid too clayey compositions. It is also advisable to have rocky areas that plants can cling to.
Anything that can allow you not to retain too much water in your land is welcome for a Mediterranean garden; the best thing is to have a sloping ground. In addition to letting the water flow, the slope will allow you to form multiple levels to structure the plantings in your garden.
In terms of exposure, if you can, arrange your small Mediterranean garden against a south-facing wall: this will protect the most fragile plants from the fresh winds. Of course, most plants you plant will do best in full sun, so plan for sunny planting spaces!
Finally, do not hesitate to mix mineral elements with plant elements for the arrangement and decoration. Plant borders and flowerbeds in rock gardens, draw a white gravel path, put some statues or even a stone fountain. Opt for a pergola accompanied by a shade sail to create pleasant and fresh living areas for the furniture.
WHICH PLANTS ARE FOR YOUR MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN?
As for the choice of plants to plant in your Mediterranean garden, the first essential is, of course, Lavender. Colorful and fragrant, Lavender appreciates full sun and will allow you to form clumps of varying volumes in your garden. Lavender also behaves very well in rock gardens.
Your Mediterranean garden can accommodate other flowers to continue a color as long as they tolerate the sun and stony substrates well. You will find, for example, the Cysts, whose pink or white flowers are reminiscent of the Mediterranean, but also the Agapanthus, the Lantana Camara, or even particular Roses.
Succulent plants such as Crassula, Agave, or Aloe are also known to withstand the sun well and require little maintenance, perfect for your Mediterranean garden!
Finally, you can add a few aromatic plants; why not in pots? They can be used in the kitchen and climbing plants such as Vine against a wall, Jasmine or Wisteria, trellised against an arch or a pergola.
WHAT ABOUT TREES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN?
The plants found in Mediterranean gardens can be perennials native to the Mediterranean rim and more exotic plants from South Africa or India.
It’s the same thing for trees! Typical trees from the south of France can bring shade to your Mediterranean garden, but you can also opt for more exotic trees.
Among the trees to plant, you can opt for:
- Olive Tree
- The Oleander
- Laurel sauce
- The Cypress of Provence
- Juniper
- The Palm tree
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