When we moved into this house in June 2006 it was on a very large plot, an unlandscaped old field/ building site.
In
14 weeks Pete & I transformed it into a Garden. Allan our friend
and neighbour helped Pete build the pergola and assisted greatly with
the gravel moving. For this we are eternally grateful to him.
Every
rock you see in the photos were dug out of the garden and moved by Pete
& myself. Pete laid each and everyone to form the retaining walls
and built the well. We made the fencing around the boundary and Pete
made the traditional gates. I painted the pergola!! This was done in
44+degrees.
Our Cypriot friends were amazed and we are very proud.
Mum, Dad, Darren, Nic, Thelma, & Colin ,Aunt Theresa & Peter,
Frances, Jenny, Pete & Shirley ,Bob & Diane all had the
privilage of seeing it in it's raw state, Mum and Dad arrived two days
after the gravel went down and could not believe what we had achieved
from June to September.
The Weeds were removed by Glynis & a rake!
It was a well earnt cold beer after a hard day in the garden that helped us get up and do it again the next day!!
Plants we have found grow in Polemi and those we have lost
we
have begged cuttings and old unwanted plants to fill our enormous
garden, we did buy several plants and trees and very sadly lost them
due tothe weather conditions in POLEMI. It can be cold and windy in the
winter here, this is a guide for those of you who are starting to plant
out new gardens in the village, I think STROUMPI could also be covered
here. This is what we have found and would like to warn you, others may
say different. I make no apologies for the spelling of the plants!
- We lost Ficus (Weeping Fig) they didn't like the cold
- Some Fir trees didn't like the soil or the heat and we are still struggling to get any to grow
- Fruit trees grow well
- Bourgonvilla - these die off during the winter depending where they are planted but rally round again in the spring
- We
found a tiny Budlea (Butterfly bush) and planted it with no protection
in 2006, see picture above (2007) (it is now double that size and that
grew in a few months) we have to chop it down, it grows so well, we
have not found anymore but our friends at the Marinos are now growing
cuttings from our plant. It survives the drought conditions and cold it
has been a great plant for a Polemi garden. We also have a variety of
Butterflies to enjoy.
- Roses these grow well
- Stephanosis, this died in the snow
- Jasmine grows well
- Bottle brush, the one we bought (not from Marinos) died but there are others growning in the village
- Palm trees are growing well
- Yukkas they grow well
- Grasses, we tried various and the ones with the red tint to their leaves survived
- Geraniums break off a bit and stick in the ground, no problems
- Fig trees ok
- Olive trees ok
- Pollygalla (pretty lilac flowers) survives
- Canas grow well and survived the cold
- Lavender grows well
- Rosemary grows well
- Cactii grow well ( we lost our mother in laws tongue in the winter)
- Frangipani died in the cold snowy period
- Jackaranda this is supposed to cope with the cold but we lost ours during the frosts
- Oleandar grows well
- Bulbs cope ok
- Gerberas (we had some survive the snow)
- Euphorbia they grow well in Polemi
- Calendular and Marigolds survive well in drought and cold
- Fusia, we are struggling in the heat with this one
- Osteospurnum grows well
There
is a very good website run by Patricia Jordon that I pop into every now
and then, she has valuable information on gardening in Cyprus, you will
probably have seen her books on the island too.
