Page 46 - Spanish Insight - April 2020

By Lorraine Cavanagh, Viveros Florena, Competa, Malaga.
Lorraine Cavanagh is the author of the best-selling innovative ideas and, above all, personality. Plants Weekly bio Food and Health market every
Mediterranean Garden Plants, Citrus, The Zest of Life are outside in the sun, wind and rain – just like in Wednesday morning.
and joint author of There Are No Flies…..only your garden! They’re well- loved but toughened and Catch our larger spring & winter Markets too!
Foreigners. Lorraine has lived in Spain for 34 years and acclimatized to life in the hills. This is a Mecca for plant- Summer Hours: June, July, September, 9 – 2.
is a mother, grandmother and hispanófila. Her passions lovers, an Aladdin’s Cave of plants - and Lorraine and (Closed for the month of August)
are plants, the environment, Spain, food and drink, and her team are always on hand to give loads of free advice Winter Hours: October to May, 10 – 4.
travel. She runs, with her team, a very special garden and help in plant selection. Come and have a chat over We are always closed on Sundays and Mondays.
centre – Viveros Florena - near Cómpeta, (Malaga), 2 a free coffee in their delightful patio area. Landscaping
km from the village down the Sayalonga Road or 15 and Advisory Service. Delivery within Local Area. Tel: 689928201 / 681168400
km up from the coastal motorway. First impressions Stockists of Organic Products and Neem oil, English E-mail: florenaspain@hotmail.com "There are no Flies...
are stylish – the place oozes “relax”. This is far from Roses, a Rainbow of Irises, Trees, Shrubs, Bedding, viverosflorena@gmail.com only Foreigners!"
the conventional garden centre – plants are attractively Herbs, Fruits, Veg, Rare Citrus, Pots, Composts, Gift Web: page:www.viverosflorena.com
arranged in a rustic setting of wood, bamboo, gravel, Vouchers, Soap Nut Products, Shabby Shed Shop, The See us also on Facebook – Lorraine
stone and cane. It’s a place with great attitude, wacky Shambles down below and lots, lots more …… Cavanagh’s Garden Centre, Viveros Florena Cómpeta
Wine Night Poster 1994
By Jim Lovelock
MEdITERRAnEAn GARdEnInG by Lorraine Cavanagh of Viveros Florena, Cómpeta, Málaga Lorraine Cavanagh
&
The Ephemeral Cistus Family

Warm Easter breezes ruffle the wonderful blue teucrium, silvery convolvulus cneorum,
rock roses; they’re ephemeral, soft, silky and sky-blue ceanothus, sunshine-yellow
utterly enchanting. Yes, their flowering beauty genista and spartium, popcorn-scented
is short-lived but they demand nothing back retama monosperma and the blue-purple of
in return and whilst they are, perhaps, not a Russian sage perovskia atriplicifolia. Another
plant for small urban gardens, they are must- important point is that cistus are relatively fire-
haves if you have acres of dry hillside! resistant so can be used as a barrier around
your garden.
Romantic as wild roses and as appealing as
poppies with their wrinkled and furry flower These are some that you should easily find:
buds, many have foliage with a warm aroma Cistus albidus, white-leaved sun rose, jara
and taste to deter the nibbles of wild animals. estepa has very felted, aromatic, grey leaves,
They fill the air with their musky perfume on 75cm high x 50cm wide. The spring/summer
warm spring days and are happy in poor flowers are a very pretty pale pink, rather like a
rough alkaline soil, baking hot spots and wild rose. In several Arab countries the leaves
needing no irrigation, once established. They are made into tea, said to be very good for the
will also grow happily in exposed coastal digestion. During the Civil War, when food and
conditions and support cold weather down supplies were scarce, the leaves were used species. The flowers are white, five-petalled
to around -10C. They are perfect plants for as a tobacco substitute. with deep burgundy blotches staining the
those impossibly steep banks that so many of centre, fleeting but abundantly produced.
us are trying to tame! Cistus ladanifer, gum cistus, jara pringosa.
Forms a large shrub between 1m and 3m Cistus salvifolius, sage-leaved rock rose, jara
Cistus require little maintenance; give them high with very sticky and strongly aromatic negra. The leaves are oval, rough and hairy,
a light trim after flowering to encourage foliage. The name ladanifer alludes to the like our culinary sage, hence the name. The
bushiness but never prune hard as they resin labdanum, the fragrant gum emitted spring/early summer flowers are white, 5cm
may not regenerate, rather like lavenders. by the plant and much sought after in the across and the bush reaches 1m. Medicinally
They are lovely plants for rustic gardens and perfumery trade as a substitute for ambergris used as an astringent and to heal wounds.
combine beautifully with other soft-colour which gives us that heady, rich amber
Mediterranean type plants such as lavender, aroma. Ambergris used to be extracted from Cistus purpureus, purple rock rose, jara
rosemary, platinum-sheened artemisia, denim slaughtered sperm whales, now a protected purpura. A moderate grower to 1m tall and
2m spread. The fragrant purple-pink flowers
are showy, revealing the typical five deeper
splodges at the base of the petals. It is,
arguably, the most graceful of the cistus,
billowing and spilling down rugged hillsides,
layering and rooting as it spreads.
Cistus x florentinus, the fontfroide rock rose.
A cistus with mid-green foliage, 30cm tall and
spreading, producing myriads of snow-white
flowers through springtime/early summer.
Great ground covering plant.
I love them all but one of my favourites is
cistus x argenteus Mr. Stripey, white flowering
with a delicate pink stripe through the petals,
a lovely and unusual addition to the cistus
market.

As I write we are in lockdown because of
Covid-19 and, sadly, we closed Viveros
Florena for safety reasons. Please keep
watching our web page, www.viverosflorena.
com or follow us on Facebook, Lorraine
Cavanagh’s garden centre, Viveros Florena
for updates.
And please, stay home, stay safe.
46 Spanish Insight April 2020
46 Spanish Insight April 2020