Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com

Everything Else & Classifieds => The Everything Else Area! => Topic started by: Chucky on August 28, 2007, 09:16:33 PM

Title: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on August 28, 2007, 09:16:33 PM
Having admired the pictures of Cosetta''s garden, and in being a week-end gardener myself, I wondered if anyone is interested in a topic on gardening in Turkey and at home?
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on August 28, 2007, 09:56:11 PM
Joan, I could write a whole book about trying to create and care for a large garden here through drought, scorching heat, gale force winter winds, army worms, hedgehogs, snails, turtles, huge grasshoppers, red spider mites and an insidious thread-like yellow weed (dodder) that covers everything and which seeds can survive for 25 years ...!  But if you just look at the result, it is lush and semi-tropical!  It takes a lot of determination and patience to keep it up.  The only battle lost were two weeping willows.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on August 28, 2007, 10:41:05 PM
Sounds like a good idea, especially on a long winter''s night. I would read it.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: DRBD on August 29, 2007, 09:46:10 AM
Seconded,
Cosetta your photos of your garden are lovely, lots of colours and the hard work shows !!

At home I enjoy my garden when I get the chance, its always my "unwind" time and when its been done it shows, not like the housework. Working 6-7 days a week means time is not really on my side.

We have a small garden in Kalkan but still like to dabble, not there as long as you are but try to choose the plants that can carry on with out us, so please any ideas and help would be great  DRBD
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Blue Lizard on August 29, 2007, 09:56:48 AM
we are on the south coast and most of my ideas are taken from Turkish gardens and themes....keeps me going in between trips!! ;)
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on August 29, 2007, 05:37:57 PM
The soil here is heavy clay and it takes awhile, plus some sand and goat manure, to lighten it up.  Flowers that do well are roses of all kinds - miniature, climbing, and bushes (but endless problems with fungus and red spider mites so hard to maintain) -- petunias, marigolds, zinneas - very colorful, grow easily -- dahlias (my avatar!), hibiscus, primula - this is easy to maintain and spreads quickly.  Here it''''s called ''''Kalkan cicek'''' (like chee-check).  Of course bougainvillea in all colors - easy to maintain. 

Then ''''zambak'''', I would call them a form of gladiola (lily?), grow easily but march like armies and take over everything.  We had to take most of them out for this reason. Lilies of various types will also grow.

There are other colorful crawling plants and climbing vines of which I don''''t know the English names that produce bells / trumpets of different sizes.  Most of these are fairly good keepers.  Then there are many kinds of flowering trees like mimosa, jacaranda and others which are better suited to a big garden.  A couple of our trees have grown so tall and full that we may have to remove them or severely cut them back as they are now blocking part of our sea view.

Anyone who can tell me the name of the flowering pink tree in the 4th photo down on page 1/3, my forever gratitude! (-;
http://kalkan-turkey.com/gardens.html (http://kalkan-turkey.com/gardens.html)
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: sally on August 29, 2007, 09:27:05 PM
Lovely pics & a wonderful garden, Cosetta.

Very, very hard to tell what that tree/shrub is from the photo as not close up enough & can''t see the leaves (crucial for ident).  At a guess it is something in the same family as out lavatera/mallow. But that is a total guess. If you can post a more detailed photo of the flowers and leaves I could have a much better attempt at the ident.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on August 29, 2007, 09:40:51 PM
A little research on Google images got me the answer.  These tree/bushes are crape myrtle trees and grow easily here.  They actually come in many colors but ours are all bright pink.

But we still have several ''unidentified'' vines and bushes!
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: sally on August 29, 2007, 10:47:42 PM
Just googled crape myrtle myself & was fascinated to see the results (spent my working life in horticulture).  If you don''t mind me asking (and pm me if you wish) - where is this lovely garden? I would love to come and peer over the fence in 26 days time!
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on August 30, 2007, 11:34:01 AM
Sally -- and anyone who want to -- you''re more than welcome to pop over to see the gardens anytime.  No prior notice needed, we are almost always here.  We are 1 km before Kalkan exactly where you first see Kalkan below you when coming from the airport.  There is a cement road running down alongside the stone wall.  Opposite Bersan Itimat brick shop.  Stop, honk, shout or let me know when you''''re here.  When I come to town can bring you up.

Won''''t guarantee that by late September all plants will still be blooming though.  I think the zinneas and a couple of flowering trees that are now in full bloom might be finished by then but the roses should have all recovered from the summer heat.  Here are some other unidentified plants that you might know the name of:

http://www.kalkan-turkey.com/gardens-unknown.html

Cheers, Carole
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: sally on September 01, 2007, 11:39:18 AM
Carole - the top plant is deffo Lavatera .  The other two I am not so sure about - the yellow flowered one could be in the brugmasia (datura) family.  It is very hard to ident from pics!!  Try google images with those ideas and see if anything matches!!

Would love to see your garden (and meet you).  Will be in touch nearer the time (23 days to do!)

Sally.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 01, 2007, 01:06:08 PM
Hi Carole, my guess is that the yellow and red flowers are both Campsis, the Trumpet Vine. The other looks like a cross between a hibiscus and Lavatera but not sure.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: sally on September 01, 2007, 02:38:33 PM
Joan - I''ve jus put campsis into google images & I am sure you a right about the red one!!
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 01, 2007, 03:14:23 PM
Yes, and I''ve just found out that hibiscus and lavatera are both members of the mallow family!
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Honey on September 01, 2007, 03:54:47 PM
Carole.You must feel as if your''e living in paradise in that wonderful villa,it''s so beautiful.I''m very jealous.You are one lucky lady.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 04, 2007, 08:30:30 PM
I have just had a message from my friend in Kalkan and she tells me that the seeds I gathered and sowed in June are flowering. They are Mirabilis or Marvel of peru, I planted them close to my bedroom window so hopefully their evening perfume will "waft in".
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: DRBD on September 05, 2007, 06:20:18 PM
Cosetta - What is that lovely bright yellow flower you now have on show have been staring at it but still unable to make it out.? :)
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 05, 2007, 08:08:38 PM
Carole, I am pretty certain your pink flower is Hibiscus syriacus "Lady Stanley" and your yellow one is Trumpet Vine possibly "Flava". Anymore that you need help identifying?
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on September 05, 2007, 09:51:26 PM
Wow, you''ve all been quite busy!  I looked up images of some of the suggested plants.  The orange bells are definitely Trumpet Vine, the bright yellow trumpet flowers are a bush (not a vine). They may be in the same family but Omar assures me it is a bush and indeed, it does not put out runners, just branches.  The flower is a trumpet.

Joan, you are correct, the blue jasmine is plumbago.  I don''t have mirabilis though and I couldn''t find any images of a plant called ''Pakistani nights''.

The pink flower that I had as an avatar is a dahlia grown from Dutch bulbs.  The lavendar flowering tree on the ''unidentified'' page of my website is in fact closer to Hibiscus syriacus than to Lavatera, judging from the pics on Google images.  It looks pink in the photo but it is lavendar.  However, it is a tree and not at all like the other hibiscus bushes that we have. I''ve got many of those in red, white, double pink and gold, the flowers are much bigger than these small lavendar ones.  But they do seem related if one relies on the net pics.

We have 4 other unidentified trees with yellow flowers, two appear on the link below. One is a tree in the 3rd photo down, a tree with lots of foliage and yellow-orange little bells.  The 4th photo at the bottom show a tree with yellow flowers, red stamens and feathery foliage - no idea what it is:
http://kalkan-turkey.com/gardens-3.html (http://kalkan-turkey.com/gardens-3.html).

I also have pink and white datura but these are all about to depart.  Leaves too soft, always eaten by hoppers and always looking terrible.

As I was looking through the garden today I see that I have some more unidentified plants but no photos of them yet.

And now we have some new pests ... cutworms eating the dichondra and a hedgehog hunting for snails.  It''s a constant battle!

Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on September 14, 2007, 01:20:55 PM
Joan, Sally and anyone else ... here are another 4 ''unknown'' plants that I photographed today.  Do you know their English or botanical names?  The one that looks like another species of trumpet vine might be but is totally different from the one on the earlier pages of my site.  The bells are much smaller, darker, point up not down, is not a true vine ... maybe a member of the datura family?  Very dark green leaves.

http://www.kalkan-turkey.com/gardens-unknown-2.html
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 14, 2007, 08:43:54 PM
Carole, I know what the first one is but can''t remember it''s name!! something like port....? Will do more research. The second one looks very much like Chilean Glory vine, does it scramble and get tiny black/paper seeds? Still trying to track down no3 plant.
Joan
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on September 14, 2007, 10:46:49 PM
Thanks for looking, Joan.  I googled pics of Chilean Glory vine, looks similar but it is not quite that.  Flowers don''t cluster in the same way, they aren''t tubes but trumpets, and the leaves are much darker and different shape.  Haven''t seen any tiny black/paper seeds either. But of course it can be a local variation of this vine.  I suspect that a lot of these plants with trumpets, whether trees, bushes or vines, are related.   
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on September 30, 2007, 08:48:34 PM
Hi carole, the cocks crow plant is a Celosia, possibly argentea. Will be out this Friday, hope the weather is still good, heard you had some rain?
Joan   
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: DRBD on December 11, 2007, 12:57:55 PM
Cosetta - now that the weather has turned how is your garden, just out of interest?
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: melomania on March 18, 2008, 06:08:33 PM
Cosetta

I am new to this site and have not worked out how to view the photos of your garden.  Can you point me in the right direction? Thank you.
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Chucky on March 22, 2008, 04:36:07 PM
Hi Carole, not sure if you are back in Kalkan. Like Melomania I cannot access your garden pictures now. Never mind, I am sure you will soon have some spring Kalkan flowers to look at. I have finally remembered the name of that low growing succulent flower - Portulaca or Pourpier!!!
I have bought myself some seeds to plant in Kalkan.
Joan
Title: Re: Gardening
Post by: Cosetta on March 25, 2008, 09:15:54 AM
Hello from Elviria, Spain!  Just now saw these messages to me.  No, we are not yet back in Kalkan, will arrive April 22.  Driving from the south of Spain to Kalkan.  7 day drive + 2 days rest in Treviso, Italy.

Our garden ... no idea what it looks like now, but nothing new will get planted until I arrive so no difference now from the photos online.  Hope to bring some unusual plants from here that should do well in Kalkan.

Yes, my site was down for a couple of weeks as I forgot to renew my domain name.  Had to pay an arm and a leg to get it back from the host provider, but now it''s up again.

Thanks for your interest!

Carole

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