olive, cypress, and blue fescue grass. oh my!
We just returned from a couple of weeks in the US to visit friends and family around the holidays. It was, as always, lovely. And, as always, full full full. I was hoping for it to feel like a moment to catch my breath from so many of the things happening right now, and perhaps even catch up here on the blog. But although it was a forced step-away from too much work, it was also a natural step-away from the computer, and from being plugged in at all times.
So for now, I’ll do my best to get up to speed with some updates. Before flying to the US, and after some of the last meetings about details with the architect, when we had a few days back in the countryside, we took a morning to go and meet with one of Europe’s leading vivai (plant nurseries), and one that just happens to be our neighbor. It’s a joy to visit this extensive collection of finely manicured trees, lines of statuesque Italian cipressi, and the enormous greenhouse of succulents and cacti. This day, we went to their new office which was just built a couple of years ago. Their logo includes the images of both the old Tuscan and Umbrian watchtowers which sit on the border of the regions, both sides of which this vivaio spreads.
As soon as we entered there was a wall with a Wendell Berry quote. I haven’t read much from Berry in so many years and it was a strange connecting moment for me reading this American environmental poet and essayist translated into Italian, when the last time I’d read his words were when I lived on the beach in Florida. “The only thing we have to preserve nature with is culture.”
The culture of how we treat our land is our divine responsibility.
Now back to discussing the garden designs. Mostly we went to ask not so much what to plant but when. I’ve heard several differing opinions recently - some say that as soon as the land is leveled, to go ahead and get at least the main trees in so that they have a year or two of growth while the house is being built. This also allows for me to buy them smaller (and usually less expensive) initially. This will be for the olive grove and a few larger trees like the cypress at the gates and an oak for the courtyard. The other ground coverings, flowers, and bushes will of course wait until the construction is complete.
During the meeting, they showed us many of their projects, as well as options for general aesthetic themes, as well as planting methods. Since the house will have various areas for different plant arrangements: olive grove, built-in flower boxes around the sides of the house, a partial green roof with grass, an interior glass courtyard, the larger outdoor courtyard, and a smaller open patio off of the master bedroom, it was interesting looking at options and methods for each. My main idea is to use the most natural and native plants, that take the least amount of maintenance, don’t look too manicured, and can function with a simple irrigation system which will be coming from the rain collection tank.
Above are screenshots from my current garden board on Pinterest. The general look. Plus the obvious choices of an olive grove, a cypress line on the drive, and a few fruit-bearing trees.
For now it’s very very early to know the specifics, but when the land work is complete with making all of the levels, terraces, and gradations, we plan to at least plan the olive grove so it has time to grow as the construction is taking place. Then piece by piece I can choose the others…