Mediterranean Garden Society
Mediterranean Garden Society
The Andalucia Branch of the MGS
Andalucia is a huge area with some of the sunniest, hottest or driest, even windiest, parts of Europe which pose many challenges to gardening. Gardeners in Andalucia are an international lot from all parts of the world, working and caring for all sorts of gardens, large and small, from historic gardens with Moorish influences, large agricultural estates, to gardens of modern holiday homes.
Andalucia Branch Head is Sibylle Mattern: read her biography here. Members and prospective members please contact Sibylle with questions, ideas, suggestions.
The photographs at the top of this page show views of Andalucia during winter: Landscape with cork oak; Plantings of aloe on the Mediterranean public coastal path, Marbella; View of the Alhambra, Granada; Almond tree blossom in February; Gardens of the Alcazar in Cordoba; Landscape with asphodels (Photos Sibylle Mattern)
Versión española
Forthcoming Events
Saturday 12 April - Gaucin
Visit to an MGS member's garden in a magical location.
Saturday 31 May - Villanueva del Rosario
A second visit to the arboretum-garden in Villanueva del Rosario to view the spring flowering.
Saturday 11 October - Benahavis
Annual meeting of the Andalucia branch
We meet in Sibylle’s garden in Benahavís. A Plant exchange is planned: Please bring your surplus cuttings or seedlings of whatever you have grown throughout the year.
Past Events
January 2025 - Alhaurín El Grande
Visit to Andrew Sloan’s garden
With reducing water levels and droughts that are familiar to most members of the Mediterranean Garden Society, many of us are not only looking to find sustainable ways to garden but are also investigating changing the plants that we choose to garden with.
This is a trend that Andrew Sloan identified and adopted perhaps ahead of the curve over 10 years ago. Having built a more traditional, irrigated garden in Alhaurin el Grande, nestled in a valley behind Malaga in Andalucia with irrigation when he first moved in almost 30 years ago, he made a radical change and switched the irrigation off in 2011. Once almost all the plants had died on his terraced raised beds, he started out all over again.
The first point of call was bringing in and mixing in sand to improve drainage (from the existing clay) to create a habitat more suited a totally waterwise garden. This intervention has paid off in spades (forgive the pun) - not only reducing the twice weekly task of watering to once every 3 weeks but also by creating a stunning garden full of colour and contrasts.
While the garden has many interesting succulents, agave and cacti, for example Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, Sedum nussbaumerianum, Agave victoriae-reginae, the Aloes were firmly the stars and we were lucky enough to visit as they were blooming.
Long flowering (up to 6 weeks) and, unlike agave, they do not die once they have flowered. Some specimens come from far and wide – perhaps most notably Aloe debrana a rare variety from Ethiopia and Aloe dorathea from Tanzania.
Many of the stronger reds and orange leaf colours that were on show were as a result of water stress – Andrew treads a fine line between treating them mean to create the sunset glows and caring for them enough so that they survive – too much water encourages greener foliage.
The passion for plants shone through the whole visit and it is no wonder that Andrew welcomes many groups into his garden regularly to introduce them to the joys of aloes. He freely shares his knowledge of propagation and growing from seed – many of which have come from trips with the MGS.
Beyond aloes, we also were able to walk through a wonderful olive grove with trees topping 800 years old that still produce hand harvested crops for oil. This grove includes a fascinating oddity – essentially two ancient trees grafted many centuries ago to create one magnificent specimen - one of which is thought to belong to the times when the Moors ruled Andalucia (between the 8th and 15th Century).
A further experimental approach to exploring all aspects of gardening was also evident in Andrew´s adoption of cultivating in line with the lunar calendar – an approach initially tested as part of a 10 year experiment by Rudolf Steiner in 1925. This approach guides the timing for all activities within the garden – pruning when the moon is waning and planting especially root plants when the moon is waxing or growing. He even extends this to deciding when to have his hair cut!
The visit was a wonderful and thought provoking experience for those who were lucky enough to attend and most went away with a new understanding and appreciation for aloes – and a resolution to incorporate more of them into our own gardens. Who knows, some of us may also be testing out lunar gardening as well.
Text by Katrin Schlenzka, photos by Sibylle Mattern and Katrin Schlenzka
November 2024 - Malaga
Pepe visit
The day we visited the Jardin del Rosario was full of mists and mellow fruitfulness as the Keats poem says and it felt like we were transported to an arboretum in the UK. Yet here was this magnificent estate about 45 minutes from Malaga and around 700m above sea level. At this time of the year (beginning of November) the trees were naturally the stars - though with about 22,000 different plants from around 5,000 species and varieties there is something to appreciate at all times of the year.
The garden (there was some lively debate over lunch about if it was a park, a garden or an estate!) was clearly created by a passionate and knowledgeable plant collector, Jose Alba Garcia who combines the creativity and sensibility of the artist with the rigour and methods of a scientist. It is hard to think that this garden, with all its sense of heritage and permanence, didn´t exist 40 years ago. Jose´s passion and knowledge shone through during what was, in fact, a short walk but that was extended as we lingered and heard the story behind many of the amazing specimens in the garden.
We also saw the scientific side of the project in the form of the groundbreaking approach to plant classification and location that was inspired by his engineering expertise - with many thanks to his son Alfonso who patiently accompanied us with the tablet identifying plants as we excitedly encountered new varieties.
The whole visit was totally inspiring - even for those of use with more modest plots – I think we all came away with a favourite tree to fit into our existing gardens! Some stand out plants that members loved were the Cercis canadensis forest pansy, Celtis occidentalis and the Ginkgo was stunning in all its autumn foliage.
We would like to extend our thanks to our very gracious hosts who gave is an incredibly warm welcome, plenty to think about and a wonderful lunch!
Text by Katrin Schlenzka
September 2024
First Visit of the Branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society
On a windy and hot day twelve members of the newly revived Andalucían branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society gathered at the home of our branch head, Sibylle Mattern, whose garden she vividly describes in issues TMG 115
and TMG 116 of the journal.
True followers of dry-gardening know that the end of a hot summer is a good time to see a garden for a learning experience. Every garden looks good in springtime, but at the end of a harsh summer? Furthermore, this is our third year of drought here, and added to this, Sibylle’s garden, being on a hilltop, is exposed to wind from every direction. Her garden is cleverly designed to include protective pockets of shelter and shade, while still celebrating the wonderful 360 degree vista. In addition, Sibylle had ceased watering in some areas so we could see the true survival capabilities of some plants.
As to be expected there was some ‘plant envy’ as well, when some interesting plants from Australia and South Africa catching our attention. I was particularly attracted by the look and tactile feel of Calothamnus quadrifidus, commonly known as the one-sided bottle brush, from Western Australia.
Sibylle, her husband Frank and garden designer Paul Neaum, were gracious hosts as we explored the garden and then shared lunch. Friendships were rekindled as some members knew each other from meetings arranged by Lindsay Blyth some years ago. There were also some members for whom this was their first meeting, as well as four ‘garden assistants’ as long-suffering partners described themselves. The gardening knowledge ranged from expert level to those who are novices in mediterranean gardening. The sharing of knowledge was generous; we all left with new ideas for our own gardens. Our next meeting will be held in another member’s garden during, where we hope to see more members; accompanying ‘garden assistants’ also welcome!
Text: Sonja Tiscenko, photos @ThomasSchlenzka
Sibylle Mattern
Sibylle joined the MGS with the aim to minimize mistakes after having started to create her own Mediterranean garden on the Costa del Sol, Spain. She is a biologist (molecular genetics) by training but has been gardening in Germany since her childhood. When she is not in her German or Spanish gardens, she spends her free time looking after her breeding horses or travelling for wildlife
photography.
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