The United States of America is celebrating 250 years of Independence this year, and with independence much on my mind I noticed that Greek Independence Day is coming up on March 25 (next week). Since many Greek plants do well in our region, perhaps you might like to plant a plant or two to celebrate. If you wish, here are just a few of the plants you could consider.

Greek Independence Day

Much like the United States, Greece declared independence, but then there was more than a few years of war until final independence was actually achieved. Then there was the pesky shift from Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and a moving around of dates. On the modern day Gregorian calendar, 25 March is currently celebrated as Greek Independence Day, with the year 1821, making them 205 years old this year.

Greek Plants for the Southwest

Greece is much like the Southwest USA. If you have never traveled much, you may not know the similarities in climate and geology between the two regions.

Greece is a land of steep rocky slopes, alkaline soils, and hot dry summers. They do get winter rains, but then no rain again for  8 or 9 months. Hot, dry, sunny – describes Greek summers.  This means that plants for the region need to be drought tolerant.  But then there is what dry seasons usually bring – alkaline soils.  Greece has caliche like we do, and it even has ample areas of really rocky soil, not to mention crops of alkaline limestone. Then there are all the sheep and goats wandering the hillsides for over 10,000 years, chewing on everything. Years of grazing and all that are left are some really tough and untasty plants that most animals shun.  Javelina and elk might not like them either, but those animals don’t roam the Greek mountainsides.

Four Greek Plants

First, let me say that there are way too many Greek plants that can grow here for me to write in one single article. More like a book!

Greek plants include many common food and herb plants such as olive, oregano, pomegranate, bay laurel, thyme, and rosemary.    Then there are over 40 flowering perennials, not to mention all the shrubs, and even some fruit trees (strawberry tree, carob, fig!).  Since there are so many, and I have not done shrubs in a while, let’s start with four low-water evergreen shrubs that come to our Southwest gardens via Greece. All of these tolerate low-water once they are established. You will need to help them become established with some extra water at first.

Caper

Caper (Capparis spinosus) is a small evergreen shrub to three feet tall with round leaves of glossy green and gorgeous white flowers.    If you want the condiment “capers” you will have to forgo the flowers however.    The buds are pickled for the capers we eat.   (How to pickle flower buds – on Savor the Southwest YouTube)

Caper plants prefer some shade – they can’t take reflected sun or really baking sites.    But also, they do not tolerate temperatures much below 25 degrees in winter, so this is a Low and Middle Desert shrub. If you live in a cooler regions you will need to grow them in containers that are moved to a protected area in winter.   

Rabbit resistant. 

Myrtle

The bright green leaves of myrtle (Myrtus communis) are great for that lush look in the landscape.    The small fragrant leaves are slightly waxy to help resist drying.  Standard myrtle reaches nine feet tall and wide.    Plant the dwarf myrtle variety if you want the shrub to stay around three feet tall. If you really want to you could prune them into boxes or circles, but then you would miss the flowers. Once established they will survive down to 10F, but they will be stressed and some leaves may

White puffy flowers are followed by deep blue berries that can be used to make “myrto” an alcoholic beverage.  Those blue berries are cardinal magnets. They check my bushes daily as the fruits ripen, and the brilliant red against the vibrant green bushes is lovely to behold.

Appears to be rabbit and javelina proof.

Pyracantha

The much maligned pyracantha (Pyracantha coccinea) is also called fire thorn. It can easily grow into a large, sprawling shrub. And yet – that makes it a great privacy hedge. It is also often planted on arbors as a “vine.”  (Since it can’t hold itself up it is not a true vine.  Vines for the Southwest.)  Dense clusters of small, white, butterfly and bee pollinated flowers appear in spring are followed by clusters of orangish-red berries.

More Butterfly Plants

The Butterfly Gardening Guide offers tips for attracting butterflies to your yard, plus a guide to close to 100 plants to attract them.

This note from a purchaser:  “Highly recommend this book!  I bought one after she gave a talk on this topic at our library.  My spouse has appropriated it and takes it to the nursery when deciding which new plants to add to our yard.”

Profits from the sale of this book go to the Horticulture Therapy non-profit Tierra del Sol Institute.  

As kids we were told that pyracantha fruits are toxic but that’s not the entire story. Pyracantha are in the apple family, and all members of the apple family contain cyanogenic glycosides in the seeds. When we eat an apple, we spit out the seeds. Pyracantha seeds are tiny, and thus we ingest them. It is the “cyanogenic” part that we humans have to worry about – cyanogenic refers to their ability to generate cyanide after they are eaten and the molecule digested.

We also have to keep our mammalian pets, especially dogs, from eating the fruits. There are ways for humans to safely use the berries.  Birds can digest the seeds without getting poisoned. Migrating cedar waxwings adore the berries. 

Rabbit proof.

Rock Rose

Here’s one for the Upper Elevations! The rock rose or rockrose (Cistus villosus and hybrids) grows well on the rocky hillsides of Greece, but it likes a cool summer breeze, so not Low Desert at all. In the Middle and High Desert you will need to provide afternoon shade. Upper elevations – plant in full sun. Cold hardy to 0F, and some books say -10F.

Flowers in striking pink or white or a beautiful blend of colors adorn the three foot tall shrub virtually all summer.    The stems of the plant exude a fragrant resin called “ladanum” (not laudanum). Ladanum is used in the perfume trade and is harvested in Greece from a sister species with less showy flowers.

Rabbit resistant. Might be deer and javelina resistant as well.

Plant Some Plants and Thank the Greek

When you look out at your garden, you can remember to thank the Greeks for the basis of so very much of our Western culture. Including law, civics, jury system, the concept of a republic, democracy, philosophy, mathematical reasoning, geometry, astronomy, codifying medicine and medicinal plants, theater, inquiry based science, theater, and of course – the Olympic Games. Then there are all the rich stories and plays, concepts from mythology, and no doubt other things I am not bringing to mind.

Like any other culture before or since, the Greeks learned from what went before, and they adapted ideas from their neighbors, so maybe not everything started there. The list of what we inherited from them is long because they had a wealth of other cultures to draw upon.

Since this is a plant article – I will end on this note. We can certainly thank the Greek for cultivating a plethora of plants – including so many that have found their way into our cupboards and onto our landscapes.

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cover image: Rockrose in the wild

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