Plants and trees of Argentina

There are 16 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 3,189 times. The latest Post () was by UK Man.

1st Official Post
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    Spring is coming and since there isn't much to do at home, we will resume plant grooming shortly.

    We have two big potted Pomelo trees where Serafina the cat likes to roll, and where I'd like to see some green, instead.

    Last autumn I planted Sweet Alyssa - lobularia maritima and it smells and blooms all year long. Serafina isn't happy that it's going to take up space for rolling in the dirt/soil.


    My question for UK Man is: how do I help it spread? Should I take some and plant it in different points? Should I collect the seeds from the flowers and plant those?

    We originally bought it as a single small plastic pot, and it kept growing over winter. However, at the garden store it was not available last month - it's probably too early.


    Sweet_alyssum.jpg

    In the UK it is treated as an annual as it's mainly used in summer bedding displays...in between blue Lobelia. Therefore it usually gets lifted and tossed out in autumn to make room for the Spring bedding planting. Not 100% sure about Alyssum but here in milder climes many plants which are treated as annuals in Scotland will either reseed themselves or survive the winter months to sprout new growth in Spring. If it doesn't reseed you might be able to split the parent plant into pieces to plant elsewhere.


    I've noticed it grows like a weed here which is why we don't have it.

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    Quote from UK Man

    I've noticed it grows like a weed here which is why we don't have it.

    It may as well be a weed... or is a weed anything too easy to grow, and hence not sought after?


    I wanted something with short roots that won't interfere with the pomelo tree's, but nice to look/touch. Before that, we had a weed that was hanging down (you can see a few, smaller leaves below the mint bush, which is long gone) but the roots were too deep and it dried out completely during winter - it was unpleasant to watch so I tossed it.


    We should start a thread called Gardening Questions for UK Man !


    Here’s mine. We have such a full cover of old-growth trees that there isn’t a single place with full sun - hardly even partial sun. The tree limbs are far too high for trimming. So every flowering bush or plant we put in, fails to flower or even thrive. Suggestions for shade-loving flowering plants?

    Quote from Rice

    We should start a thread called Gardening Questions for UK Man !


    Here’s mine. We have such a full cover of old-growth trees that there isn’t a single place with full sun - hardly even partial sun. The tree limbs are far too high for trimming. So every flowering bush or plant we put in, fails to flower or even thrive. Suggestions for shade-loving flowering plants?

    Plastic ones. ^^

    Quote from Rice

    We should start a thread called Gardening Questions for UK Man !

    No thanks!!

    My wife doesn't get it either when I tell her I'm retired and no longer have an interest in it. So I asked her as an ex teacher if she'd like to teach kids English as a hobby and she soon got the message. ^^

    Edited once, last by UK Man: Merged a post created by UK Man into this post. ().

    • Official Post
    Quote from UK Man

    In the UK it is treated as an annual as it's mainly used in summer bedding displays...in between blue Lobelia. Therefore it usually gets lifted and tossed out in autumn to make room for the Spring bedding planting. Not 100% sure about Alyssum but here in milder climes many plants which are treated as annuals in Scotland will either reseed themselves or survive the winter months to sprout new growth in Spring. If it doesn't reseed you might be able to split the parent plant into pieces to plant elsewhere.

    Dear Mr UK Man, yesterday I tried to collect seeds from the flowers, and besides a few petals, I got also small ants. It seems they are crawling under the soil under the plant. Should I take care of those? My husband loves to Raid the plants to get rid of ants. I am not fond of this practice because Serafina plays there. Please advise.


    881e966ef10ee4e7f19b93afba162873.jpg

    Quote from Rice

    Plastic plants.


    OK, UK Man . Message received!

    Where is the garden Rice? Here or in the US?

    Quote from serafina

    Dear Mr UK Man, yesterday I tried to collect seeds from the flowers, and besides a few petals, I got also small ants. It seems they are crawling under the soil under the plant. Should I take care of those? My husband loves to Raid the plants to get rid of ants. I am not fond of this practice because Serafina plays there. Please advise.


    881e966ef10ee4e7f19b93afba162873.jpg

    I don't bother with ants in the garden. My wife does though especially when they leave her roses leafless. If you don't want to use chemicals leaving grains of rice outside their nest hole is supposed to get rid of them....I'm a bit sceptical about that one although it may depend on the type of ant you have.

    Edited once, last by UK Man: Merged a post created by UK Man into this post. ().

    serafina , we have a gardening friend whose ‘natural’ way of dealing with ants is putting a small shovel full of ants into the nest of other ants, then returning the favor. He said the internecine wars he started solved the problem, but I suspect it was only gleeful wishful thinking.


    UK Man , my “garden” in BsAs is limited to the planters on our balcony, full of gorgeous sun from daybreak until 3 pm. It is fabulous! But the no-sun location is our current refuge in Michigan, where we are surrounded by oak trees that are so old, tall and dense that the only plants we can keep alive have to be in movable pots on the deck. We brought large, full-blooming snapdragons with us, but despite great fertilizer and our moving them into spots of sun throughout the day (what else is there to do during quarantine?), we now have great tall plants with zero blooms. They just need sun. Impatiens are boring, but maybe they are all I can count on?

    Best advice I can give you is to go to a reputable plant nursery and seek advice from them. They'll know which plants grow best under the local conditions. The differences between gardening in Scotland to elsewhere is like night and day....hence my hesitancy in becoming the forum 'expert'.

    My wife knows more about gardening here than I do, plus she has the enthusiasm for it. Whereas I most certainly do not!! ^^

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    I've always loved gardening for as long as I remember.

    At one boarding school the headmaster gave us all a small patch for us to cultivate a garden and he then held a competition for garden of the year.

    My favourite flowers were Delphiniums and since then I've grown potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes - in fact, almost everything.

    It's incredibly satisfying, especially when grown from seed,

    • Official Post
    Quote from UK Man

    Best advice I can give you is to go to a reputable plant nursery and seek advice from them. They'll know which plants grow best under the local conditions. The differences between gardening in Scotland to elsewhere is like night and day....hence my hesitancy in becoming the forum 'expert'.

    You're the best one we have so far, so you're a keeper ^^

    I have been seeking advice from my mother, but she also says she is not competent to answer questions on gardening in Argentina. ||

    Quote from Rice

    But can’t you just fake it? serafina and I were just getting warmed up to having the only expat forum with our own horticulture expert!

    Apart from my earlier days in the trade I have rarely gotten my hands dirty since. For most of my working life I was a teacher/trainer then worked for the exam authority visitng prisons to assess their facilities to deliver qualifications in the subject. In my spare time I rarely did any gardening as we stayed in apartments/flats which was wonderful as I could do other things for relaxation.

    Wish I had the same enthusiam for it as my wife has but I don't. I find it hard to summon enough energy to mow the lawn especially during the summer heat. In fact if it wasn't a ride-on mower I wouldn't do it. :P

    Quote from serafina

    You're the best one we have so far, so you're a keeper ^^

    I have been seeking advice from my mother, but she also says she is not competent to answer questions on gardening in Argentina. ||


    Well she's right. I'd never seen a banana plant in my life until I came here. Never ever imagined I would be picking and eating them from our garden....similarly with countless other things that grow here.

    Quote from Splinter

    UK Man

    When you do find the energy, what do you find to pass the time?

    Since coming to Argentina and after we sold the herd I carried on with my interests in walking, cycling,fishing, cooking, pipe collecting and smoking, drinking in moderation and the rest of the time basically doing fuck all especially during the summer months! ^^