I suppose pines would grow in your zone, and certain pines are mediterranean. How much room do you have? What is the context? Small suburban lot, acreage, flat, sloped? What kind of soil do you have?

I have some familiarity with mediterranean plants, but no concept of what will survive zone 7.

You've already figured out that plants typical to a Mediterranean style garden are not gonna work for you so that's half the battle. You may want to consider plantings with a more tropical feel - palms, flowering vines, phormiums, hibiscus. Think the North African side of the Mediterranean :-)

I assume you are considering this because your house has that Mediterranean villa character? If not, suggest you take a different tack entirely.

btw, a search of the GW archives under "mediterranean garden" should turn up some ideas, but beware that most of these relate to California and a true mediterranean climate. Otherwise, your local library should provide some inspiration - armed with that and a visit to your local nursery/garden center for local plants with a similar character, you should be good to go.

There are some traditional mediterranean plants that seem to do well in our Georgia climate. Viburnum tinus grows well here, as does rosemary. If you have a larger space, some cultivars of the native redcedar can substitute for italian cypress. Those are just off the top of my head, I'll post others if I think of them.

Certainly you can capture the style of a mediterannean garden without using the exact plants. Clipped boxwood hedges, gravel patios or pathways, pots filled with geraniums in summer, a lemon tree in a pot which could be moved inside for winter, gray foliaged plants such as Artemesia, Santolina, Phlomis, etc. are all things that you can grow in your climate as well, as long as they get full sun and have good drainage. Evergreen trees and shrubs would also be part of the look, and Southern Live Oaks certainly can substitute for Cork Oaks or California Live Oaks. Trees such as Persimmon, Pomegranite, Figs and Grapes are also part of the look, and can all be grown there as well. Lots of hardscape, pergolas or cabanas for shade, and little to no lawn and patios and pathways are all part of the classic mediterannean garden look, as would be a fountain with seat walls within a courtyard setting.

>Certainly you can capture the style of a mediterannean garden without using the exact plantsDing!

Except in extreme climates you can always evoke or suggest a regional theme with plants not from that area but of similar naturalistic character to those that are.

Also: It might help if you could spell out what effect you are after, what the "look" and "feel" are to you.

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments! Pines grow fantastic in my area, but my husband hates pines for some reason. As a matter of fact, we have mostly hardwoods such as dogwood, many sycamore, a few maple, oak, and a couple of downtrodden cedar trees. I have 2 banana plants and 2 palms (not sure what type) that are in pots that I bought for the back patio (indoors for the winter). I also have honeysuckle vines, that I have to keep trimmed all the time, in addition I am a container gardener freak! My potted babies are taking up the whole inside of my kitchen, the containers outside are actually surviving our winters here, the rosemary has held up, I have some spiky plant, don't know the name but not yucca, that are doing very well, but the basil, chives, garlic, and thyme all got flodded out in the pots then it got really cold and they died....I like the idea of the tropical plants and the N.African side of the Mederranean. I live on an 1.335 acres and am more interested in just doing the backyard/patio area as a mediterraneanish retreat, since its already cozied up. The patio is a concrete slab big enough to hold an large charcoal grill, a copper fire pit and a 4 seater patio set with the umbrella, with room to still walk around. When you walk out the back door directly onto the concrete slab, you have about 10 to 15 feet before it ends into grass. Walk about 6 to 8 more feet and then you start up a steep slope (my guess is a 35 to 40 degree slope because when it rains you either slide down it or fall down it and sprain you ankle every time) and needless to say that it doesn't keep grass seed very well. You get to the top and it levels off, then 10 more feet and you are in the woods. The area between the slope and slab is actually a mild grade drainage ditch to keep the water from flooding the patio, so it slopes down in both directions away from the patio to the sides to keep the water from pooling, and grass is plentyful here. I have clay soil with rocks, my backyard used to be a gravel drive way for my neighbor's house before they built my subdivision. Our houses aren't really any style...mine is gray vinyl siding with burgundy shutters in the front, not cheap looking by anymeans, just average, it has just all gray vinyl siding in the back with no shutters and while window frames. There is a pinkish/whitish/grayish (all mixed) brick accenting on the entire front side of the house, except for the garage area. I have a large front porch, also concrete slab. So I know that I don't have a medditerranean villa style house, but the backyard stays pretty sunny throughout the day until about 6 pm in the summer, when the shadow of the house takes over it, and it gets so dry in the summers, that you can literally see the clay cracking like the desert, we are in a drought and have water restrictions from Spring to early Fall. Since I have this slope in the backyard, I actually thought about cutting into it, buildign a retaining wall with brick accenting and stucco, with a built-in grill or water feature....I would probably like to cover the concrete with stone of some sort and then also put stone where the existing grass is up to the proposed retaining wall to make a courtyard area, and add a perogela over part of it, near the house since I like to watch meteor showers at night. Only then would come the plants as accents to set off the retaining wall with the grill/water feature. Though, not sure if I will end up doing this, if not, I would still like to know what to do in the mean time to give it inspiration and a relaxation feel. Thanks all!!!!

Mitzy

Rosemary, especially certain hardier varieties of rosemary

Lavender

Rockrose (cistus)

You could consider cork oak. (Though they can be a little more "iffy" some winters in zone 7 than in zone 8 ) I grew some from acorns.

cypress and Italian stone pine

Some varieties of hardy pomegranate may be able to grow for you in zone 7 in the South, but you will really have to be careful picking the variety. It might just be an ornamental variety.

You are familiar with the Chicago hardy fig tree?

Arbutus unedo can be very ornamental, produces semi-edible little fruits

Keep in mind some Mediterranean plants may not do well in the humid heat and moist summers of the South, although most Mediterranean plants are drought tolerant, once established, and handle dry heat better than many other plants.

If you can post some pics of the yard, I could try some Mediterranean style garden design explorations.

oops, I completely missed that it's a 16 yrs old thread. It showed up at the top as it got recent comments.