Mike, I know what you mean about heat knocking out so many of those traditional English cottage garden favorites, our summers are so hot and humid, Delphiniums and Lupines just aren't an option here
Your Mediterranean climate offers its own specific challenges too. I've never tried growing Agrostemma, but have looked longingly at them in seed catalogs. I have it in my head that I read somewhere that our summer humidity wouldn't agree with them.
I love looking at pics of the gardens at Annie's Annuals, she has created such a beautiful cottagy look with non traditional plants. Have you been there?
Lucy, I love Astilbes, and grew them to perfection at my last home that was situated in the woods. We were in a "holler", as they're called around here, with a creek running though the front yard, and the soil was a deep, organic, moist, sandy loam. The Astilbes got so big! Now that I'm in a sunnier, more exposed area on a hill top, I find it difficult to keep them as moist as they'd prefer. My salsa bed here has had the challenge of competition from tree roots and dryness, although I think that may improve this year with the Bradford pear being gone. Cardinal Lobelia is a great choice, if Astilbes are happy they would do well too, but my bed is a bit too dry for them as well.
Mike, Clivia aren't winter hardy enough for me or Lucy to grow in ground, but they are gorgeous! I've got an orange and a yellow one in pots that are budding now.
