Design - Thorns
Agave on the attack - November 2025
The relentless destruction by the wild boar of the garden area in the olive grove has become intolerable. Indeed, I have given up and abandoned this zone - which I had planted up with a wide variety of lavender and low growing Teucrium - and I just ignored it for an entire year. A real shame, but how to defend this bit of territory when to fence it off securely would involve not only major construction but also, in all likelihood, a permit from the local Comune.
Then a friend arrived armed with numerous small plants of Agave americana which were sprouting all over his own garden. Would I like these ‘suckers’, otherwise he would have to destroy them as they were getting out of control?
My first reaction was that it would probably not survive the winter here - it is a plant that comes from central America (hence the name) and does not like the cold. But it does just fine in this person’s garden not far from me - in fact a bit too well – so not a problem surely?
The next thought was that I had nowhere to put a plant that is destined to grow so large (often more than 2 m tall) with vicious spines. Ah but what about … using Agave as a defence against the wild boar!
So these eight or so small Agaves have been planted in a row across where the boar tend to come into the garden. Let’s hope they grow quickly to make a secure border that even the boar will avoid and perhaps even become an attractive backdrop. It’s worth a try at least.
Thorny subject - June 2023
This morning I was greeted by a disaster zone: the pots on the terrace have been dug up or turned over during the night by – who? Badger? Porcupine? Whoever it was they have made a terrible mess with compost and plants thrown all over the place. Time to think about making the boundaries to the garden more resilient to invaders – without, of course, keeping out those friendly visitors like hedgehogs.
I am thinking about thorny plants that can put up a defensive barrier. But they need not be unattractive or ugly: this year the blossom on prickly shrubs has been fabulous, particularly the Pyracantha. The butterflies and bees have been having a feast. And the berries in autumn light up the roadsides with brilliant yellow, orange and red. Best of all: Pyracantha is a native plant which needs no watering or care of any kind, not even pruning. I have seen Pyracantha clipped into topiary shapes but it always looks painfully artificial.
Many prickly plants have generous fruits - in fact I wonder if they have evolved to have spines to protect the harvest and stop the berries being eaten before they mature?
Roses are in this category, the wild rose Rosa canina making a tall free form hedge or Rosa glauca a dense, creeping prickly thicket.
Shrubs such as pomegranate, blackthorn and hawthorn are suited to our climate and make a spiny hedge too.
A useful citrus, Poncirus has savage thorns but is tolerant of winter cold so it is worth braving the spines to have the bright fruits in autumn despite our difficult climate. It is also easily trimmed to shape (wear stout gloves!) and can be attractive topiary with fragrant early spring blossom.
A tall shrub that often is overlooked but I find rather attractive is the Spina-christi or crown of thorns that grows wild by the roadside here. The small yellow flowers in spring are not very impressive but the fruits with their aerodynamic ‘wings’ are most characteristic, and of course its curved thorns that show especially cruelly in winter.
So will a hedge of spiny shrubs keen my new foes the badger and porcupine at bay? Somehow I doubt it, but the display of blossom, berries and architectural thorny branches will be appreciated year round.
The photo at the top of this page shows the sharp spines of gorse (Ulex europaeus) a shrub native to Umbria which can be useful for defensive hedging
Many of these articles first appeared in the Castiglione del Lago monthly newsletter “Qua e là” edited by Priscilla Worsley
All text and photographs © Yvonne Barton unless stated otherwise