MYRTUS luma (=Luma apiculata)

It prefers very bright and sunny exposures, but manages to adapt to both partial and total shade. It prefers poor soils, even stony ones, but above all well drained and permeable. It bears the salinity of brackish winds in coastal locations, as well as prolonged periods of drought. It tolerates minimum winter temperatures only a few degrees below zero, and therefore, where the cold becomes lasting and intense, it is preferable to choose a sheltered position or guarantee it a shelter in a cool and bright environment in winter. In autumn, it may sometimes be convenient, simultaneously with the elimination of dry, damaged, old or cluttered parts, to shorten all the stems in order to stimulate a denser and more harmonious vegetative restart, a flowering, and subsequent fruiting, more abundant. It adapts successfully to terraces and balconies in containers and pots of considerable size. In the open ground, it integrates perfectly with many other Mediterranean essences to create a sunny and dry garden with a decidedly wild flavor: its further interesting use could be the construction of a barrier with a dazzling green all year round, by arranging various specimens in sequence linear.