Lawson, what about lavendar or rosemary? Both are good for dry conditions and are extremely low maintenance (just a little trim in the winter is all they need). They will provide colour and scent for the majority of the year.

There are many garden centres over here, many of them have english (well spanglish) speaking staff too. whereabouts in tenerife are you going to be?

as There is no winter as such in tenerife most plants flower all year round. were crap gardners and have experemented with killing quite a few different types in our little garden. fortunatly plants are quite cheap compaired to the uk. borganvillia is a hot favorite as we have discovered we cant actually kill it! which is nice.

:d

K2003 & Makum
Thanks for your replies.
Our apt is in Garden City, Quite near you Makum. We will have a car when we visit so no problem getting to a Garden Centre. Any idea whats Spanish for Lavender / Borganvillia.. Shame on me!

Drive through Torviscas and head over the motorway toward Torviscas Alto. At the junction over the bridge turn left. Follow the road round to the right, staying on the inside lane and this will take you along side (but not on) the motorway toward the Hyper dino supermarket. About half a mile down this road is a little roundabout. Turn right and then the next left and you are in the car park of a nice garden centre. (thats where we get our plants to kill!)

Alternativly if you go through Torviscas and over the motorway toward Torviscas Alto and turn left at the junction. Then stay in the outside lane, this will take you back under the motorway again. There is another garden centre just oppersite the junction under the mortorway. I have not been to that one as its shut on a Saturday.

I think the Spanish is the same as the English for Borganvillia, but the garden centres all have it on display. A 4 foot one costs about €5 Cheap as chips and its hard to kill

In Turkey, bourgenvilia grows in the cracks in pavements, so it must be virtually impossible to kill!! Make sure you trim it back though as it can take over where it's planted!