The other 50% will turn out to be exactly the same as in your native country, just when you'd resigned yourself to having to relearn it all.
But if you're only fair-to-middling in terms of the shrub-care skills ranking, you probably won't even be able to predict which bits are radically different and which bits are radically identical until you've been here for a year and seen how your greenery pans out in every season.
And then been here a second year, to check last year wasn't fluke.
Or perhaps a third year, to work out the majority pattern.
Easy greenery for the unskilled: Bury a tomato
If you're convinced you're a cretin in the cultivation department, bury some vegetables and pop them out in the sun, watering them whenever the soil feels dry and perhaps flinging some evergreen plant-feed on the roots (it costs about €3 in a Chinese bazaar). This sounds slapdash and over-simplified, but if you've only ever lived in apartments, it may be all you can handle – and you're probably good at lots of other things, so there's no shame in it.
Even if you don't get actual tomatoes and peppers, you should get a plant, they're typically low-maintenance other than constant watering, grow like weeds, and keep re-shooting after they appear to have died. Tomato plants thrive best in spring and early summer in a sunny environment, but high summer is too harsh for them and by September or October, any fruit you didn't get probably isn't going to happen until next year. Pepper plants may look as though they're not going to play until, suddenly, just as autumn unfolds, so do they, blooming with white flowers that become juicy green bulbs in days.
Many new residents in Spain, or holiday-home owners who know they will be away from their property for months at a time, opt for low-maintenance ornamental plants like cacti and aloe vera. These either shrivel up at the first sign of incompetent care or appear to be indestructible – if the former is the case, replacements are cheap to buy in every size from golf-ball to beach-ball, and on sale almost everywhere.
When the weather cools down, these flowers hot up
Despite what northern European expats may have become used to, late autumn and winter are not the 'death' of gardens in Spain; at least, not on the islands or the southern half of the mainland, especially on the coasts. Summer is when it gets tough keeping plants alive, but the mild winters in south-western Europe mean plenty continues to grow then.
Of course, from now until around March or April next year, depending upon where in the country you live, it's going to start cooling down and you'll need to tailor your terrace plants to the climate. Luckily, in most of Spain, even when the thermometer plunges into double figures below zero (it does happen occasionally, and in some parts, quite often) the sun is nearly always bright in the sky, and sun is a great, free source of 'food' for your potted shrubs, be they floral, vegetable or fruity.
But what about if you've bought a home with a north-facing balcony or terrace?
Maybe you did this deliberately, to keep the intense heat off it during the middle part of the year. Or maybe you have more than one terrace, but the north-facing one happens to be your favourite.
You don't necessarily need to 'go plastic' (even though fake plants made from recycled plastic help the planet in different ways), or at least, not entirely. Spanish horticultural experts have listed five which are ideal for chillier climates or those parts where the sun doesn't shine.
Azalea (seen in picture two, from Wikimedia Commons) is able to withstand temperatures below freezing (and presumably, if it's that tough, it can also withstand gardening skills below averagely-competent, which can be a bonus). It does not fare well in direct sunlight, so keep it off the south-facing patio and pop it in the shade where it's happiest.
Hydrangea needs some light, but is healthiest in a shaded area or in partial shade; perhaps a good one for a porch, lean-to or other partly roofed-in area if your only terrace or balcony gets too much of the big vitamin-D pump in the sky.
Bizzy Lizzy – or Impatiens Walleriana, in the Latin, or plant lingua franca – is another which likes total or partial shade; not complete darkness, but it's not a great fan of direct sunlight.
Begonia (shown in picture one, by garden_feya on Instagram) is perfect for patios and gardens with little or no sunlight, but ideally in those parts of Spain where it never really gets bitterly cold. They're popular in Mediterranean gardens, in the shady parts, or patches with only a bit of sun for part of the day, rather than being constantly exposed to UV rays.
Gardenia, shown in picture three (by lilibekerman on Instagram) and sometimes known as Cape Jasmine, is evergreen with dark-coloured, shiny, rubbery leaves, and can grow to up to six feet (just under two metres) in height, so it won't be able to stay forever in a covered area like a porch or garden shelter.
Despite this, they're not huge fans of direct sunlight – or of complete shade – so they tend to thrive with a bit of both; perhaps a part of your garden where the sun hovers over briefly in the middle of the day before moving on.
All the above produce wide-open, cheerful, pastel-coloured flowers – lots of pinks and whites.
November flowers? Blooming marvellous for All Saints' Day
Again, if you're from northern Europe or somewhere else in the world pushing at the colder limits of the planet's temperate zones, you're probably used to absolutely nothing flowering at this time of year. Whoever heard of bright blossoms in November in the northern hemisphere?
Spain, for one. There are several of them which bloom in or around the 11th month of the year – and this is very handy for All Saints' Day, too.
All Saints' Eve, or Hallowe'en, might be more about pumpkins than posies, but in practice, the fearsomely, frightfully fun celebrations associated with it are a very new phenomenon in Spain. Barely 20 or even 10 years ago, you hardly saw a single witch's hat in the shops in the run-up to late October; Hallowe'en was considered a foreign concept. It has always been the following day – All Saints' Day, on November 1 – that was celebrated instead, and which is a national bank holiday in the country.
Nowadays, both are celebrated, although this year is set to be quiet for two reasons: One, the pandemic, and two, the fact that All Saints' Day falls on a Sunday, which is not a working day in Spain anyway, so the public holiday is written off - in all bar a handful of regions which have moved their extra day of rest to Monday, November 2.
For All Saints' Day, tradition dictates that everyone makes a pilgrimage to their local cemetery to lay fresh flowers on the graves of their departed loved ones, and most towns throw on free shuttle-buses for the occasion.
It may sound a little depressing in contrast to the silliness of Hallowe'en, especially as most people keep their absent friends' and family members' graves topped up with flowers year-round anyhow.
Yet for florists, it's anything but depressing: November 1, or the few days before, is one of their busiest trading seasons of the year.
And as flowers are still blooming outdoors over November 1, they don't have to import them, either.
Which ones might you see over All Saints' Day?
Chrysanthemum is just coming into flower about now, and is a very traditional choice for November 1 because it's just 'serious' and 'elegant' enough to be 'tasteful' for the occasion, and yet it's pretty and bloomy enough to lift everyone's spirits at a time they may be reflecting, grieving, regretting and remembering.
Gladioli (seen in the stunning fourth picture taken by northeast_oasis on Instagram) is also blossoming at this time of year, and it's a popular All Saints' Day flower because it's considered to be a symbol of memories. Not necessarily sad ones, or of those who are no longer with us, but also of good ones, recent memories, moments that make you smile: Brilliant holidays, great times with friends, the days when your children were very little, your cats were scatty kittens and your dogs were playful puppies, or of that time you won a pub quiz. Whatever memories you want to revive, a gladiolus is thought to help trigger it.
Carnations, one of the most versatile of flowers and with one of the widest ranges of splendid colours, oft-used as buttonholes for weddings and other formal, special occasions and a beautiful, cheerful addition to any garden, are wide-open and delectable in autumn and winter in most of Spain. Their timely bloom and long-standing association with key dates makes them a popular November 1 floral addition – and they are very closely tied to the Catholic tradition, where the All Saints' holiday comes from. Expect to see a flood of them in florists' about now.
Roses, even more versatile than carnations, flowers that speak thousands of words and suit practically any occasion where something with petals is called for, are best planted in Spain between November and February, although this can stretch out to October to March if they are already in bud. Potted roses are suitable for outdoor weather in Spain all year, as long as you feed them regularly in nutrient-rich soil (you can buy bags from Chinese bazaars for about €3 for five litres) with good drainage (screw-driver some holes in the pots if there aren't any). Although their best seasons are from early spring through to late summer, in Spain's Mediterranean and southern climates, they are often still flowering brightly until November. Generally, as they will hang in there until it gets properly cold, in the aforementioned parts of the country, you might even have them in flower until around Christmas if it's a mild autumn and winter.
Calla Lilies, stemless, and not 'proper' lilies but part of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit or Arum family (the universal name for them is Zantedeschia aethiopica) are hardy and native to non-tropical African countries.
They are also the national flower of Saint Helena, a British-owned island nation in the southern Atlantic level with South Africa and the central part of Brazil. Graceful, elegant and almost a work of art in shape, Calla Lilies are outdoor plants but can thrive indoors, too, as they like to be in at least partial shade; and some strains are well-suited to cooler weather.
A splendid example of a Calla Lily is shown in picture five (by Alves Gaspar on Wikimedia Commons).
Given how stunningly-beautiful and adaptable they are, Calla lilies probably need to have a downside, and theirs is a very serious one: Don't plant or arrange them anywhere within reach of your pets, because they're toxic to cats and dogs.
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