Last Days at my Summer Garden in Chacala

Today, Ginger's are my Numero Uno plant, since my true heart's delight, the Desert Roses, are just starting a new blossoming cycle, and aren't too earth-shattering at the moment.

A couple of the little local boys were walking along the paved road with me a few days ago.We were on the way to check out the new addition to their house. The homeowner has already moved into the new, left side, although the roof is off on the old side and not yet built on the right side. But people in Chacala are very flexible and tolerant of weather related changes. The new part is on the left, and the old part on the right. The lot is very narrow, about 18 meters maybe.
I had my camera, and was taking photos of the boys. Osvaldo ran over to this plant, and wanted me to take some photos of his precious little face, next to the blossoms. What an interesting mind that child has. Very original and dramatic. This was the plant, growing in the "yard " of a batchelor fisherman, who is also the town bellringer and fireworks display person on many occasions. Anyway, I had never noticed this plant before, even though it's only about five feet off the paved road.
He, Juan, came out to talk with us. He told me it wasn't planted there, next to the barbed wire fence. It has just grown wild there. He didn't have a name for it.

Later: Brenda (of the blog Brenda and Roy Going to Mexico) , and then Robert Brinkmann, identified the plant as a Plumeria rubra, aka frangiapani. Robert says I can grow my own by sticking cuttings in the ground. Which I intend to do. Because of the lighting condition and my general photographic incompetence, the kid photos didn't turn out. These shots aren't so great either. I am hoping someone will tell me what the plant is.I will be moving away from this housesitting house in a couple of weeks. It's hard to leave the plants I have been taking care of, some of them for three long summers now.
So I have been been doing some weeding, and tidying up around the few domesticated plants that are growing the ground around this house: ginger, handkerchief. Saying goodbye for now I guess.
The gingers are especially appealing to me. They are a new plant for me. When I lived in the nasty world of Zone 5, i brough some starts back from Hawaii but there never did well. Probably
because it was often -10F at night, and cold in the house too. Maybe 45 degrees on a cold night. Anyway, I love the color of these blossoms. I tried taking a photo from above but it didn't turn out very well.The two Hibiscus plants that live in pots on the teraza here are both ill with a disease that has spread all over Jalsico and Nayarit states. But it's blossoming, and I want the landlady to make the decision about what to do with the plants. And to actually see the disease so she'll recognize it next time.
The portulaca is coming with me. I gave all the other portulaca's away, but this one is so lovely I had to keep it. I love the color. Actually, it looks different from most Portulacas so it might really be something else. Like a Lacaporta.

Packing up My Stuff

Mid-November I will be moving to my winter abode here in Chacala. I am feeling kind of anxious about packing up, and leaving the house just like it was when the owners left six months ago. This house is alway clean and tidy, but it's different when the owner is coming back after six or seven months. Especially in a buggy, insect-filled environment with endless windy rainstorms and a leaky roof.

Today I brought my rolling suitcases upstairs from the bodega/storeroom, and started thinking about making some kind of order out of my moving process. Which I did, I think.

But now, I am sidetracked. I got into taking peculiar (not on purpose) photos of some my my stuff. I have a few favorite things besides plants. Including my gardening tools: clippers, pruners, and a trowel.And some of my artsy-crafty stuff.And my four favorite books. (Actually I also have some learning Spanish books too, but they are definitely not my favorite books.)And a little dish of playthings for visiting kids.
And some of my favorite pieces of fabric.And my most valuable possession, my trusty Apple iBookG4. I I haven't figured out how to take a picture of the camera. Oh, I could take a picture of it, post it on the ocmputer, and then take a picture of the picture of the camera on the computer. Totally ridiculous. In fact, this whole post is ridiculous, but it was fun doing it.

It's kind of a relief to see the sum total of my possession in one place. I don't have that much stuff. In my mind I had collected truckloads of miscellaneous whatever. But really, it's not that bad. Especially with alot of the plants gone.

My Little Chacala Vivero

When I returned my visit to the nurseries/viveros of San Miguel de Allende, I didn't have enough pots for the new plants I brought home with me. So a lot of the smaller plants, plus some cuttings I got in SMA, ended up in crowded into buckets. But soon I will (I hope) get some of my buckets back from the Plant Giveway. And I still have two gunny sacks full of very nice soil. Then I will be able to sort things out a little better. The bucket below has a oleander cutting stuck in it. It doesn't seem to be bothering the other plants. At least not so far.
I am still out of English-language fiction books, with which I like to mindlessly fritter away my evenings. So I am still reading and re-reading my two books about Succulents and various other Tropicals. There is so much to learn. I get nervous when I read the Garden Message Boards. Those people know so much more than I do, I feel like an idiot when I read some of the things they write about.These two trays the last of my babies, the rest have moved onto other gardens or other pots here at home.

I keep forgoting to move these trays back from under the drip-line from the veranda roof.
We are now waiting out Hurricane Paul, our third or fourth Hurricane/Tropical Storm alert this season. Last night the Harbor Master had all the fisherman move their boats out of the water, just in case. The remmants the boats destroyed by Hurricane Kenna, in late 2003, are still scattered around the town. Some are still being repaired or rebuilt or salvaged, even today. Some of them are just relaxing in the weeds.

Paul seems to be even with us right now, latitude-wise, but is so far out in the Pacific Ocean the expectation, last I checked, was it would hit lower Baja Califoria and then Sinoloa/ Matzatlan. But you knever know until it actually happens.

My Plants, Waiting to Move to Our New Home

Since I winnowed out my plants, giving away the ones that might not care for salty beach air on the Chacala Playa, two things happened. First, it's possible I might stay somewhere else this coming winter, further from the ocean. And second is that I have more time to enjoy these sweet plants, and to start new cuttings. I think, without realizing it, I had gotten carried away with having some many buckets of plants, maybe fifty. And many with multiple plants in one pot. At the moment, I am enjoying the smaller collection.

And third, I am having mixed feelings about the care some of my ex-plants are getting. I think I will take some photos, in a few days. Maybe this afternoon, when everyone in town with be at the perenegracion and Missa for San Rafael. And then the barbeque and Talent Show, and dance.
These three photos (above) show most of the plants I still have in my little movable garden.
I love this little plant. It seems to be very prolific. I bought it at the little cacti section at Soriana in Tepic. Soriana is sort of like Wal-Mart, but with a much larger and more creative variety of stuff. Plus Soriana surrounds itself with lots of little shops and food stalls, and it's
fun to shop there.

When I bought this plant for 15 pesos, maybe 1.35US, there were three stems. Everyone who saw the little guy wanted a piece of it, and I quickly ended up with one stem. I know that's not what it's called , but whatever.... And it's grown back quickly, in maybe three months.

I only have four (three photos below) Desert Rose plants left right now, in three different sizes, plus a few babies. But I am getting ready to start some new babies, and we'll see what happens. They are also very popular. Everyone wants one. The blossoms are so gorgeous. And as long at they have direct sun for five or six hours and the dirt is watered regularly they seem to be happy. Cross my fingers.
This Desert Rose (Adenium Obesium) started as a cutting late last spring. This is its first or second blossom.I like these two spikey plants (Above and below). The.....had eight little cousins, all who have gone on to other gardens.
I feel so lucky to be able to grown the plants I always craved in Zone 5. Like these plants, and Bouganvillea, and Hisbiscus, and Ginger, and many others. The climate is wonderful for plants here. The hillsides and roadways are starting to blossom out, and everything looks so green and lovely.

I guess I should miss the Fall Color and the freezing nights of up North, but so far, I don't. I do miss harvesting my carrots, beets, potatoes, and apples for winter. And canning tomatoes and fruit. But that's life at 22 N latitude.

Around Chacala, Flowers and Gardens

I started out this morning thinking I would tidy up my Chacala photo collection on the computer, and get rid of pictures I don't really like. And then take some photos of my little bitty garden, for a post for today. I am worried my laptop with get filled up with pictures. I don't know if that's possible, but it seems likely.

But deleting photos is hard to do, and I ended up saving a few and stashing them here, on this post.

This pink hibiscus is in Esparanza's beach garden, sort of. It blossoms alot, and they are very large blossoms. This state, Nayarit, and the next one, Jalisco (home of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta) has a disease problem currently with Hisbiscus plants.

I can't remember the name of the disease, but there are service crews that come into a town and search out every hisbiscus plant they can find and inspect it, and possibly spray it. Then, theoretically they return later. And either okay the plant as clean, or destroy it. As far as I know they haven't come back to Chacala. I have the impression that plants growing in the ground don't tend to get the disease. But that could just be a rumor.
This is the guest palapa at Mirador, a small rental complex, six units. It overlooks the ocean directly below, and is surrounded by trees and flowering shrubs. Which are hard to see from this view.
Wild flowers, growing everywhere this time of year: Coral Vine and some kind of
Opoema/Morninglory, I think.
The view looking up to Mirador from the Malecon (walkway) along the oceanfront. Isreal, who owns Mirador with his wife Chata/Inez, is a professional gardener and this is one of his gardens. Its lovely year round, and always looking healthy and colorful. It's about 12 feet from the ocean.
This is my pet butterfly, sunbathing and snacking on one of the Bouganvilleas around the front patio. I call him/her Bogie, short for Bouganvillea.This is one of the little two-legged flowers of Chacala, with her pet (dead) Crocodile.
Vero's Rose Garden in front of her home is about thirty feet from the ocean. It's amazing how well they grow considering they get about two hours of sun a day, maximum.
Senna (Senna olligophylla) is blossoming all over the hills and roadsides right now, and probably for another month or two. Based on my reading, I have started some cuttings, just for fun. I was thinking of trying to keep them pruned into small, blossom-laden shrubs. Which sounds like an exercise in futility, but I am curious, yellow.

Making Tortilla the Chacala Way

Probably everyone remembers La Gringa's post about making tortillas in Honduras. This is my friend and beach landlady, Esparanza, making tortillas, this morning. Most days, however, one of the Tortilla Boys comes zipping up on his moto, with a load of tortillas in the cooler strapped on his bike. Always just in time for breakfast and then again about 2pm, for lunch.
But on the days when no Tortilla Boys show up, Esparanza starts her outdoor fire, and goes to work. As the only woman in a household of between 4 and 7 men, she makes a lot of tortillas. Luckily two of her boys and her daughter are at University, so there's usually only her husband and the three sons still living at home. Plus two next door with their wives.
The stove is made of bricks piled loosely on top of each other until they are waist high. A very very smokey set-up. The cooker is a piece of curved, concave painted metal.

This is the tortilla dough, and the tortilla press.Esparanza rolls up little balls of dough, and used the tortilla press to make uniform tortillas.And cooks them over the fire....

This is Esparanza's youngest son, Carlito, who is seven or eight.

He was helping her this day, with the firewood.Just so you know, the tortilla cooking area is outside, and separate from where Esparanza cooks meals in her indoor, but open, kitchen.
The brick fireplace is surrounded by her garden, and occasionally a truck or two.

Marta's Hidden Garden in Chacala

I am amazed at how many thinge I haven't noticed around town in my three years here. But, there are more than 150 shelters, homes, palapas, casitas, and other places where people live in Chacala. Not counting the gated community. And it's easier than you would think to miss a spot where someone is living. Or, in this case, gardening.

A few days ago I was hanging around Juan's tienda, waiting for the collectivo. I started taking pictures of the flowers at the little Tres Mars restaurant. Tres Mars is one of my favorite restaurants in Chacala.Marcella, granddaughter of Marta and owner of her own beverage and snack tienda.

And I ended up walking around the back, in the company of Marcella, the granddaughter of the owner, Marta. The garden beside and behind the house is bigger than I imagined. A small arroyo runs thru the garden, which must flood occasionally. I am going back to look around when it's raining.This is Marta, of Tres Mars Restaurant

There were alot of plants back there I had never noticed before. Bamboo, for one. A very large clump of what must be a clumping variety, because it didn't appear to be spreading. There were also some tall flower plants and lots of plants in buckets.

Most of the garden is around to the right of the house, but there are a number of flower pots on along the wall to the left too. Marta also has a lovely little shrine on the front wall of her new yellow houseThe front wall of restaurant, which is a section of chain-link fence is almost totally covered by flowers and vines. Which are also creeping up onto the roof. This restaurant was constructed about a year and a half ago, after the owner's of the parking lot where the restaurant was previously kicked them out. Or at least that's what people said. So Martine and whoever, built this new, and much nicer double palapla with brick floor. It's a nice restaurant with good food and a pleasant, friendly atmosphere.

Around Chacala: Plants, a Parade, and Kids.

Well, I organized up the last of my give-away plants first thing this morning. The verande looks pretty empty. And the town water came on, so I could hose off the veranda. The solar 6V system that runs the water pump for this house has been out since I came back from San Miguel de Allende. It's not likely to get fixed before the owner returns, so I am making do with buckets of town water for the toilet and sink and my showers. And I water the plants and hose things down when the town water runs. And do my laundry. Works okay.Dona Lupe showed up with a wheelbarrow first thing this morning. A heavy, old steel wheel that she wheeled from the other end of the beach road. I told her I would get someone with a truck to bring the plants down, but here she was, at 9:00am. It turned out she had another agenda.
"Borrowing" 100 peso for her electric bill. Borrowing seems to have a different meaning in Chacla. As in "gift". And now I understand why she insisted on cleaning the porch and veranda yesterday. It seemed a little strange, but I thought maybe it was in return for the plants.

Anyway, we loaded up the wheelbarrow with her plants and the ones for Socorro, and headed out. On the way home I delibrately took a look at all the plants I have given to people around town since I moved here. It made me feel like all of Chacala is part of my garden, since plants that were once mine are in alot of yards. I love it. It makes me feel more part of things.
One person I am giving plants to this week is Gracia. Actually for the first time. I looked at her yard as I walked by, and noticed, really for the first time, what a nice job she had done with a couple of the small, shady corners at her home.I also stopped at the fish market, where I don't have any plants. It's one of the kind of the guys' hangouts in Chacala. The other being the steps of Jorge's Deposito/Beer/Ice cream/telephone store. This is Alonzo or Alvaro's brother. Can't remember which, chunking up some fish.Today was Day 2 of 9 on the countdown to San Rafael's Day. The walk, the Perenigricione, began in was is now called the Barrio Maria Islas. At least by its residents. It's the area around the street that runs from the Primaria schoolyard to where it ends at the paved road. This is something new in Chacala, as far as I know. Having a neighborhood with a name, I mean.I have thought it might be a reaction to there now being four gringo houses at the far end of the road, plus the entrance to the gated community. That might just my weird thinking though. Nobody said anything like that.The group was much larger tonight, maybe 75 people, and more energy. No band, but lots of strong singing.The Padre won't be back til next Tuesday, I think. For the Missa. It was very fun and high energy. And much cooler in the evening shade. The fireworks were very loud, and led the way.Then three of the men, Gabi, Cundo, and....maybe Reuben (?) carried the San Rafael banner. Yesterday the women carried it. I don't know if there is any significance to who carries the Banner. or if they ever have co-ed teams doing the carrying. Or kids maybe.

Sharing Plants in Chacala, the End

This is a volunteer squash or cucumber or something plants.
They grow all over the places around here.
Anywhere someone tosses a squash or pumpkin or whatever, I guess.
They rarely set edible fruit.

Well, except for a couple of plants each for Narcissa and Gracia, I am finished with the plant giveaway. Oh, and the Mandevillea for Esparanza. It's an incredible red/coral blossom that looks so good with the Desert Rose, I want to try to keep them together. I have asked for the buckets/pots back from people, if possible. We'll see what happens. Containers for plants are a pretty valuable comodity around Chacala.

Now all that's left of the patio and teraza of this house are the homeowner's plants, and my succulents. And Narcissa, Esparanza and Gracia's plants. It looks really bare right now. But that's okay. I am trying to get in gear for moving. Mostly because I don't want a repeat of last years frenzied move. When I waited til the last minute to move, hoping my original choice would be completed in time to move in.

And also, apparently there is some serious snow up North. I'm afraid my landlord will decide to show up early. He left last spring a month later than they had told me they were leaving, and it ended up being difficult to me to be on the beach during Easter week. But I am lucky to have this place all summer and can't really complain.

Tomorrow I am going to try re-organizing the succulents, and getting them each into their own little home pot, more or less. The rain is continuing and it's really very heavy rainfall.

Guia and Beatriz came up to get plants a couple of hours ago. We had water, since I don't have a Coke supply at the moment. And then we carried Guia and Beatriz's plants down to their houses in a pouring, drenching rain. Beatriz's significant-other, Gabi, brought the wheelbarrow up for the rest of the plants. Thank God. Those rain-soaked pots can get pretty heavy.Little tiny cactus starts, growing off the older Nopali leaves.

How cacti propagate themselves is new to me, and kind of mysterious. I will have to start reading up on the topic. Or, maybe in another life. Being a prickly person myself, I already have enough prickly friends. I don't know if I need any prickly plants.

I have been out of fiction books for about a week, so I am studying my "Tropical Gardening" book again. Learning alot. And reading more of other peoples' gardening blogs. Especially the succulent and cacti lover's blogs. And the Neo-tropical Savanna blog, currently my favorite.

I seem to be over a crabby negative space I was in for awhile. Thank god. I was sick of myself.
I have had a stream of company today, and that probably helped too. Although, really, I am kind of a solitary person, so company is sometimes a mixed blessing, but not today.

Blossom Time in Chacala

Today, Saturday it rained all day, but finally in the late afternoon there was a break, and I went out looking for new flower blossoms around the house. I ran into Trini, and kept taking photos as we walked around town and talked. This (below) seems like an Ipoema, Morning Glory to me, but who knows. It's on a vine. Sometimes similar blossoms like this are on shrubs here.
This little orange flower (below) is growing in huge drifts all over the hillsides around town. I really like them. They are so bright and they keep right on blossoming.

Papayas (below) seem to have fruit year-around in the Chacala area, as oppposed to Mangos, which are harvested May thru July, more or less. This small group of Papaya trees is close to the house. There are lots of "wild" papayas around here. I assume they have grown from seeds tossed into the "jungle" from the road, but who knows? I love the symetryThis plant (below) is in the front garden of Aurora and Benjamin, who live in the almost-the- last house walking up the paved road. A new house is going up right next door. It looks like "Love Lies Bleeding" to me, or at least some kind of Aramanth. The Zinnia's in front are a big favorite around Chacala. They reseed very easily and look cheerful, I guess. I never much liked Zinnia's. They look like those plastic flowers to meThese sweet little coral red flowers seem to be growing on vines growing over shrubs. They just started blossoming this week.

These low-growing plants are all over, all of a sudden. One has red blossoms and the other had yellow blossoms. They look familiar but I don't know what they are.
This plant (below) loooks kind of a like a Tansy to me. But, again, who knows.
This isn't very clear, but it looks like a single snapdragon blossom.
I like these little spheres, they look like Allium seed pods. I don't think that's what they are.
I have learned alot a few days ago about plants in general, from reading a "gardening" blog called, "A Neo-Tropical Savannah". The post I read tonight was a primer on understanding the naming and labels for plants, and really, of all living things. I have to much to learn.

Poison Plants in Chacala, Just What I Need

In my memory all the plants, shrubs, and trees in Chacala start blossoming as soon as the rainy seasons starts. But it hasn't been that way this year, and I was starting to think my feeble memory was playing tricks on me. That's because this year the only two consistent blossomers all summer have been the Coral Vine and yellow blossoms on a smaller shrub that I don't know the name of.But finally, a few days ago, I saw two more plants are now blossoming. One was a red blossom on a tree. It didn't look familiar to me. Then I realized there were actually quite a few plants with blossoms that I hadn't noticed. Not like the showy display I was remembering. But still, nice blossoms.And then yesterday Aurora, Beto, and I were walking down the paved road, transporting my old, and now, Aurora's new, plants to their new home. I pointed out the red blossoms, and asked what they were called. Beto said (I think) that the red blossoms were on a vine, not on the tree. And that the vine would eventually kill the tree. As he said that, we were walking past a strangler vine that had encircled and engorged a palm. I said, "like that one?" And I think he said, "No", that the vine kills with some kind of poison.I am going to look into that because it's a new one for me. And besides, it might be nice to have a handy source of poison around the house. You never know when you might need some.

Sharing Plants in Chacala

I have started to give-away my that plants I don't think will do well bathed with salty air, and located about 10 feet from the high-tide line. My new home, in a few weeks, will be on the beach, and from my small experience trying to grow plants in a salt-air environment, I am going to limit myself to succulents this winter.So, I have been giving away my other plants. Sometimes hand-delivering plants, and other times inviting someone over to choose some plants. Socorro came over yesterday morning.

I tend to forget that my some of my neighbors often haven't been in this house before. It's conspicuouosly a much nicer house than most of the neighborhood houses, and it's kind of embarassing for me to be living here. This (below) is a neighbor's home.But it's a very comfortable house and I really like it. I show people around the house and then offer them a Coke and whatever. Everyone knows how much I like Coke, so it's kind of expected I will offer one, and a snack. This (below) is also a neighbor's home. Notice the Sky Cable dish ($50US a month) on the post.After Socorro (the photo above is NOT Socorro's house) and I visited for a bit, we looked over the plants I am passing on to other gardeners. With me offering, and trying to guess, what appealed to her. We ended up with five potted plants and a bucket of smaller succulents. We made two trips carrying the plants over to her house. She was very excited, and so was her partner/husband/whatever.

Anyway, right after I got back home, Aurora came over to check up on me. I gave her a key to the house a few days ago, because she kept telling me she gets worried if she doesn't see me every few days. She apparently imagines me dead or injured, locked inside the house. I don't know where these fears are coming from, but someone having the key is a good idea, and I trust Aurora more than anyone else in town. I guess she sees me as old and frail. Although I weight 185 pounds, so I am definitely not frail. Old, yes. Whatever.Narcissa's new tiny garden on the steps outside her new place,
now that she is no longer living in the room above Chico's,
her former restaurant and abode.

Anyway, Aurora (appeared to) admire my new little art projects, decorating up these little metal things that include a glass window to put something special in. I have been adding beads and paint and pictures of Guadalupe. It's pretty fun to do, and I liked it that see liked them. She chose one to take home.And then Aurora picked out some plants. She has been the main recipient of my excess plants in the past, and I don't know what she thinks about me giving other people plants too. And I will never know, probably. Her husband, Beto, is coming up to spray today, and to carry the plants home. I am invaded by wasps and ants and it's getting pretty bad. I hate sprays, but I hate wasps, ants, and scorpions worse. I think.

Later in the day, yesterday, I was walking along the road, hoping for a ride to Las Varas. Socorro's neighbors, some local women, were sitting under a palapa by the side of the road. They insisted I come sit with them. I didn't understand the conversation at first, but it turned out to be along the lines of "Where's my plants?". The other women seemed to be asking for Guia. Who is a woman I really enjoy. She has a lovely smile and works hard. And is a gardener. She was very embarassed about the conversation. I said I would come find her later so she could pick out some plants. That I had some picked out for her too. Which was true.Guia's house has to couple of built-in cement planters
and lots of plants growing around the house

I missed Guia on the way home, but walked over to her place this morning. She was on the way to her cleaning job in the gated community, and we agreed she'd come over later to pick out her plants.

It's confusing for me, about the plants. In the past, three people I have given a number of plants to here in Chacal to have just let them died. On purpose, apparently, after repeatedly asking me for the plants. I am getting more careful about giving plants away.

And there seems to be a potential for making enemies over the issue who gets plants or whatever. Mostly I offer plants to people who I see are gardening already, and appear to love plants. I think I have given plants to about 22 women. Nothing special, just plants. But almost all my plants are my favorites. Of course, Desert Roses are my true, true favorites right now. And apparently almost everyone else's around here too, at the moment. But they will grow on the beach, so I am trying to keep most of them.

Flores for Day of the Dead

This afternoon I caught I ride with the collectivo from Chacala into Las Varas, the nearest town with a bank, post office, internet place, doctors, pharmacy, etc etc. It's about five miles, maybe a 15 minute trip. Sometimes there are 16 or 17 people crammed into the van, but today there were only seven on us. Thank God, since it was 94 degrees and humid, humid, humid. Miguel Angel has a very nice singing voice, and he seranaded us, along with a CD, all the way into Las Varas. When we got to town I though Miguel Angel, the driver said he was going right back to Chacala, and would be back in 45 minutes or so. So I went to the bank ATM to pick up a rental deposit someone had sent down from the U.S., and some orther errands.

Although it's not for almost three weeks, the stores in Las Varas are getting ready for The Day of the Dead.It seems to be mainly celebrated in this area by taking fake flowers and wreathes made with fake flowers to the cemetery. There are a half dozen stores suddenly blossoming with fake flowers. I thought they looked pretty neat. Not my kind of thing, but the colorful flowers looked cheerful and friendly all along the main street of town.
This is actually more my style, a lovely bouganvilla up against a wall at the old Casa Azul, now Villa Celeste.
After shopping, I was headed back to the collectivo stop for Chacala people, and there was Miguel Angel, buying a roasted corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor. I felt kind of guilty, since I had been wandering around town for about a half an hour, and I though he had decided to wait for me. But it turned out he was waiting for one of the security guys who guards the gated community. So we all arrived back at the van, and headed home, with a pretty full load, 11 people, two of them babes in arm.

Garden Blogger Book Club?

I'm not sure what's happening with the Garden Blogger Book Club, but here are some of my favorite books. Favorite because they are the only books I have right now.

#1 Extra Virgin, Annie Hawes, Harper/Collins, 2001 This the story of a woman exploring a new culture, including gardening in a somewhat primitive rural lifestyle in Italy. It sounds hokey, etc, but it's a wonderful book about trying to understand a different culture, to estalbish relationships, and build a very basic home in the countryside. It's not a "How I Built a House in Italy for Only 500,000USD" kind of book.

#2 is Tropical Gardening, David Bar-Zvi, Fairchild Tropical Center, Pantheon Books/Knof Publishing, 1996 Another excellent reference book for identifying and growing tropicals.

#3 Cacti and Succulents Hans Hecht, Sterling Publishing NY 1994 Excellent photographs and information for identifying and growing succulents, including cacti#4 Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico, 2006, Puerto Vallarta.
Not a botantist, the author, Linda Abbott Trapp offers photos and descriptions of almost all the popular plants, shrubs, trees, and vines grown in the Puerto Vallara area. (Conact me for information about purchasing a copy)

#5 Paraiso Mexicano, Gardens, Landscapes, and Mexican Soul,
by Marie-Pierre Colle
Clarkson/Potter, NY 2002
A book of photographs and descriptions of gardens in all climates of Mexico. Every inspiring for me.

Getting Ready to Move My Garden to the Chacala Playa for the Winter

The palm grove today, nothing like it will look
full of ugly motor homes, in January and February.

I will be moving from this house, in Chacala, where I have been housesitting every summer for three years to a new abode, in early November. I will be the beach again this year. Camping under a palapa with toilets and showers nearby, and electricity for lights and a refrigerator and charging various electronic devices. About 10 feet from the beach.

My campsite at Esparanza's

the rockes in this photo get covered and uncovered during the year. Almost all the time it is just sand along this part of the beach. The south end of the beach, in front of Mar de Jade, generally has rocks most of the time, so I am lucky.

So, now, I have my annual plant problem. What to do with the plants I have been growing all summer? The ones that don't care for the salty ocean breezes.

I have been collecting and growing succulents successfully on the beach in the past, so I will try to keep growing them there this year. I have about 35 pots/buckets of succulents, so that's going to be a tricky. Where to put them, etc. Especially during the busy Christmas week.My beach camp landlady, Esparanza

There aren't a lot of plants who like living with salt water spray as a plant food, so I have to figure out what to do with them: mainly Birds of Paradise, Jasmine, and some other vines.

I think I have keep some of them around my Esparaza, my beach land-lady, garden, and probably give her some too.Desert Rose, Adenium Obesium, my favorite succulent,

and hardy enough for some beach time

And I have already started giving away some of the plants I don't think will do well on the beach.

Narcissa, know as Chicha, mother of my first landlady, Aurora,
co-owner of Chico's Restaurant on the Chacala beach, and a plant lover.

Yesterday I gave Chata and Chicha (Narcissa) both Birds of Paradise. I have to find out what they are called in Spanish. And I have six more of those. I love them though, and don't really want to give them away.

Chata and one of her many handsome sons, at their home,

Mirador, overlooking the oceanChata and her husband, Isreal are both gardeners. They own the wonderful rental "Mirador",
and this is the guest palapa with hammocks, overlooking the ocean.

Socorro's, another rental owner, has been building a new long pathway along the front of her place. She is planning to put potted plants although the walkway. And I'd like to give her some plants. It's a pretty shade spot though. Faces west and in the shade in the afternoon. I'll have to think about it. I was would like to pass something onto Guia. She has more sun, so the B of P would work there I think.

Bird of Paradise

I am still struggling with the frustration of having a neighbor breaking all the branches off my landlady's beautiful new Hibiscus, which was growing wonderfully, and covered with blossoms. She broke off very bit of new growth, and it's not recovering well.I have been asking other gardeners, women, around town, how to deal with Maria. Everyone says that when they confront her she denies taking branches from their plants, even when she is caught red-handed. And apparenlty the "cuttings" never show up in her garden. The branches from this house certainly didn't.

So, for now, I am just ignoring her. And the one time we ran into each other, she looked away and I didn't say anything. I told her neighbor, (who kind of looks after the plant thief) that if she apologized and promised not to touch my plants again, I would like to start over being friends with her. Laura said she currently isn't speaking with to the plant thief because of some other bad thing she did, so that's kind of a dead-end, I guess.

It makes me so sad. Lots of people warned me not to let this woman around my plants or inside the house, because she takes things, besides plants. But I watch her closely when she visits, and the two times I caught her trying to take something, I put my hand out and said something like "Isn't that neat, it was a present from......" and she puts whatever she was going to pocket back on the table or wherever.

Laura and Lupe, and the five other women I have discussed the issue with, say this woman never admits she takes stuff. I have given her many, many things and plants, and always gave her money when she asked for it. For medication and art supplies mainly. And shoes and small religious gifts. And food. Lots of food. I am so stupid and disappointed. Oh well.

Home is the (Plant) Hunter, Home From the Hills, of SMA

I was so happy to get home to Chacala after a lovely week in San Miguel de Allende. Plus two somewhat horrible days, and a night, on the autobus. Going to the Frontera, Reynosa, for my visa, and then home. Never again. I am flying next time, no matter what! I hope.

I was greeted my some of my favorite trees. Well, it felt like they were greating me. And the beach was perfect. No people, for one thing. I couldn't slept when I got home, and ended up walking around town, seeing what's what.

I planted my new plants here at home, at dawn. I wanted to get them out of their wrappings.
I don't have enough pots right now, and no money to buy some. But in a couple of weeks I will be able to buy some more buckets and move things around a bit. For the moment, alot of the new plants are stuck in plants with other plants, temporarily.

Some of the plants were somewhat worse for wear, after more than two days on the bus, wrapped in paper with a little dirt, and crammed in a cardboard carton, tied with green rope. Green seemed more garden-y than yellow or red. The bigger ones were in a big woven plastic blosa, also wrapped in paper, with cardboard tubes for protection. They seemed to be okay.I left the plants at the Luggage Storage place at the Monterrey bus station. When I told the lady what was in the box and bag she offered to water them. Which was very nice, but I was afraid to try to put dripping containers into the under-the-bus luggage storage went I got back from the border.Berta had taken great care of the plants, even though the solar operated water pump for the house went out on the 3rd day (well, during an exceptional lightning storm during the night, apparently). She had to bucket water out of the shoulder-high tinaco, and I really appreciate what she did. Not an easily task, carrying bucketful of water from the yard, thru the house, and out onto the veranda, after dipping them into a tank almost over your head.
The Desert Roses looked wonderful, all of them blooming, and some covered with blossoms. Plus Berta had Juan spray (a mixed blessing for me) the Hisbiscus plants, and they also looked great. Ten blossoms on one plant. Right now it's noon, and I am hoping the town water will come on today, so I can fill all my buckets and water the plants, and take a hose shower.

Slowing Learning About Gardening in Chacala Part 1

San Miguel de Allende has dancers that look like flowers to me.
That's my excuse for including them here.

In a couple of months I will have been living in Chacala for three years. And next month will be the 4th anniversary of the first time I saw Chacala, a couple of weeks after Hurricane Kenna arrived.

I came down with two roll-on suitcases and a little backpack. I had disposed of everything else I owned, and sold or gave away all my plants and garden stuff. I have visited other people who had moved to Mexico, and have seen that they brought lots of their old life with me. Somehow I didn't want all the props of my old life. I guess I wanted a clean start. I didn't know anyone in Chacala, and I think I was hoping to find new ways of relating to people and experiencing everyday life.A procession of indigenious dancers made it's way thru San Miguel this weekend
in celebration of St. Michael, the Archangel, I think.

I knew I wanted to garden in this semi-tropical climate, and I brought a few gardening things with me. Some flower and veggie seeds. A best, favorite hand trowel, my favorite, 22 year old little pruners, and two gardening books: "Tropical Gardening" (?) and "Cacti and Succulents".
That was it. I have added a few things to my gardening tools collection. One item is my big pruners, which my son brought down on his last visit. I think he say how quickly things grow here and thought I needed them. And two new gardening books. About gardening in tropical Mexico. And a bunch of pots, dirt, and plants. And a rake, and occasionally some plant food.

I didn't know how to approach gardening here. I knew I needed to observed how people garden here, and what plants grow here. But I also wanted some quick action. I think I wanted to show people I liked to garden alot. My lovely first landlady, Aurora, let me plant pots on the little patio in front of my room, and we built a big flower beds right in the front of the patio.Berta, the best gardener in Chacala, in my opinion, and I, and her boss, drove down to two plant nurseries near La Penita, and I bought whatever appealed to me. All my gardening spots were shady, but there were a few places on the front of Aurora's property for some sun loving plants. And I bought about 6 sacks of topsoil. The little van was totally loaded down. Berta and I probably should have taken the bus home, to save the weight. But at the time I had no clue we could just stand out on the highway and a collectivo would stop for us.I don't remember the look on Aurora's face when we arrived back at her place. She knew I was going to buy some plants, and almost came with us. But something came up. I was pretty excited. I imaged she thought I was out of my mind. We unloaded the plants, dirt, and pots I had bought. I did notice Aurora seemed a little overwhelmed.

I hadn't learned yet that people in Mexico, at least in rural Mexico, are very very polite. And almost always say whatever they think you want to hear. "Yes, I will be here to work tomorrow". "Your electricity will be hooked up this afternoon". "I will be here tomorrow to fix the leak in your roof". I finally figured out it's better to have them set the date, and time, with no prompting from me. People seem to be more likely to show up is they set the date. Which makes sense. I would never know what other commitments a worker or foreman has. How could I? All I know is I want my problem dealt with first. Usually doesn't work out that way, in my experience.

I spoke about ten works of Spanish, including "Coca Cola", but Aurora and I agreed to think about the plant "manana". "Manana" actually seems to mean anytime in the future. Which works for me too, now that I understand it.The next morning we kind of looked at each other, and all the plants and started laughing together. It was a Saturday and her daughters, about 8 and 11 were home. It turned out Erika was really into plants, and she started potting up some of the plants in some hanging planters. Aurora and I sat on the patio, and she told me which plants needed sun, shade, and so one. Mostly by sign language.

Then, thank goodness, Mishwa showed up. She is from San Francisco, and had been coming down to Chacala, for long visits, with her young son for years. And she spoke some
Spanish. And was willing to help us get going. So we moved plants around Aurora's "yard" and finally came up with a plan. We planted about half the plants and tucked them into their spots.Then, over the next week or so, we, mostly Beto (Aurora's wonderful husband), dug the holes with a pickaxe, and we planted the rest of them. I was anxious to pretty up the area next to the street. We planted more bouganvilleas, plumbagos and hisbiscus, and a few other plants that didn't make it thru the first year. Aurora let me build a small rock retaining wall at the south edge of the lot, and we put four or five plants there that have done very well. In fact almost all those plants did well, and it makes me feel good to walk by, or sit and visit and admire the plants.