Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Plant on Playa Chacala

Yesterday morning I walked over to the home of one of my favorite landladies in Chacala. I love the new palapa and grass turf at Mirador. The palapa, and two of the unit units overlook the ocean, with a short staircase and a 50 foot walk to the big beach.As I was walking home along the beach, I noticed a plant I didn't recognize, and don't remember seeing before. On a talk stalk, behind a fence, just off the beach.
It was growing just inside the fenced off area of a small home. Actually kind of a dumping area from the beach. The soil seems to be basically sand. I tried taking photos from different distances, and angles. And with the light shining from different directions. I read about doing that in a "Gardener Gone Wild" post a few days ago.
But, of course, my photos didn't look anything like the author's, . But it was fun trying. I looked thru my books, but haven't looked on the internet, to see what this place it.

4 comments:

Brenda Maas said...

Looks like Plumeria to me; but what do I know? LOL
Does it smell really, really nice? If it does it is probably a Plumeria.
Pictures on my blog here:
http://brendandroygoingtomexico.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

mcm said...

I agree -- definitely Plumeria rubra (also known as frangiapani).
Here in Yucatan, where it is dry, it loses its leaves in the dry season.
You can take large hardwood cuttings of it -- and just stick them in the ground. It is a (fairly) fast grower, in that it will root, put out new little branches and flower within a year.

Brenda Maas said...

It looses its leaves here in winter also. I got both my cuttings from neighbors here and just stuck them in the dirt. It was winter when I did it and they just sat like that until springtime. In the spring they began to grow like crazy and also bloomed. Very pretty and lovely scent.

Wicked Gardener said...

Yep - looks like a plumeria. They are very easy to root, especially when you don't have frosts that cause it to die back. You should ask your neighbor if you can have a clipping!