Exterior Decorating in Chacala

Today I finished setting up the tent I used on the beach last winter. As a guest bedroom for myself while my son is visiting. Repaired the broken tent pole with short piece of copper tubing Pepe at the hardware dug up for me. For free. Actually he dug it up out of the trash, so I guess that was fair.

Had a nice surprise while I was down below the veranda attaching some tie-downs so the tent wouldn't blow away. Whenever I wash off the veranda dirt and plant debris piles up down below. And the some of the plant debris starts growing again apparently. Today I found about fiften portulaca starts growing in the dirt on their own. Pretty neat. Tiny little colored blossoms.

The tent is taking up half the covered veranda area, and about a quarter of the whole veranda. I did some rearranging of the pots. Now, when you are sitting in the shade, looking out toward the ocean, there is a large semi-circle of all sun-loving plants. The semi-circle is three or four plants deep, so it looks pretty dense. I think there are 46 pots now, all different sizes.

I arranged the pots so the rivers of rainstorm water coming off the roof won't wash the plants right out of their pots. And there are six flats of seedlings and starts, and some about ten shade plants right back under the roof line. And I dragged two plants from the front patio thru the house to the veranda. One is a palm that's about seven feet tall, and another really lush foliage plant about the same. Really fills out the group of plants.

Looks pretty neat. Chiccho, who sometimes parks in my driveway when he is working in Marina Chacala, came to get his truck just as I was finishing up, and he seemed to think it looked good. Me too. I offered him a Desert Rose for his wife, but he said she doesn't care about plants.

The three vines are still wrapped around of the support pillars. Their pots are too small. They are growing so fast, I am going to have to actually buy some big pots. Those three pots have to be watered twice a day, and they are in the shade until about 2pm. I have a coral Mandevilla, a yellow Copa de Ora, and another vine whose name I can't remember. Oh, Trumpet vine I think. I have been trying to grow vine starts, but only the Copa de Ora seems to get growning.

Today I transplanted six Jasmine cuttings and three Hibiscus starts into larger (six inch) pots. I killed one of the Jasmines, not realizing the root started about 12 inches down in the dirt. I accidently cut off the root with the trowel. Klutzy me. And, some of the seedling I planted three says ago seem to be coming up. Or its weeds