My Next Gardening Spot in Chacala

My new home, in a few weeks

I have been struggling for months about where I want to live next. The two options being either an upstairs rental unit with teraza and a great view or camping at Esparanza's on the beach. I love the beach the most, hands down, but I ended going with living in a place with a secure, lockable area and the potential for a dial-up connection. I will be paying more rent, but..... I am still ambivalent about my choice, but it' ll be okay I think.Distant view to the south, from the teraza, with the ocean peeking thru.

I think what finally helped me decided was wanting to settle in somewhere. Planting things in the dirt, and choosing my wall colors, and stuff like that. I have been moving every six months for three years, and I guess I am tired of it.Close view to the south

There is a third possibility, which would be to stay where I am, if the homeowners end up not coming down this year. Bu that's not likely, however. I don't like this neighborhood very much. Five of the seven nearest houses are owned by gringos. It's starting to feel alittle like a gringo ghetto. Two of the owners are year year-round residents (sort of) and the others are winter vacationers and/or business owners who come and go. Paul (owner of Satow rentals) and Dex and his wife have been here for more than a year straight, almost continuously. The others come and go and aren't involved in Chacala particularly, at least so far.Distant view to the south-east

So I made a deal with my new/old landlady. I stayed at her place for the winter before last, my second winter here. I learned alot about trying to go with the flow, and letting go of some of my problematic values about water quality, working toilets, continuity of electrical service, quiet from 11pm to 6am, and other middle-class type things.Three year old, at least, Chili plant at my new home.

One of the things that was really hard for me, when I lived at this place before, was that the nearest neighbor, had an incredibly loud voice that carried right unto my patio. So I heard a lot more than I wanted to about this person's life. In English. This year may be worse though, because I will be close to the new hotel, whose managers appear to be deaf, and seem like their music VERY VERY LOUD.View to the south-west. Ocean is two blocks away

Anyway, I am getting ready to start painting the inside of my new bedroom, which is actually the only room. Plus the bathroom, and the covered patio with a sort of a kitchen. The walls are bright pink. I hated the color a couple of years ago, and I still hate it. But I am allowed to paint.

The landlady would prefer I paint a color, but she said white would be okay. She would like the bottom half of the walls to be a color, which won't look dirty quite so quickly. (Her opinion). We agreed I could wait until I get some more money (some year) to get the colored paint. I wouldn't mind yellow for the color, but she hates yellow. So maybe, eventually a soft sage green. But she, in her heart of hearts, only like light blue, and light purple, and pink. .

View to the west-west-north

I have some photos here of the views from my new home, and some of the plants right around the house. My space is the upstairs, with an outside staircase in the back. There are lots of places to plant things. And the husband is excited for me to bring new plants down from this house. I am looking for someone with a truck to help me move them next week. Plus, I will have some pots up on the cement overhang in front of my teraza. The view is great from this place. I love it. And it's only about two blocks from the beach. Uphill. And the stores, etc.Volunteer papaya plant in front of the house. Maybe almost two years old.

Day of the Dead in Chacala

The first thing in thing in the morning, I usually walk around the house, inside and out, taking a look at what's happened in the night. And opening the door to the teraza, which overlooks the ocean, about three "blocks" of jungle to the west. I putter around, fiddling with the plants, seeing what needs water (if the town water comes on later in the morning), and sweep away the debris from yesterday. It isn't raining much at night any more, maybe twice a week, so the plants are starting to need more water.

This morning, as it was just getting light, I could hear one of my favorite sounds in Chacala. The sound of the women singing a kind of slow, melodic chant as they walk through town. It was haunting and lovely. And I wondered what they were doing out walking so early in the morning. Then I remembered today is the big day of the "Day of the Dead". This afternoon almost everyone will be going into Las Varas, where the Santio (cemetery) is. They will be taking paper, plastic or real flowers to the graves of their dead.

Yesterday in Las Varas there were probably fifty fresh flower stands, and almost an many fake flower stands. I guess Memorial Day, up north, is a little like "The Day of the Dead". No religion involved, at least for me. My dad died when I was a baby, during WWII. We went to the cemetery every year to "visit" my Dad, Grandfather, and Grandmother. Well, not every year, but at least 3 times. No flowers though.
And when I lived in Zone 5 I helped clean the little cemetery for the "neighborhood" of farms where I lived. Called Mondovi. Almost the graves in this tiny cemetery there were for the original German families who settled that area in the 1880's. My favorite grave was one I helped decorate. When Mr. Ed Green died, at 91, I and a few other people helped his 90 year old wife mix cement to make a headstone. It was decorated with seashells. It looked very nice. I always wondered where the seashells came from (us being 300 miles from the ocean) and what they meant to Mr. and Mrs. Green.

But Mexico is so different. I am curious to see the cemetery in Las Varas, but I am going to wait for a few days, and then ask Prieto, the collectivo driver to show me where it is.

I am in a period of not caring much about my plants. I guess I need a little break or something. I can see cold winters have one advantage. A vacation from outside gardening. I never thought I would see that as advantage. But at the moment some time off sounds good. I don't know why.

Almost every morning Tina (short for Clementina) comes around selling freshly squeezed orange juice. Usually I don't want to spend the money. Tina's repeated returns to this house to sell me juice seem to be an excellent example of the effectiveness of intermittent positive reinforcement. She keeps coming because maybe once every two weeks I buy some. It's 8 pesos (.72 centsUS) and that adds up.But this morning Tini also had something else in mind. I have been babying some little terracita (Vinca) plants that have been volunteering at the edge of the front patio steps. Everyuone who visits have been noticing them when they approach the house. And they comment on them to each toher, although they grow everywhere in Chacala. Today Tina asked me to come outside to look at something, and she was stunned to see the little volunteers were gone.I showed her the planter I had moved them to yesterday, in preparation for my landlady's eminent return. It turned out one of the plants is an usual color, and that's why everyone has been so interested in the plants. Or at least that one.

I showed her the planter, and asked her if she wanted some of them. She wanted the odd purple one, and she's coming back later to get it, after she finishes her juice route. The plant everyone seems to be interested is in the upper right hand corner of the planter. It doesn't have a white center. You can't tell from the photo but it's a very different color of purple. I guess that's the attraction.

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.