BOTANICAL NAMES JAMBOREE FOR MAKE BELIEVE ENVIRONMENTALISTS

DURING May, it probably rained for 25 days.  I often wonder how do people in monsoon regions handle the problems with floods, sewage and drinkable water.

In Puercorico, when it rains hard in metro zones for 15 minutes, roads, highways become a hazard.  There is no drain, or if one has been built, clogged with trash.

Under wet conditions your favorite blogger, I, research, investigate, turns the compost adding shredded newspapers, transplants, plants change location, avoiding pruning since these conditions are the best for spreading of fungus, insects and diseases.Wet conditions are the best for planting of seeds, stems, or to propagate.  

FOR THOSE ENVIRONMENTALISTS

IN THE TITTLE

The Brothers Garderners

by 

Andrea Wulf

pages 116-117

According to the old systems, such as

John Ray's each name included lengthy descriptions  of the species

habitat, leaf shape and calyx.

Today's Kalmia agustifolia, for example was called

chamaedaphne sempervirens, foliis oblongis angustis foliorum fasciculis opposites--meaning "evergreen dwarf laurel with oblong narrow leaves growing in bunches, which are placed

opposite".  The trouble was that when a new species was similar to an old one, additional traits had to be added to the old name to make it 

distinct, making the names even longer, and as, at a time of expanding empires, the number of discovered plants rapidly increased, some names

ran half a page.

Carl Linnaeus, 1707-1778, abhorred names that were '1foot long' because with each newly discovered plant, communication between botanists became more difficult.  He proposed to impose order on the natural world

by bringing together "these widely scattered names.... reducing all to one

system."  The rationale for this was not only practical but also philosophical, because he knew that without permanent names there was no permanent knowledge.

Linnaeus's solution was easy and straightforward: he gave every plant a two word name, like a first name and surname.  The surname was the genus such as Magnolia or Collinsonia, which often commemorated a friend or the genus discovered.  To this he added a second word (like a Christian name) such as grandiflora or canadensis to signify individual species.  Thus the White pine which previously gone under the unwieldy name Pinus Americana quinis ex uno folliculo setis longis tenuibus, triquetris ad unum agulum per totam longitudinem minutissimiscrensis aspelatis was reduced to Pinus strobus. Linnaeus also applied his system to animals and was the first to name humans Homo sapiens and to classify them as primates.

BONUS FOR SERIOUS

COLLECTORS
if you are one
go all the way down
bellow
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
hit on that marvelous link.
All you need to know, research is there, in my former alma mater.
A pity the jerks in the 'Botanical'
at RIO
do no have the mind capacity to do
something similar.

After 18 months I was fortunate to

discover the name of two RARE,

Passifloras.  Passiflora pallida l. and

Passiflora foetida.  Both found while

on my strolls from the past in Santurce.  The shape of the flower is

similar, so are the colors to the edulis.

But the leaves and vines are not as thick, resemble Antigonum lectopus

in size and texture. Time to go.

BEATO SOIL ISSUES PARQUE DONHA INES FLMM SAGA

WHILE reading the above mentioned blogger, BEATO always with inquisitive comments, or inquiries or dissent your humble servant was
left with a great feeling of sour/bitter angry emotions for one simple reason.  His comment on construction practices leaving bare soil exposed to rain/wind erosion was exactly the same in Parque Donha Ines.

HOWEVER, the environmental crime in the PDI has greater implications for two reasons. The intellectual culprits are people with
notions, academic tittles real or fake, Alberto Areces IS a Phd, Gabriela Ocampo is NOT a licensed agronomist in Puerto Rico, not
that I know, not when the crime took place.

What I will not let slide,  the second reason, is the dimension,  12 acres of land left devoid of flora/fauna with a huge tractor, compacting the soil, creating erosion and mud poddles on the road after every rain storm, affecting the whole neighborhood, in front and back of the LMMF on route 877.  All done to protect, help survive our dear ENDEMIC TREES, (in god only knows the criteria), danger of extinction.  


The  arrogant preachy fools should have known better.  I knew. Ignorance is not an excuse in a court of law. In addition nature, biodiversity, is not only trees.  To dissipate doubts, to spit in the wind, below are some land uses. Something Gabriela Ocampo, that squeaky voiced tequila Olmec, should have thought about, if she is an agronomist.

Soil Science and Management

Edward J. Plaster

page 9

AGRICULTURAL USES OF SOIL

Cropland.  Cropland is land on which soil is worked and crops are planted, cared for, and harvested.  Worldwide, the greater acreage

of cropland is devoted to annual crops-those planted and harvested within one growing season.  Annual crops include agronomic products such as corn and soybeans, fiber plants such as cotton, and horticultural crops like most vegetables.  Annuals require yearly soil

preparation.  This activity gives the growers a chance each year to control weeds and to work fertilizer and organic matter into the soil.

Because the soil surface is bare much of the time, growers must be careful to keep soil from washing away.

Perennial forages such, as alfalfa are in the ground for a few years.  The may be harvested for hay to feed animals, or used for grazing.  These crops cover the soil completely and so keep the soil from washing away.  Because the soil is not worked each year, fertilization is different than for annual crops.  Perennial  crops also tend to build up and improve the soil.

 Perennial horticultural crops include fruits, nuts and nursery stock.

Crops stay in the ground for three  to as many as twenty years.  Many crops are clean-cultivated to keep the ground bare and weed-free.  Challenges to the grower of horticultural crops are to control weeds, reduce erosion, prevent soil compaction, and keep the level of organic matter stable.

Grazing Land. Much land in the United States is grazed by cattle and sheep.  In the eastern half of the country, pasture is planted to perennial forage.  In the western half of the country, which has a dryer climate most grazing is on rangeland.  Range consists largely of native grasses and
shrubs, with some non-native grasses planted through the existing vegetation.  Partly because of the size of much rangeland, it is usually loosely
manage

Forest.  Foresters probably disturb soil the least, but soil management is still a concern.  When trees are harvested after many year's growth, logging equipment tears up the vegetative cover and compacts the soil.  Increased erosion results, and the soil is a less desirable medium for growth of newly planted seedlings.  Other concerns of forestry include choosing the best trees for each soil type and ensuring good condition for newly
planted seedlings.. 

In brief, all the vegetation destroyed by the orders of Areces Mallea and the looking the other way of the Olmec, could/should have been mulched instead of trash. Think
of it. Twelve acres with trees of all sizes,
bushes, plants, gone just bare soil left.

Erosion is more than soil running down the hill or gullies. One inch of top soil takes about a hundred years to form.


Is all nature, life on top and below the horizons destroyed permanently.


Think of insects, reptiles, birds, bacteria, nematodes, earthworms, everything one can imagine.


An analysis of the soil would have been
pertinent.  Areces and Ocampo would have discovered that the soil  in Parque Donha Ines is essentially:


"Plinthite, formerly known as laterite, layers are cemented by a special type of clay common to the tropics.  When plinthite dries, is hardens to bricklike substance; the process cannot be reversed by later wetting. 


Caliche and duripans are layers of soil in which chemicals cement soil particles together.  Lime cements caliche, typically a white, hardened layer found in arid regions.  Many soils in the American southwest contain caliche."

Page 50 of the above reference.

On this type of soil, think of the rooting system, drainage issues,  erosion,
destruction of biodiversity, over 6 million dollars from the public/private
sector thrown away. Just to plant TREES! Concrete and asphalt, like any
construction company.


No one complaints since the blindfolded environmental groups are more concerned about getting grants, mostly Federal, than creating waves.

And that is that. Apaga i vamonos.

BOURET HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY GARDENING REPORT

WELL, it is the first time I will harvest some Carica papaya  from the orchard.  There are 17 hanging in there, but 3 decided to ripen in last few days rather quickly.  The trunk grew to twelve feet in 8 months, without any  problem with insects or disease.

The lemon and orange grafted trees, are looking aesthetically challenged thanks to leaf miners, something apparently natural according to my research.  It is like a cold, bothersome but will not kill you.

The  Guaicum, Hibiscus, propagated with hormones are doing fine. As mentioned before, when propagating one expects a high percentage of survival.  In the first case is a hundred, in the second forty.  But remember, it is better than ZERO, which was previous result without
rooting hormones.   Related anecdote: Thousands of years ago, cow
pies were the original hormones, in China...

Yesterday, an above average native nice looking single mother with a strange Taino name and her 15 old daughter stopped to inquire and chat about my garden from the sidewalk.  I was taking a rest after one hour in the threadmil and stationary bike.

It is not the first time this powerful dame stops to enjoy the flowers.  This time she was more to the point.  She has an intense affection for what I consider the most beautiful vine at home.  Clitoria ternatea.  The shape and indigo blue of the flower fascinates this single mother.

Gloriosa rothshildiana, was the next plant in our conversation. A really weird looking plant. The tips of the leaves work as tendrils to grasp whatever to be straight. The flowers, like another oddity, Brunfelsia pauciflora, change colors.  They start red, with yellow on the borders, passing away totally red.

I have now a few garden fans. Don Miguel is another one. In the last two years,  I would say that out of every fifty people who walks by, perhaps five will stop and comment, requesting plants or leaves for medicinal tea, or seeds. Not a great record. Like propagating, better than nothing.


The conversation with the single mother ended with some seed pods
of Clitorias and Merremia quinquefolia, a great combination...and a promise of some tubers of Gloriosa.

Finally, I dug a new hole in the driveway concrete, built a handsome trellis with the A shape to plant some seeds of the vines mentioned already, and the recently propagated Hibiscus.

I got tired of pruning the Cavalinna maritima on the south side garden fence.  I pulled it out, cutting the main stem,  now waiting for everything to dry out, to cut and dispose carefully not to harm the Passiflora and others worthy constituents. Cavalinna on the south side RIP. 


The pruning was not the only issue. It looks stiff, with a desire of remaining a ground cover, perhaps its vocation. Time to go...

PARQUE DONHA INES LUIS MUNHOZ MARIN FOUNDATION ALL THE THINGS FORGOTTEN

THERE IS this park, in Trujillo Alto, PDI,  the ball park of the cost? Over six million dollars.  007 Recursos Naturales, Acevedo Vila, former governor, The WHOLE board of directors of the FLMM,  Melo Munhoz, including our Robin Hood Historian, Fernando Pico, to whom I wrote a letter denouncing these white collar environmental criminals.


A decade of errors, over one million tons of 'top soil' thrown in  the 12 acres,  eroded by rainstorms during 2002-2003, tens of mutilated trees
by the Olmec wife. These blindfolded fools in charge, with elephantine egos,( one has more academic tittles than the Duchess of Alba, AAM Phd), all in research, but,  Alberto Areces Mallea who never planted a damn bean in Cuba, is a de facto superintendent in the park, along with his aboriginal Olmec wife, Gabriela Ocampo.  He put aside, this good Samaritan,  a 'prestigious' career in cacti research to be that, a super and funds beggar.  Between the two, over 600,000 USA dollars have been paid in salaries, for a decade. 

What you are about to read is all the things they choose to forget, in addition of not doing an inventory of FLORA/FAUNA or soil analysis 
as any serious professional in forest restoration would have done,  before destroying the grounds.

Serious students. researchers, critics as yours truly, on these issues  expect/demand  an inventory of the trees planted. It should be  available in the web, or any photos of before and after, Integrated Pest Management programs, soil erosion, measurements of the tress to determine progress, records of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides,

fungicides used, year by year. Most relevant, percentage of the original total soil acreage converted to paved roads/paths, concrete structures.... and so forth...Percentage of the money wasted in TREES, salaries, perks like a free vehicle, gasoline and else...But it is not happening.

Botany for Gardeners

 by

Brian Capon

page 83

The progress of a plant's growth is a summation of its responses to separate, but interacting components of the environment in which it is living.  The plant may be favored with adequate water and optimum temperatures but be limited in its ability to photosynthesize by inadequate illumination, perhaps because of shading from taller plants or buildings.  Another plant may receive full sunlight, plentiful irrigation and sufficient fertilizer, but still not express its growth potential because prevailing temperatures are too high or too low.  Even if climatic and soil conditions are ideal, stunting may occur because pathogenic fungi or predatory insects have invaded the plant.  Microorganisms and animals are, indeed environmental factors to be reckoned with.  Other life forms, being ordained components of habitats occupied by plants exercise both beneficial and harmful effects, as do temperature rainfall, sunlight, etc

It become obvious that out of a host of interacting environmental factors only one need challenge a plant's tolerance in order to limit its growth.  The greater the number of unfavorable conditions, acting in concert, the more profound the effect.

That is why, in nature, where so many variables are at work, plants rarely reach their full potential.  Happily, in a garden, one has the opportunity to improve on a few factors limiting plant development and, consequently, to cultivate larger, healthier specimens than usually occur in the wild. 

What was the modus operandi of our culprits?  They would travel,

lets say to Guayanilla, to  the 1,000 acres of their water and salt, quixotesque aeolic farm accomplice, picked up some trees out of the ground,  planted them in five gallon pots, bringing them to Trujillo Alto, to be transplanted later.

What is wrong with this picture?

Guayanilla is mostly SAND, almost

a desert with thirty inches or less of rain. Trujillo Alto is caliche, a type of clay, hard as  rock. When you dig a hole and it rains, it gets

filled up to the rim, drainage is almost zero, with and average of almost a hundred inches of rain a year.  Are you following? Back to the studio.

Plants generally die when too many limiting factors overwhelm their physiological capabilities for survival.  Or, on the other hand, they may simply succumb to "old age" processes, principally to a genetically programmed deterioration of cells and tissues, called senescence (Latin, "to grow old").  Once this

process has been initiated, even the best care cannot save a plant

.  In annual species, senescence, takes place within one year of growth; in biennals, in the second year.

In perennial species, senescence of a localized nature occurs in older organs before they die and are discarded, it takes many years before the process finally consumes the entire organism. 

I am not blowing any whistle, all is public domain.  It has appeared before in endemismotrasnochado, and siamese blogs.  I have evidence,

a journal and photos regarding this scam and environmental/biodiversity destruction.

The environmental cause has immense possibilities, loopholes  for money laundering, as Parque Donha Ines and the FLMM show and clearly insinuated here..  The amount of dollars mentioned in the first sentence is significant, let the record show, that at least one third of all the money came from Doral, Banco Popular and many others likewise institutions.  Open the books.  'Stand up and fight back, you have nothing to lose.'

La paz este con vosotros.. ...  Apaga y vamonos....

ON VINES AND MEN

IT IS amazing.  The amount of vines in the tropics.  However, out of every twenty garden installations, maybe two will be found.  In commercial/residential, public or private spaces down here.

THE LIST

Passifllora Edulis

Cavalinna maritima

Ipomoea quamoclit

Merremia quinquefolia

Clitoria ternatea

Antigonon leptopus

FACTS

Botany for Gardeners

Brian Capon 

page 103

Most species are unable to elevate leaves high above the ground on thin, herbaceous stems.  But not so with climbing vines that make deft use of their specially adapted organs, and the strength of suitable supports to accomplish such a fea

The stems of some vines grow in a spiral manner around upright objects such as small trunks of shrubs or saplings, or fence posts and telephone poles.  Stem displaying such characteristic growth are called twiners.  The higher a twining stems grows, the more tightly it hugs its support.

Other species form special grasping organs, called tendrils, that are either modified leaf parts or short stems derived from the growth of axillary buds.  Tendrils coil around small objects with which they come into contact-the stems of other plants, or garden stakes, fence wires, and string supports.  Once anchored , the principal stem grows upward a short distance before sending out more tendrils.  Leaf tendrils are adapted from leaflets or compound leaves (Sweet Pea, for

example), stipules ( Green Briar), or petioles (Clematis).

In other species, climbing structures include short branches with adhesive disks at their tips.  With such devices, Virginia Creeper

(Phartethenocissus spp.) clings tenaciously to the walls of buildings. 

Or penetrate and expand in cracks in three bark, wooden fences, masonry, etc.  With age, some climbing stems become woody and bear

heavy leaf loads; but by then, they are securely anchored it is extremely difficult to separate them from their supports.

Now that you have essential information, If interested beware of the following from MY experience in the last 16 months.

Cavalinna and Passiflora have a STIFF appearance, thick/rough leaves.  Very unruly growth, requiring trim often, too often

for my liking.  The flowers are nice looking, attracting black beetles and hummingbirds.  Not recommended for fences, unless

the chicken wire/lattice type.  However, if you have a trellis, they could provide a thick shade, in addition to fragrance and fruit.

Ipomoea quamoclit.  A beautiful  velvety, bright, red star shaped flower. Attracts hummingbirds. A big minus is their habit of passing away out of the blue, leaving you with ugly brown dead vines.

Merremia quinquefolia.  Nice white bell shaped flowers. They are soft, with a nice effect when wind blows, but if they touch the ground after the climbing and coming down....Become a ground cover, pain in the ass....

That leaves Clitoria and Antigonon, yep my first name is similar,

and no accident.  At any rate, both are soft, excellent movement against the wind.  The first has a dominant blue indigo, a rare color, only found in Commelina elegans, a ground cover, favorite

of chicken and rabbits..  Antigonon comes in light pink and white.

It is pertinent to mention that you should research and observe before planting.  Hedera helix is the predominant/popular vine family in cold climates, from my little knowledge. Ficus pumila is their close equivalent for the tropics.  Both require trim with time. 

If you are into gardening beyond the repugnant common place trends of turf, palm trees and Ficus hedges you should give it some thought.  Even if deciding not to deal with vines.

If you ask your humble servant, Why are they so scarce?  Simple.

If you read the above facts carefully, to have these kind of plants in a nursery will be a royal pain in the ass to keep up.  That is why they are not sold.  In Puertorico, Petrea volubilis and Ficus pumila are the only ones I have seen once in a while.

Another reason, I do not know how the cookie crumbles in your neck of the woods, in Puercorico, is this simple.  If you have a vine

growing in a shared fence with a neighbor he/she will certainly

complain or destroy it. Since we put the metal fences to the right

and left of our property when we moved, it has not been the case.

I remind you far away reader that Puercorico is well known for

the quality of its citizens regarding environmental issues. They will knock down a thirty year old Native oak, because the leaves

make a mess on their sidewalk, driveway, or the birds shit on their cars.

Finally, the advantage of vines over live hedges is the fast speed

of growth to cover ground/space.  Privacy, fragrance, fruit, flowers and security is what you get in return.

Almost forgot to mention woody bushes like Bouganvillea with somewhat similar qualities as vines.  You could train the branches to reach those goals mentioned...In addition, the paper like flowers will increase the beauty in your property, providing extra security.  If you plant them in those areas prone to be escalated due to faulty design in your house/property,

believe me, no juan could go over it... The plenty, strong thorns will not allow it.. Time to go...Apaga i vamonos...

 

CELEBRATE THE BULLET

24 MONTHS  ago, May 2008, we moved to this house circa 18 January 1940. This month is also remarkable thanks to Diva our mixed Dobber/Boxer, black/brown dog.  Seven decades!

With one decade less, I wish I had one tenth of that playful, young spirit at heart.  That priceless virtue of forgiving quickly, without rancor, causing so much misfortune everywhere.

Like her master Diva shows a permanent dislike for noisy children.  Or passers by too close to our sidewalk fence, some particular dogs being walked in either side of the street and almost every cat any where.

Among her preferred outdoor activities, running to scare visiting
birds, reptiles and/or to catch insects,  this provide lots of exercise.  But let the reader beware, this activity is done mostly for fun.


She is not fond at all of rain, thunder and lightning.  Turns sad,
and signs of anxiety become evident with shaking and panting.


Even at seventy, Diva is in good health, a fast, quick runner.
Demonstrating the adorable grace and elegance of a thoroughbred.  To remember our frisbee days by El Morro, 
catch, fetch with different toys, balls, eventually passing away thanks to the power of those jaws, is like watching a film in
fast, slow or rewind mode.


Watching her peppered mouth, smelling with an expression of
extasis, eating the leaves of Papyrus, her favorite herb, one of those memories that will remain for years to come.


Pets in the garden, or children if YOU, have them, are a gift.  In consequence, when designing a garden, keep in mind their needs.
Allow them to enjoy it, as they can.  Time to go...

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

SO MANY YEARS, have gone by  that it will cause no harm to mention it for a first time in the 'evening post'. I have the sensation that people often forget the beginnings, origins of whatever, of anything, they do, or practice, talk/write about. They just stick there, like a wart, a weather vane, without substance or direction. 

ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

John Lubbock (1834-1913) in 'Prehistoric Time' (1863) wrote that

men in the Neolithic Era, became sedentary, adopting social and economic ways.  They appeared in different spots; Southern Asia,

North of China and Mesoamerica.

The theory of the 'oasis' came later.  Vere Golden Childe (1892-1957)

explained why men became sedentary.  After destroying the vegetation richness, he had to reproduce it, domesticating it.

Lewis Robert Binfond (1930) in his theory of cultural ecology stated that is was consequence of population growth and the need to survive.

These theories do not require a college degree to be understood.  But

if the destruction of previous civilizations is evident through out the architectural ruins, bones, rocks, excavations, why theoreticians complicate what is so clear.  Too many mouths to feed with finite resources depending on Natures moods =  hunger, total destruction.

Does it matter to know how agriculture became what it is now? Edible, ornamental and every other kind.  Maybe.  Nowadays, too many people jump in the environmental banwagon of their fancy or build their own.

Down these concrete/asphalt streets we have the salty/fresh water,

soil, fauna, noise, just trees, the turn off water/electricity club,

the aelolics/photovoltaic claques, in brief, too many to name, being

borne and passing away, almost at the same time.

These groups in Puercorico exist in what seems a vacuum regarding minimal theoretical frames, backgrounds.  They show a w i d e ignorance, unable to define what is what, incapable of designing plans for the long run.  The ignorance of the matter, the whole, is a real shame. When I have inquired, I usually get some scorn in return or a total silence.  It makes impossible to reach goals.

These multiple environmental goals become mantras repeated night and day.  But they will never become real.  The adolescent, abrupt, superficial manner in which people worried about the environment approach them, become water and salt, spitting in the wind.

In Feisbuk, I have witnesesed the still birth of SIX groups of the  environmental kind, in the last 3 months.  No evident introspection, knowledge, superficial or else of the issues.  Unable to create, to inspire, to develop, they pass away, with tons of words and no action.

No traces. Apaga y vamonos....Time to go.

POST PARTUM 

DELIVERY BONUS 

But one has to continue looking carefully to

what really matters, the garden at home.

The Carica papaya, at 15 feet, 14 months old

is showing the first two harvest. Slowly ripening,

at what looks like 3 pounders.

The Passiflora edulis, at a younger age

shows the first fruit.  A real trip for yours

truly.  I started my edible gardening cycle recently.

Hoping all is fine with you and your gardens.

Apaga y vamonos.

PUERCORICO'S ENVIRONMENTALISTS DO YOU KNOW YOUR ASS FROM YOUR ELBOWS

IN MEMORIAN

Yuca Manihot

On Thursday of 2010,  this creature propagated from

cut stems, provided by Crispin, our former good friend and

owner of a timbiriche at 331 Tapia St., fell to his death, at

18 months of age.

As you probably know this is the edible kind, if harvested at the right time...However, it

 grew over twenty feet and it was an impressive conversation piece.. The ten feet wide canopy reminded your humble servant of that of Drago trees.  It was dismembered with care and affection, disposed

as needed.  Four of his stems have been replanted.

Ha muerto la yuca.....

Demos gracias a dios. 

AS YOU PROBABLY guess, I have some reluctant followers. 

These readers against their will, hate my guts. Since there is no other blog down in the concrete/asphalt isle covering the court with such grace and wide scope, they bear up. They hate me as a person, but seem to share my views.  It is consequence of having

some character, a matter of personality, I gather.  Good for me.

I am not into the making of friends, I reiterate.  Today I will share this on going experience of the third kind with the usual suspects.

In Puercorico there is a national-cultural handicap to accept defects as a group, individuals, as a nation. It is increased by

the relation with USA, a love/hate, if you get my drift.  Since I am almost perfect in this regard, I practice my vocation. 

I confess showing some irate intolerance to criticism without credentials/criteria.  I accept it when there is no escape, with the little humility our mighty lord provided yours truly.

Recently I met this lady from faraway lands, a neck of a wood, if I may.  She, a bored, boring to death housewife, created a group

with some silly endeavour, better done at home, seriously, with

references and constant research.

Me beef with this bored, hobby practitioners is that jumping in the green ecology/environment/nature Wells Fargo Stage Coach, is easy.  Unfortunately, the  issues are not as simple as they seem at first glance. 

Today I will discuss the importance of a botanical inventory, one

more time, knowing that it will go the other ear, again.

If you collect plants, as I do, you can not depend on nurseries or anyone else but yourself. You have to  RESEARCH, constantly unless you are the bored housewife/student in feisbuk, pretending to do something useful, when what you are doing is useless, except in your own blindfolded eyes.

A botanical inventory is not the GROCERY shopping list, the above housewife prepares in a last minute effort.  It is a document that should be useful to other people.  What people? Those who also collect and need to know the conditions 

under the ground, on top of it to plant certain species.

Those who read, keep tract of the plants, trees, vines, plant, bushes and weeds on his/her residence.  When one in the collection pass away it is erased and substituted.

The monitoring of the garden includes integrated pest management and disease.  One does not just dig the hole and plant anything, letting it hang there at its luck.

One does not start a collection to have a number of plants that others will not be able to reach.  It is not a matter of NUMBERS.

It is aesthetics, shape, forms, size, texture, resistance to disease, drought, heat, shade/sun/humidity on one hand. On the other,

root/canopy spread after certain amount of years.

A collection in the URBAN CONTEXT, does have limitations like

pollution, vandalism, asphalt/concrete heat, salty breezes, micro climates,  that our hick housewife and partners will never encounter.

To finish with a smile of the last laugh.  Can you identify your plants after you have find their botanical names?  I can not. You

will forget half the names all the time. I have to check the list constantly to stay on top.  The other solution is to go to the web

with the name+pictures.

So dear housewife, get to work...One day you will have a million

species if you want...Taking care of them is the trick.  Having a healthy garden/collection, not with the ego on the line, but biodiversity...After all we ALL pass away sometime...That is that.

I

BLOOMING IN THE BACKYARD

PROBABLY, as a consequence of the frequent rain for the last ten days everyone is happily blooming all over the garden.

The indigo blue Commelina elegans, Clitoria ternatea, yellow Turneras ulmifolia/diffusa, and yellow/orange Cosmos sulphureus.

Mostly white Turnera  subulata, different shades of pink:Asystacia   gangetica,  Passiflora edulis,  Ruellia officinale/brittoniana, Rain Joe, Oxalis, Cavalina maritima, Catarteus roseus, Cuphea hissofilia, red/orange/pink Hibiscus.

White, yellow, pink Plumerias, Bouganvillea buttiana. Reds,
Calliandra haemathocephala and Gloriosa rothschildiana, orange, Tunbergia alata, whites Pseuderantemun reticulatum, Datura stramonium,  Turnera subulata, Proiphys amboinensis,  and impressive Hippobroma longiflora.
This last one appeared out of the blue in the garden, becoming one of my favorites,  a show stopper.

Purple Hibiscus canabinus. Mirabilis siciliana, pink and orange, these ones, open for business only after 3PM, a real show with a nice fragrance, a reminder of Gardenias....Finally, Barleria repens, a salmon like color, had never put on a show like this before.


On these days and nights I enjoy the spectrum of textures, size, shape, colors and fragrance from these flowers of trees, bushes, vines and plants. I am more aware of the stupidity of the just planting trees, a fad down here. But that is another story.


Propagation has also been productive during the last two weeks.  Orange and yellow Hibiscus, Origanum vulgare, Rosmarinus officinale,  Guaicum, Gardenia and a strange, fragrant Tunbergia alata found and discussed previously in the pig
sty of Centro Ecuestre in Santurce.


Be careful if you buy rooting hormones, (I suggest gel types), you may go crazy collecting and propagating. The ones I got are called liquid
root stimulator with fungicides.  This product will increase your survival  percentage with difficult to propagate plants by cut stems.  


Remember to have holes made in the growing medium previous to stick the stems. This will keep the hormones where intended, the cut
stems..I just so Maria Falcon, aka Thunderthighs, in Geo Ambiente. A couple of fools were planting without making the holes.  That way the substance is removed from the patient. Foolish or what?


Remember that biodiversity is a mix of them and us. Flora/Fauna.
The environment, the care of it requires some knowledge, facts, theory
and practice.  Do not stand behind a monitor preaching like a fool.
Not if I am around...time to go.....

PALOS BORINCANOS OR THE ISLE PLANTING INFATUATION OUT OF THE BLUE

THE FOOLISHNESS, of those believing that good intentions suffice,
and the irrational infatuation of planting trees just for the sake of planting a damn tree is good, sorry folks, you are mistaken.  Trees are living creatures, beings in constant change.  

Roots and canopy spread, trunk, bark and branches on one hand.  Its architecture just like a building, size, flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, shape, diseases, insects and uses are pertinent to keep in perspective and the only reasons to plant any tree.  Anything else is crap.

A tree that is alive and standing has beauty or not depending on the
beholders eyes, but more relevant, depends on where was it  planted.
Besides aesthetics, shade, it could provide fruits, wood, resins, fragrance and medicine for people.  Shelter, home for fauna.

Once is cut,  trees provides wood for construction, musical instruments, mulch, paper and else.


THESE people preaching like medicine men the planting of trees in Puercorico, the concrete/asphalt isle, do they have any research, practice in the matter, to recommend any tree for particular contexts?

For example, if in the Puertorican Trees fad, could any of you tell me,
us, the growth speed of some of the Puercorican trees by species?  The final height after five/ten/twenty years, life cycle, diseases, insects, tolerance to wet feet, drought, heat, sun, soil conditions, acid/alkaline?


Are your preferred trees adequate for cities, sidewalks, urban contexts
where they are more needed, since the heat is more intense around concrete/asphalt?


Or are these Puercorican trees more adequate for the backyard in necks of the woods where some of their promoters reside?  Places
where the environment is nothing like a square/regtangle in a sidewalk,  highway/road median with heat, C02, no water, mutilated with machetes and chainsaws yielded by ignorant illiterate maintenance imported/natives pica palos de autopista. In the private
public sector.


If you are going to plant trees in any context, except the one above...
Hurra, hip, hip, good for you. Just do it quietly and go home and
rest peacefully.


However if you all of YOU are planting, going to plant in the urban
context, without these considerations, I reiterate, you are a bunch
of ignorant fools....Repeating the Plant, Plant, Plant mantra without
any knowledge of the issues.


Planting a tree is not just digging the hole, placing the root ball correctly with a classical and often unnecessary tutor...and that is that.
No one talks about care SCUMBAGS, could you mention your plans
to care for these million trees jerks? O should divine inspiration come
for HEAVEN, to make sure they grow healthy and properly pruned?
If not SCREW you. FOOLS..time to go...
 









 

1876 SAN ANTONIO STREET CONVERSATION WITH TWO DIMWITS

MY INTENTION was to write about 'Palos de Borinquen' or their real name "Arboles de Puerto Rico", but that will have to wait a little.

This morning while on my way to buy the newspaper, I got the chance to talk to two old ladies, one is the owner of the residence at the above
address.  The subject was their shitty garden in front of this peptobismol colored house across Sagrado Corazon, the real
cardiovascular muscle University, no heart, no feelings.

I informed the lady, about my observations every week from the second story of their house.  Lots of soapy water splashing on their stupid lawn under the humongous Pterocarpus.  Her reaction? Oh, she has been with us for thirty years (as if some adopted pet), referring to  the imported domestic lady, who cleans the porch with hose and broom. "We have told her innumerable times".

When I mentioned the big headed, stupid gardener on the premises..."Oh he is the handyman".  Ladies and gentlemen, that is why Puercorico is
a forsaken, damned place. What does it matter, if the feeble minded, stupid looking imported individual who has worked for you for peanuts, screws up your garden with the 'handyman' tittle. JERKS!

Feeble minded employers, feeble minded employees. No one knows shit about what the other should be doing or knowing. Will continue
later...

Wich bring us to the top fools in my agenda. Arboles de Puerto Rico.
What is their sin? I will attempt to write once again, and promise to 
put aside this new fools, at least their name and INTENTIONS.

The results are the same..The lady was left, mute when I suggested that I would prune for free some shitty looking hedge if she provided
the thirty five gallon plastic bags...

Later on my way back I noticed that the other lady, who brought the
owner,  some orchids for mothers day,  coming down my street.  She
went to check my garden as I suggested. With her doberman like facial expression.  Haja bilingual laugh.... 

GARDENING RUMINATIONS FOR THE FAITHFUL

THIS PLANT collector never pass a chance to add a valuable piece, worthy of merit, according to his criteria.  I had such opportunity yesterday after a long stroll by the YMCA in Santurce.

There is a odd tract of green, shady, land occupied by Centro Ecuestre, some twenty five meters away. I evaluated the area carefully on the return trip, walking on the premises.  Not far from the entrance, a focal
point no doubt, there is a strange, familiar, yet odd looking bush.  It is round, probably a topiary, small leaves and flowers, as a bonus, these are fragrant.

It is a variety of Brunfelsia pauciflora, one I had never seen anywhere.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow.  The leaves and flowers are about half the size of the one I propagated at home and are found in some gardens  in Puercorico.  The bark, dark  and dirty shows its age. I guess it has been in that spot for twenty years, perhaps more. Unfortunately, it has a pest of white flies in every imaginable spot. This is something that seems to be the rule down this backward isle.  No one appreciates a botanic jewel, it is as if it does not exist.

Your humble servant returned the next day.  I brought my eight inches Japanese scissors, cutting eight young stems to propagate with rooting hormones.   First I treated the infected patients with the secret insecticide home made formula, proceeding later with the planting.
Updates in the future as seemed necessary..

Besides this adventure it is time to share the planting of the six feet
Guaicum officinale.  It required some strategies to avoid damaging the
branches.  It was possible with a thick string, thirty feet long.

Once in the two feet deep hole I kept it straight tied to the fence near
by.  Filled the cavity with home made soil/compost/earth worms, making sure the patient was not too low.  Since the tree had a natural  inclination, I compensated placing the root ball in such a way that now it is straight.  

Be aware I am not saying/writing the trunk of the  tree was bended, that is another issue, and impossible to correct.  If a tree, thanks to phototropism moves, grows in the direction of the light, when planting
it, do as I do, and that is that. If it is bended it will look bended anyway.

Trees will also look crooked if after planted, heavy rains saturate the
soil, giving away. The solution? Pull it out and follow instructions.  

Moving away from my garden reality, it is disconcerting, really amazing the amount of fools thinking, writing about 'reforesting',
planting any kind of trees, in any kind of soil without any mentioning, sight of systematic maintenance, later. 


I tell again to these ignorant fools,  good  intentions have the value
of a flying fart to yours truly.  What is needed is serious research, selection, planning. 


If these trees are planted in the neck of the woods, and will not be a problem breaking sidewalks, creating waves on pavers, overcoming
the five/four square feet allowed in metro areas, looking like a muffing, hiding highway signs, getting into the electrical wires, PLANT whatever and dream on....But if in the sidewalks, PLEASE,
look at pictures in endemismotrasnochado.  Check the mutilated trees,
those in quarters that are too tight, and pick the RIGHT, species.


Time to go. Remember a tree is nothing out of context.  Just like those
planted to make wood, trash wood, without biodiversity, ecology, nature or the environment in mind.  Think, research, stop acting like a 
holy fool or the village idiot...Nature will appreciate it. That is that.

UNIVERSIDAD SAGRADO CORAZON SANTURCE NOISY POLLUTING NEIGHBOR FROM HELL

SAGRADO CORAZON
UPDATE

11 JUNE 2010

The feeble minded, down syndrome
like administration of Universidad Sagrado Corazon, on top of the already mentioned below abuses to the environment and residents of Bouret Street and the community in general, its four cardinal points,  now has a
diesel ferry/trolley, not for the 
handicap, no,  to carry the fat lazy,
students every thirty minutes in front
of our properties, polluting and making noise.  With this customary stupid action, two ills are created.
The fat, lazy, morbid obese ones,
can not, will not exercise from the
train station to the damned Sagrado Corazon.  On the other hand, the already high levels of C02 caused
by this money making enterprise are increased.

Damn YOU. SCUMBAGS of the EARTH!

UPFRONT BONUS

I just finished planting the Guaiacum officinale along with the Calliandra haemathocephala,  the oldest trees in my collection.  They went from Trujillo Alto to Bayamon at around six inches tall.  Both spent the last seven

years from pot to pot until recently, when they reached the six feet.

Trees are like children, one should not follow the Igor Gonzalez, 

Alex el Biscochito or Elvis Crespo examples. 

Those bored Puercorican 'bored arboleros', planting

left and right without any maintenance consideration are

environmental monitor FOOLS.

WHEN I MOVED right behind what in reality is a cardiovascular muscle, Universidad del SAGRADO has no HEART, as you dear reader may be able to discern from these anecdotes.

In May 2010, Mr. Ricci,  Dean of Administration, was informed of the constant noises created by the callous, pretentious, abusive institution he administers, providing nothing to the community, not even free films once a month.

The air conditioner feeders with a noise from hell 24/7, the excuse?  "They have been there for the last twenty years". As if creating noise, being a hindrance to the enjoyment of PRIVATE PROPERTY, is a GOD given right.

Less than a hundred meters from our property line there is an illegal cafeteria.  The garbage is collected in a dumpster.  In those
days was collected at 3AM from Monday to Friday. Could you imagine the racket? My complaint to the above feeble one,  mentioned was in storage for thirty days. The excuse:
"These problems take time, the cafeteria is under a concessionare".  However, after I called Waste Management in 
Humacao City, the problem was solved.  Now I have to listen to the racket daily at seven am.

The stench of food prepared like the ones offered for lunch in public schools invades the whole street.  Imagine going to your landmark garden and not being able to smell the Plumerias, just pepper, fat, chicken/pig at 6 AM!

I have filed four complaints with the Department of Health about this air pollution during the last two years without any action. The stench continues as if the air extractors were installed in my backyard.

Right now while I write there is some scumbag refrigerated delivery truck with the diesel smoke its noise and the noise of the refrigetator in my backyard.

The other scumbags involved: the car alarms set on with the vibration
of every other truck delivering on a daily basis because the MENTALLY RETARDED concessionare does not have REFRIGERATED STORAGE. Every damned day the trucks arrive to deliver something. Five, six, plus the garbage truck.

In addition, the green area maintenance crew with trimmers and blowers, even after I wrote a letter to the Dean about the need to get rid of these noises and pollution.


That is not all dear reader...On top of all these, the security officers, 
drive by in their four track vehicles day and night polluting and making noise as if there anything to protect behind the illegal cafeteria
in the Baralt Building. What about video cameras? No way Josei, too much thinking required.


To add injury to the insult: The employees, students, teachers create a daily polluting, irritating, unnecessary traffic jam on Ponce de Leon Avenue and Fernandez Juncos because everyone wished to enter by San Agustin street instead of using their college educated brains and move  towards Eduardo Conde street, the other entrance.

If you thought this a barbarian institution check this out. The maintenance of buildings, painting and such is awarded by contract to 
suspiciously illegal, cheap contractors instead of hiring the local talent.


They also create noise, making the enjoyment of the property a pain in the ass, not during office hours, but after tree pm, as it happened recently.  What the hell, you may exclaim. Such is life down these
concrete/asphalt hell.

Almost forgot. The swimming pool filters up the street create a humming noise a hundred times worse than what I have to deal daily. It is amazing how people become so docile as to tolerate this IMPUNITY and ABUSE. The whistle from the instructor can be heard twenty houses down the street. Believe it or not.


If you want to show some solidarity these are their addresses, inquire and sit comfortably for a response.  Mr. Ricci: jricci@sagradoedu, ldiaz@sagrado.edu and hsilva@sagrado.edu.  The second is either 
the legal office or the President.

PAYING DEBTS OR BALANCING THE BUDGET WITH ERYTHROXYLUM COCA

PERHAPS YOU belong to that moral, judicial, social, political or backward religious  segment of the population in many countries of the world
opposing the planting, manufacture, packaging, distribution and selling of hard drugs. FINE.

I belong to the other segment. The one thinking that the STATE should benefit taxing the profits of this international trade.   This world wide, sophisticated consumer segment should not be left in the hands of the mostly illiterate scumbags into killing even their mothers, to control the monopoly in small distribution markets in close by chabolas, high income vicinities or even countries.  At any rate,
here what you should know about the plant, botanical issues, origins
of the plant and uses.  It is part of endemismotrasnochado and evening post botanical scope.  Plants/trees and else are more than just vegetation. Their products can improve our life, make it somber, or deadly.

 from

WICKED PLANTS

by 

Amy Stewart

pages 21/23

''Archaeological evidence shows that coca leaves were placed between the cheek and gum as a mild stimulant as early as 3000 BC.  When the Incas came into power in Peru, the ruling class seized control of the coca supply, and when Spanish conquistadores arrived in the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church banned the use of the devilish plant.. Eventually, practical considerations won out, and the Spanish government realized that it would be better off regulating and taxing the use

of coca, while making it available to slaves who had been forced to work in gold and silver mines. The Spaniards found that, with

enough coca, the natives could work quickly, for long hours, with very little food.   

Cocaine, an alkaloid that can be extracted from coca leaves,

has been used as anesthetic, a pain reliever, a digestive aid, and 

an all-around health tonic.  Trace amounts were present in early versions of the soft drink Coca-Cola; while the company recipe is a closely guarded secret, coca extract is still believed to be a flavoring, just without the cocaine alkaloid.  The leaves are legally imported by an American manufacturer, which buys it from Peru's National Coca Company, transforms it into Coca-Cola secret flavoring, and extracts the cocaine for pharmaceutical use as a topical anesthetic.

The coca plant's ability to inspire humans to go to war, both against each other and against the plant, may be the most deadly

quality.  A healthy shrub can produce three crops a year of fresh,  glossy leaves.  The cocaine and other alkaloids in the leaves serve as a natural pesticide, helping to ensure that the plant flourishes even when is under attack.   Although a few different species can be used to extract cocaine, the plant used most often for this purpose is Erythroxylum coca, which grows

along the eastern slope of the Andes mountain range".

Now if you would like to know about how one get the dust you snort or shoot up your veins, do some research. Gasoline and sulphur are used to refine the leaves to get the powder driving half the world crazy.   I am not concerned, not being a doctor,

about health, after all I see alcohol and tobacco products as normal taxed products creating profits and death for any state,

country in the world.

But I confess something.  After I saw the leaves soaked in gasoline, I wonder what it would do to your nasal aparatus

after some out of control usage, not to get into the shooting of it or any derivatives up your veins.

However the amount of money spent in futile attempts to get rid

of the marketing and merchandising of cocaine and derivatives, should be wisely used to allow those who want to share it socially to do so.  After all, people pass away drinking, smoking and the state profits from it...In many ways... Time to go..

 

SO LONG PALMAS DEL MAR GOLF COURSE AND ELSE

WHILE WATCHING the 1972, US OPEN, with Lee Trevino, Chi Chi, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer I was thinking about the huge environmental destruction caused by GOLF everywhere in the world.  Particularly in ours, the backwards, primitive third. 

GOLF destroys constantly. Even from the inception. The construction phase and much worst, afterwards.  The green areas management practices requiring: gasoline, propane, diesel, oil for the reel lawnmowers, leaf blowers and trimmers, noise/smoke, C02  in detriment of FLORA/FAUNA.  

If you are ignorant, research on your own, you do not have to believe
what is stated here.  Quite a few are in deserts like Nevada, Dubai and others. These courses have to be watered 17 times a day to keep the greens lush and smooth.  The turf is cut twice, morning and afternoon.

That is not all. As BEATO, has stated in Alcantarilla Alquimica.blogspot, the pollution from herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers to water streams and acquifiers is significant. They kill many creatures thanks to phosphate and other chemicals.  


Palmas del Mar is some ritzy resort for the wealthy foreigner and islanders wanabes in Humacao City, in the south of the isle. 

'Residentes buscaran alternativas al cierre'

 by yrivera@elnuevodia.com.

Are you ready for numbers? Check this out. "At this time, Palmas Country Club owes 27 millions to the Tourist Development Fund, while the loan they applied is for 
17 millions.  From the year 2000 up till 2009 the enterprise has subsidized the resort operations  to avoid closing, with a cost of
36 millions.  Of this amount two thirds were used as a payment for the debt with Tourism, according to Morgan Stubble."


Meanwhile ChiChi, the former second rate pro, with a golf club somewhere in Guayama City, went bankrupt with a debt of 12 millions.  On top of that this philanthropist, whose only desire was to 'create jobs', was accused by a disgruntled employee of stealing water.


GOOD NEWS for environmental watchers as your humble servant. BAD news for real estate scam operators, banks, mortgage originators securities speculators and everyjuan else.


ENVIRONMENTALISTS with any sense of honesty, SCOPE/VISION lacking everywhere,  will have to declare a ban on GOLF, construction and highway development, a moratorium if I may.  Otherwise, all the current crap, spoken, written, advertised and preached daily, particularly in the asphalt/concrete isle by 'Arboles de Puerto Rico' to name one,  and others with hidden agendas will be put on the spot by yours truly.


I feel from my observations in Feisbuk, that people without any CREDENTIALS, are embracing the ENVIRONMENT out of the blue.  The only reason I can understand this LOVE, is the intention of 
writing to obtain grants from the FEDERAL government, without any fucking understanding of what BIODIVERSITY IS or SHOULD BE.


I am sick of it. Every fool now feel is their duty to talk, write, about trees out of context, as if NATURE is JUST trees.  Islander jerks, please educate yourselves about the WHOLE. A tree by itself means shit.


Understand that protecting the environment, implies attacking, denouncing, changing your foolish way, perception of life.  The biggest enemies of the environment are: Mines, Construction/Highway
Developers, Commercial Fishing, Nuclear Energy, the Oil Industry,
ignorant jerks: Alberto Areces Mallea, Phd, Fundacion Luis Munhoz Marin, Fideicomiso, Recursos Naturales and every other fool, including the local edible gardeners schools, fruit trees, without
any desire to explore, to learn about the many aspects of the environment. It is more than soil, it is air, water. It is not for future generations. I want my environment for right now, without any further
delay. And that is that.

EDITORS NOTE 

AND BONUS

Move to the first paragraph, there was NO 

Tiger 'the unfaithful fool' Woods.

But he was not the first, Calvin Peete and perhaps

another couple tried to play GOLF.

But you know the story.

I do not have to get into it.

Regarding tennis.  Like golf

a somewhat elitist sport.

Unlike golf, friendlier to the 

environment, since you can 

play on a few surfaces, including

asphalt...Time to go..