THE QUIET AFTER

Wondering, where every one goes hiding? Birds, lizards, insects...The silence is absolute, except the 24/7 hated humming from Sagrado Corazon, night and day.

The darkness is pretty much like the one in Maine during fall and winter.  Leaves everywhere.  The wind and rain last night were intense but nothing really out of this world, at least in me garden.

Casualties? A few... Pithelobium dulce, this tree in a fiberglass pot, perhaps ten fight high, had its canopy bended towards the north. Guaiacum  officinale,  fell on the fence from a north wind.  It is now straight with adequate support. Turnera subulata and  Polyscia fruticosa  also fell.

other news

After some time and research one of my favorite vines propagated from Guanica seeds, was found.  A new species identified: Ipomoea aegyptia L.  Knowing the names, preferably the botanical name of what I collect is fundamental in my perception of rigorous horticulture. If you think a rose is a rose you are full of manure.

PUERTO RICO A MACONDO OF THE MIND

I took a walk this morning to monitor for damage in a ten block stroll after yesterday rain/wind. 

Every drain covered with leaves and garbage, broken branches from the strong winds, but somehow the plenty abandoned buildings, residential and commercial apparently increasing reminded me of 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez..The last fifty pages of One Hundred Years, are pretty much a description of what Rio Piedras and Santurce look like.

The difference is that in the novel once, there was a banana plantation, the falling apart of the San Juan Metro Zone is really overwhelming, but no one sees it, except your not so humble servant.   Apaga i vamonos... 

VINES AND CLIMBERS REVISITED

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.  Stems displaying such characteristic growth are called   twiners.  The higher a twining stem 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 short distance before sending out more tendrils.  Leaf tendrils are adapted from leaflets of compound leaves (Sweet Pea for example), stipules (Green Briar), or petioles (Clematis).

 FROM

Botany for Gardeners

BRIAN CAPON

Timber Press

page  103

Having written that, lets go to me garden. What I have in detail:

Passiflora edulis, pallida, foetida

Clitoria Ternatea

Merremia quinquefolia

Ipomoea batata, quamoclit

Wedelia trilobata

Canavalia maritima

Bouganvillea

If you live in the tropics you could find any of the above mentioned without much difficulty.  I will share now my observations about those that I have planted and like the most. Plus the problems they will create in for you. 

Clitorea ternatea

Yep. The name is no accident.  It looks according to some experts to that part

of the female of the species. What is important, is the blue indigo of the flower, a rarity among tropicals.  Only Commelina elegans compete in bluish beauty.

But beware, you should only plant Clitoreas, within metal, wood, strings contexts for support.  It will strangle any living creature near by.  Remember, most leaving creatures in the garden,  with woody structures have a vascular system.  Nutrients, water come up and down their trunks.  The pressure created by strangulation will stop this process, killing whatever supports this vine, slowly but sure.

Cavalinas, Wedelias, Bejuco de puerco,(not in the list, an Ipomoea), create similar  problems for their unruly growth.  Bejuco de puerco is the worst.
It will climb for some time, but will come down to the ground soon or later, Wedelias are crippled from the same leg, Canavalias, become a pain in the ass, even when not coming down.

Bouganvillea

Some may wonder if this woody bush is really a climber, twiner or whatever.  It does not matter what you or yours truly thinks, it will grow like those mentioned for some time.  Use your judgment.  Do not prune in anticipation.  Or pay the price. Become a pruning slave in your spare time.

Mine is giving the west garden in front of the house the Andalus look. No pruning except when there is no choice.

The trend of pruning Bouganvilleas as a hedge, is the most stupid habit found down here. DON'T! Or check Anita's garden in the picture.  

Originally from Brazil/sil, this creature has the most intense, beautiful colors in our context.  Some are not of me liking, however their growht habit, when respected will enhance ANY context.

Final words. Grapes, Kiwis, are similar since they become woody.  Passiflora edulis will not. All three will bring pleasure with their fruits or flowers.

I reiterate that this type of plants will enhance any garden, even if you live in Puercorico, USA.  Just be in guard, in this godforsaken asphalt/concrete, vegetation of any kind is unwelcome in MANY circles or the enemy, in brief.

Time to go..Apaga i vamonos.

EDITORS NOTE

This template stinks somehow.

But the senior citizens my age, will

love me even more since they will not need glasses or any kind of ZOOMING.

 

NAME DROPPING AND BUTT ISSUE MOCK INTERVIEW

INTRO

camile roldan soto

AKA MATOJO

feeble mind interviewer

ANTIGONUM CAJAN 

THE ELDER

The times are wonderful for this wild at heart mock interview. Any time is adequate.. The interviewer mock target is one newspaper employee with the figure of an electrician tool: pliers. She works for Le Novel Jour, a local shopper.

CRS:    Well what is the story?

AC:       I decided to put things in perspective, even if they are fine the way they are.

CRS:    What kind of things?

AC:       Anything that comes to mind. For example, lets take that negro painter from Gurabo City, Pablo Marcano.   Or some obscure, I mean really obscure artist Wilfredo Chiesa.

cmr:   What is the big deal?

AC:    The first was me classmate in Gautier Benitez High four decades ago.

In those days he was a track and field

athlete.  We went to the UPR 

Segunda Unidad in Cayey City, graduating after the strike, 1974.  He went to Mexico to study, later to Ottisville, New York, a federal prison.

crs:   Are you climbing on their back to have a place in history?

AC:   I see you remain a dummy after visiting me garden.  I will let this one slide.  I belong to history, at least the horticultural one, already. No one has kept a blog, a chronicle  or a garden for five years as I have. Go to hell you feminist ugly witch.

crs:  Thanks, you humble one. I see that you will never forget me using matojos instead of malas hierbas.

AC:  You are damn right, beach!  At any rate, having that cleared.

I was residing in Northampton *, MA when I learned that me classmate from Gurabo City was incarcerated after taking hostage the consul from Chile.

crs:  Would this information affect your 

anonymous status in the web?

AC:   Jaha. Bilingual laugh. There is no collective memory in Puercorico.  Do not distract me please.  Back to the story.  Since I had some bad, really bad black and white photos taken during a Field Day, of Mr. Marcano and Luis Aguilu (RIP). I took time and effort to write him a letter with the above mentioned pictures.  I thought that being in prison is not such a nice trip, and that he would appreciate to have communication with anyjuan, considering we have known each other

in high school and college. Being alone, solitude and all the bullshit associated with being in jail.

crs:   Knowing you, the way you handle your relation with the populace in general and your language usage, this is not going to have a happy ending.  Do you realize the only thing you seem to be good at is provoking, with that 'anger of a saint'?

AC:  A good for nothing newspaper employee may reach that conclusion, however, no one in the house has seen moi with the bongos, a pool cue, at table tennis, cooking or drinking straight with no chaser a la Thelonious Monk,  that is besides me garden and literary post career. To continue with the story.

I was totally mistaken in both accounts.

Pablo Marcano did not appreciate my letters, nor made any effort to cultivate the communication. It seems a cultural tendency of  native islanders. On the second, he was very fortunate to share his time in jail, with one of our  GREAT ones, Carlos Irizarry.  A painter with the skills of a master with a tendency toward faces, portraits of personalities that he found important, attractive or whatever.

My affection for the ungrateful one made me go watch his first exposition (really bad) while he was still in prison, in Gurabo City Fiestas Patronales late 70's or early 80's. Go and do your own research about dates. 

To finish Pablo's story, let the record show that he has SIGNATURE. He was able to find that way of saying/portraying/painting that makes him unique and impossible to confuse. 

I hate any of his paintings with figures, the most despicable is one cliched mother holding a baby, but anything with urban, seashores, landscapes, fishermen, houses are amazing thanks to his use of LIGHT. They look as if a real light bulb or whatever source is really illuminating the scene.

Certainly, making his paintings look like stained glass and skillful use of illumination is what sets him apart from the herd, even if ungrateful.

crs:  Will you forgive him?

AC:  Going back to our story...Wilfredo Chiesa, was a character I met while teaching in Northampton. He was, do not ask me how, an ARTIST IN RESIDENCE!  Straight from Puerto Rico. During the winter, he had a black cloak and was fond of girls of the Hebrew persuasion, if I remember correctly. His work was of the abstract, very hard to define or like, of the graphic kind? I do not know,  four decades later what to think, or if he is  alive or dead.  But his works then seemed cool.  Did he pass the test of time?  Maybe, Pablo will/has.

crs:  I have to go do silly interviews for the newspaper (Ferre-Rangel) I work for, anything else?

AC:  You damned fool, we have not covered  the butt issue, don't you take notes? You took notes for ninety minutes in that interview and still screwed it up with  matojos and variedades instead of species and weeds.

The five hundred bucks red car and the white station wagon on the sidewalk belong to invaders of the Caribbean kind. The owner of the red  has a flat butt and her daughter, a JLo tumor like one.  The red car lasted for two weeks.

The flat butt invader has no money for repairs.  Thus the street is becoming a junk yard with four cars parked permanently in the street.

Time to go..Apagad e idnos...

 

BACK TO WHAT REALLY MATTERS

It is pertinent to go back to the garden often to watch juat japens....The Gloriosa rothshildiana a legacy from former owners and evidently in fashion decades ago, has flowered.  The Cosmos sulphereous  generation in previous down here pictures passed away, the new ones are already two inches. 

On the fauna department, one suspicion has been proved. The Anolis, those cute, useful, reptiles watch your angry servant when spraying, to catch insects taking off as it happened this morning with pain in the ass White flies.

The other incident,  rarely observed, perhaps the first time ever: cannibalism among these creatures...One four inch ate raw a one inch one with a couple of bites.

The rainy/hurricane season is arriving slowly but sure. Lets hope no storms like those in Pakistan, China, France, Spain, all over drop by. With the amounts of concrete/asphalt spread all over the island and its territories, thanks to Housing and Highway developers it would be a one of a kind disaster.  Lets remember that since drain systems are not maintained, they are clogged already.

Most people tend to forget that soil is here and there, for some reason, not necessarily to be saturated with what money makers, banks, real estate fellows, Housing and Highway developers have in mind: asphalt/concrete.  Where the hell is water supposed to go? 

The problem in me garden with rain in days in a row, is the damn snails and slugs. That and missing the exercise while spraying... 

The tittle for this post would have been:
OUTSIDER IN THE MIDST OF NATIVE  BARBARIANS AND INVADERS OF THE CARIBBEAN KIND.

If you wonder about the previous post, (museum), has your humble servant offended any sensibilities? I tell you what.  Since their
pockets were not touched, nothing will come out of it after all.


The mutilated hero, sentenced to death,  the Eucalyptus will probably fall facing west,  with the hurricane winds that may/may not show. The cars pimped or not,  will continue parking on the grass.


But misery loves companion. Let the record show that the attitude towards the landscape in the Museum, is not an exception by any way.  It IS use and custom as you can see from these new pictures not too far from their premises on Ponce de Leon avenue.

Use your judgment.  Turning off the electricity, water faucets, edible gardening, planting palitos left and right, or recycling plastic bags will NOT STOP this national imbecility.  Apaga i vamonos...
or turn it off and hit the road jack...

MUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEO WHAT IS WRONG WITH URBAN LANDSCAPES

YOU would not be reading this lines or looking at these shameful pictures if those in charge of this mostly empty
museum had taken seriously my offer of being the pro bono groundskeeper over twenty four months ago, with some lame pretext.

Why now? Inquire the dubious visitor.  Now I got Isaber, the World Trekker, as a photographer and Ana Cristina, her sister, a fashionista at heart, as photographers/advisors.  Without their help, this post would not have taken place.

IN other countries one may expect any museum worthy of its grain of salt an inviting, well groomed landscape.  With the necessary composition elements, contrasts of color, textures, height, shape as in those paintings one may see in a museum.

The grass surrounding the museum is like a pasture, without goats, cows or horses.  Automobiles. The green areas are used to park cars, compacting the soil and killing every living creature in the ground.


These pictures, particularly Close up falling Eucalyptus, the mutilated trunk, showing the muffin like explosion of roots in a space too tight are evidence of the absolute indifference, ignorance,  respect and understanding of urban landscape from those responsible for the Museum, and the imbeciles who planted them. 

A little difficult to comprehend, the landscape scenes shown.  The average Joe Six Pack will never think twice about this aberration.  This museum costs a bundle to maintain.

.
However, the board of directors, the staff, academicians with more tittles than the Duchess of Alba. should demonstrate at all times some level of sophistication on issues related to their chosen careers.



Using the pasture surrounding the property, to park autos, instead of creating some edible/ornamental garden for the community, shows some callousness,  a total lack of imagination to be original.  This act, allowing cars on green areas is more abominable considering the parking lots near by.

FINAL WORDS

I will never forget one anecdote.  The wordy, artificial, pure molasses vignette about a Keebler tin can, Versailles and Shakespeare...When the context is what

the pictures show....Apaga i vamonos...

BLA BLA CAFE AND THE PUERTORICAN STATE OF MIND

Antonio Carlos Jobim in the background, perfect atmosphere, an expresso to calm me down after a visit to DACO.  Lucky me, a cool oasis with the perfect volume/music, a nice surprise in this primitive hells hole.

The story is custom/use.  Ten days ago I filed a complaint against some blue collar criminals, FIFA RACING, the culprits of Mitsubishi Maintenance Service, at Rd #2 KM 2.5, Marginal Kennedy, San Juan.

I arrived to DACO following previous instructions.  When I signed, the reaction from the over fed receptionist gave it away.  My case has no number yet.  I have to wait until I receive it by MAIL.  The original 10 days, now become 22 or more

Excuses, excuses...There are people ahead of you, since July. We are doing a lot, with little staff!  The saying making hearts with beef tripe would have been adequate...

At any rate, I understand.  That is why my anger increased a little from the normal levels. Check this out...

When I inquired about electronic mail, the simplicity of sending one message that takes a minute, stating: Your case has no number. Sorry for the inconvenience. However, we will inform you. 

I received the following: "Oh we do not send messages except by mail". Believe it or not. 

This is a token of the Puertorican mind, the train of thought that I have been writing about in your favorite blogs. I feel as if surrounded by jellyfish in coma, unable to think, imagine, create.


Imagine the paper, envelopes, saliva, stamps, money, time, energy and effort saved if the attorney in charge of DACO
had a mind like yours truly.


But let the record show as often, that BLA BLA Cafe, located at Avenida de Diego 353, Santurce is a place to cool your jets. Nice staff Gonzalo and Monica.  But not all is perfect, no alcohol on the premises is sold.  blablacoffehouse.com.


Apaga i vamonos....

THE EVENING POST IN THE EVENING

SOME readers of the younger generation may wonder as to the name of the blog. Well, no need to go to Jarvard. There was a 'Saturday Evening Post', once upon a time..Go and research.  You will find it.

Yours truly was a fan of the English language,  since the ninth grade even if you have noticed the writing in the blog may contradict, that let the record show declaration. 

At any rate.. Writing of publishing quality or not.  Editors determine and correct that. This is hot out of the cliche oven...Some rare readers with long term memory may remember me humble one mentioning the Yucca manihot.. Well, there were 3 of them to be precise.


Since your humble servant is not of the edible kind of gardener, the above mentioned, kept growing until it reached 25 feet.  You intercontinental reader may know it or not, but anything like edible tubercles growing below the ground have to be pulled out after a certain amount of days....otherwise when boiled, they taste like rubber or nothing, if you get me drift.


Once the maneuver ended, Pedilanthus tithymaloides, Pseuderantemon reticulatum and Hippobroma longiflora took its place.

OTHER STORIES

Imagine you give some character of the Gertrude Stein persuasion, NOT THE WRITING, if you get me drift, 

your opinion as a consultant for free, regarding the sterile landscape practices and some Eucaliptus tree in the sidewalk, soon to drop in their property.

Her RESPONSE? Some amazingly feeble minded words in a ramble as if she was tripping on acid (a high possibility judging from her age): Shakespeare, Versailles and happy mediums.

Do not worry. Be happy. You will get your happy medium, darling. ...next week.

APAGAD E IDNOS,

SALTY CROPS PART ll

This amounts to 130 million hectares of new cropland that could be brought into
human or animal food production-without cutting down forests or diverting more scarce freshwater for use in agriculture.

Seawater agriculture  is an old idea that was first taken seriously after World War ll.  In 1949 ecologist Hugo Boyko and horticulturalist Elisabeth Boyko went to the Red Sea town of Eilat during  the formation of the state of Israel to create landscaping that would attract settlers.  Lacking freshwater, the Boykos used a brackish well and seawater pumped directly from the ocean and  showed that many plants would grow beyond their normal salinity limits in sandy soil.  Although many of the Boykos ideas of how plants tolerate salts have not stood the test of time, their work stimulated widespread interest, including our own, in extending the salinity constraints of traditional irrigated agriculture.


Seawater agriculture must fulfill two requirements to be cost-effective.   First, it must produce useful crops at yields high enough to justify the expense of pumping irrigation water from the sea.  Second, researchers must develop agronomic techniques for growing seawater--irrigated crops in a sustainable manner--one that does not

damage the environment.  Clearing these hurdles has proved a daunting task, but we have had some success.

BONUS

In me garden.  The Malpighia has flowered, the fruit shall be here in some time...Calliandra in the same bag, with lots of new leaves, as the Guaicum.

Today was heavy irrigation day, with fertilizer sticks on the ground for those mentioned and the grafted orange and lemon, with new foliage on the way.

FUTURE ISSUE

Photographies of an aberration in the San Juan Metro Zone.  The 'landscape' of  Museo de Arte Contemporaneo.

A ill kept uneven prairie, sterile grass, cut with trimmer, used as parking, compacting the soil, a stupid practice.

The crooked Eucaliptus, soon to fall on this institution fence and aesthetically dubious sculpture behind.

NONE of their staff ever noticed...

FINAL WORDS

One of the silliest blogs ever, written by a fellow from the west of the island, wrote in his memorable opus that his blog fed on the comments of the readers.

Antigonun Cajan will never write such silly lines.  This blog is useful for those with criteria, critical of their surroundings and the national stupidity.

Down here is equally distributed.

People with many tittles, like the Duchess of Alba, are as ignorant, 

arrogant, (unlike this humble servant), stupid as those originally

from the chabolas and island favelas.

Same range...similar views..Apaga i vamonos. 

THE SALTY CROPS POST

fFor a total change of pace, lets move to other prairies, not necessarily greener, but not your daily ration of gardening beyond the hole in dirt.

Earth may be the Ocean Planet, but most terrestrial creatures-including humans-depend for food on plants irrigated by freshwater from rainfall, rivers, lakes, springs and streams.  None of the top five plants eaten by people-wheat, corn, rice, potatoes and soybeans-can tolerate salt: expose them to sea water, and they droop, shrivel and die within days.

One of the most urgent global problems is finding enough water and land to support the world's food needs. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that an additional 200 million hectares(494.2 million acres) of new cropland-an area the size of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho,
Wyoming and Montana combined-will be needed  over the next 30 years just to feed the burgeoning populations of the tropics and subtropics.  Yet only 93 million hectares are available in these nations for farms to expand-and much of that land is forested and should be preserved.  Clearly we need alternative sources of water and land on which to grow crops. 

With help from our colleagues, we have tested the feasibility of seawater agriculture and have found that it works well in the sandy soils of desert environments.  Seawater agriculture is defined as growing salt-tolerant crops on land using water pumped from the ocean for irrigation.  There is no shortage of sea water. 97 percent of the water on earth is in the oceans.  Desert land is also plentiful:43 percent of the earth's total land surface is arid or semiarid, but only a small fraction is close enough to the sea to make seawater farming feasible.  We estimate that 15 percent of undeveloped land in the world's coastal and inland salt deserts could be suitable for growing crops using saltwater agriculture.  


To be continued... If you can not wait check the link, this article is only 12 years old. Apaga i vamonoh.

antigonum cajan evening post: Preview "THE SALTY CROPS POST"

antigonum cajan evening post: Preview "THE SALTY CROPS POST"

www.sciam.com/1998/0898issue/0898glenn.html

NOMENCLATURE GARDENIAS AND ELSE

ONE irritating aspect of the futile attempts of understanding the other, is that he/she wants without any justification, history of planting, collecting, propagating plants in pots, ground or virtually to impose theoretical
views from books or stupid meaningless actions 'pro environment' with the oxen   behind the cart.

Shut off the lights at home, do not mind the excessive ones in highways, roads, buildings.  Or turn off the water at home.  It is not important that thousands of leaks in every Puercorican street and road are there to see.  SCREW YOU.

Clean the beach, plant the mangroves in the San Juan estuary, do not mention the ECHOLI, in many streams, rivers, lakes, and salty waters around the isle. Same as above.

With that intro lets go to 

a new book:

Diana Wells

One Hundred Flowers

Algonquin Books

It does not matter if you are the week end warrior or mudblood environmentalist, if you live down here

or any other tropical site, most of the named flowers will mean nothing since the majority grow in template climates.

But NOMENCLATURE matters in gardening, since everything has been said/written.  But people do not pay attention, and everything has to be repeated.

At this time I would like to share from this nice book: size, font, illustrations and paper, Gardenias. 

GARDENIA

BOTANICAL NAME:  Gardenia: FAMILY: Rubiaceae

John Ellis, who was a merchant and botanist, insisted that Linnaeus call the Gardenia after his friend, Dr. Alexander Garden.  Ellis first suggested that Linnaeus call the Carolina allspice after Garden, but when the Gardenia or "Cape jasmine" as it was then called, arrived in London, he wanted that named for him instead.  Linnaeus objected, saying that an American plant, discovered by Garden, would be more suitable, and that he was being criticized already for naming plants after his friends.  Ellis simply told him that Dr. Garden already thought the plant had been named

in his honor and it was.

Linnaeus was right about its unsuitability, because the gardenia, far from being American, came from South Africa.  It is a member of the same family, Rubiaceae, as the madder whose root yields a red dye, but its closest relative is the randia, a tropical shrub named for Isaac Rand.

The gardenia was discovered, in 1754, by Captain Hutchenson of the Godolphin, en route to England from India.  Hutchenson said he had gone for a while on shore, become aware of a sweet, heavy scent, turned around, and seen a mass of huge double white flowers.  Even if you know what you are getting, a gardenia in full bloom is breathtaking.  It is hard to imagine what it would be like if it seemed to have dropped from Heaven.  Hutchenson dug it up and took it back to London.  This time carrying the vision home worked; the plant survived and was propagated.

Dr. Garden was English but settled in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1751.
He worked as a physician, collected plants, and kept in close touch with European botanists.

That is that...If you have no credentials, do not propagate, collect or plant, why should you ignorant fool
bother to question, provoke yours truly..SUCK YOU! 
 

 

 

 





 

 

antigonum cajan evening post: WRITING A BLOG AIMING AT THE BULLS EYE

antigonum cajan evening post: WRITING A BLOG AIMING AT THE BULLS EYE

www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/lawn-reform/

WRITING A BLOG AIMING AT THE BULLS EYE

NOT everything has been peaches and cream during the times I have written the original endemismotrasnochado, and the one you are now reading.

My first declared foe was an obscure agronomist, the most despicable kind.  The ones planting palm trees, turf and hedges with Ficus in Puerto Rico.

The animosity started when this perfectionist noticed grass cut with a dull blade in their web site,  in a picture depicting Gramas Lindas a plantation for the vegetation mentioned above.

Aureliano Buendia aka Edwin Gonzalez Bauza, responded with intense vileness,
daily harassment, on the blog comment section.  I could not believe that a 'successful' planter of grass, palms and Ficus would pay any attention to an abrasive horticultural critic with a new blog then in Spanish, without any readers.  The pathetic aspect of the situation is that Aureliano had no profile in blogger, always anonymous until I found who he is on feisbuk.

The reason to defend all the things I have been criticizing?" I put food on the table for the workers." As if Yeyo,  the scumbag was or would be the owner of that useless enterprise.


How far this fellow went? Creating a blog. It was like a bizarro endemismotrasnochado, by the name 
econuco.blogspot.com, it would discuss only whatever subjects I had critized or commented in mine.


If you try to find any traces of econuco.blogspot.com, you are out of luck..Somehow he made it disappear from the web, a pity, since everyone has a portion of the truth. However, one could get a glimpse of the agronomist mind on  his comments in different blogs between 2008/09.


I became involved with all these issues of the environment since I was 15 of age.  I declare Building and Highway Developers the greatest enemies of the environment, the REAL ones.


Everyone working in those fields are accomplices of the destruction of our surroundings, Flora and Fauna.


Fideicomiso de Conservacion, Parques Nacionales, Architects and Landscape Architects, Agronomists, Engineers, Legislators, Tribunals and the greatest enemy 007 Recursos Naturales, the ones giving construction permits to the best offer without any other considerations for the environment or the people.


If you live in the concrete/asphalt, moon scape roads/highways/streets and consider yourself an environmentalist, stop dreaming and wake up. Turning off the light or the water, or recycling, or electrical cars with no room to drive, will not help at all, is in your imagination mostly.  It is necessary to get to the enemy by all means necessary and attack in every possible way.


However, when one consider the multiple environmental tribes down  here, all in search of some income/profit/grant, the future of  Flora/Fauna is rather dark.


One last thing...I often wondered why some scum bag agronomist will pick as a nick on the web, the name of a character from ten decades of solitude, who started and lost 32 wars.


Apaga i vamonos...

JUAN JOSE FEISBUK FOOL ON THE HILL OF THE WEEK

MY fans and foes are probably missing some fun story or vice versa.  What you are about to read, could start:

Once upon a time in some far away virtual place,  an agronomist of the forest kind, engaged your humble servant about his prodigal abilities on his field of choice.

Our protagonist, or your humble servant if you prefer, on his customary, cautious ways mentioned his collection of vines with their botanical names.

Juan Jose, the fool on the hill, replied that he had ALL of them. I, in a sudden change of narrative person, became suspicious. It took me two years not only to collect them, but to find the botanical names. 


I can let slide many things on many situations.   Not in HORTICULTURE. He slipped bad. I asked the fool with 139 pictures of himself in the mentioned network, to please share his botanical inventory.


The response was that he owns 18 acres and that I could imagine how MANY species could be there, (No, I do not), adding that some are Passifloras.  

I knew then that some of his stories can not be true, partially or as a whole...An agronomist that could not name one or two botanical names on his farm has to be a mentally handicapped fool  in love with himself, judging from the pictures.

BUT WAIT...It gets worse before getting better.  Visiting on an off, Palos de Borinquen or ARBOLES DE PUERTORICO, in the same place...I found these curious exchanges:  Two different people have some acres of land, requesting names of trees to plant. One incredible idiot has a Ficus pumila. He wants to know ways to maintain it without pruning.  The last for today, a feeble minded woman, wants to know where to find trees for free.


One.   If you have acres of land and do not know what to plant move to an apartment.
Two.   Pull the Ficus pumila roots an all.
You will have nothing to prune. Just sand the walls and paint.
Three.  What a cretin. Getting trees for free. Would you like the tools for maintenance free also? 

OTHER HORTICULTURAL

RELATED NEWS

As you probably remember, I have now a shade garden. But before I get there lets have some more fun with names.

Down here are some customary names for different types of bussiness:

Under the Mango Tree, El Quenepo, Under the Pine Shade, Up in the breadfruit tree and such....

Mine will be called Under the Bouganvillea:  Diffenbachia, Eucharis amazonica, Crinum, Lily, Alocasia cucullata/macrorrhiza, Calledium hortulanum, Aglaonema commutatum, Rhoeo spathacea, Cuphea hissopifolia,  Hibiscus, Turnera ulmiforme, Aloe vera, dwarf Ruellia, Pseuderantemun carruthersi, and Anthurium.  

If some sound familiar great.. Often I have to check on spelling...Some were already planted during the sunny days, I am curious as to what will happen with those. Will they tolerate the shade and remain healthy?

This garden is located in the south side.  Perhaps 15' long by 18" wide out of fifty feet.  The plants are in the empty spaces shared with orange/yellow slates placed with some imagination.

Let the record show that there was no shade anywhere in our residence..It is a result of selecting and planting what the microclimate, distance from the ocean, demand..This shade is a bonus, unexpected and rather abrupt.  I have had to adapt and make the necessary changes.  

During the following months, rainy and somewhat cooler, I will know if this somewhat dark shade will make a difference in an otherwise dry and hot environment. That is that.

apagad e idnos.....

RAFAEL CORTIJO A LEGEND BEYOND THE TIMES

 


I have mentioned it before, music, beside plants is a passion with no end. It is time for a little.

For the last three days, I have been listening to a cassette recorded in Tito Tapia's apartment in RIO Piedras, circa 1977, before it became a crowded, noisy Mecca for invaders of all sorts.

Tito Tapia was/is an albino from my days in Caguas. Originally from Asomante in Aibonito.  His dad was a champion. Lived with two powerfully breasted women in his hometown shack, without any Mormon conversion.

The last time I saw Tito was in Amherst, MA, during my second self imposed exile. He was a character and the second albino I have some respect for, the other is Cano Estremera.

Actually there are two recordings of Cortijo. The original from a long playing and a copy I made moons later.  That morning many shots of Palo Viejo and Shaeffer (in fashion, Budweisser and now Coors followed) went down while listening to this musical jewel and others of the Cuban crop.

Cuni, More, Rita Montaner and Arsenio. Getting back to Rafael Cortijo, I live ten blocks from the cradle of Ismael, Calle Calma, today it looks like shit, but what the hell.

Cortijo's music was in essence plenas, guarachas, bombas, and guaguancos. Not the shitty water down we have now..

This music tell stories, just as those medieval jesters whose job what to tell what was going on.  The tune in this video, tells with some humor the story of some Biglips Negro and his death for his physical vocal attribute.

'Quitate de la via Perico', is a tune about a hearing impaired fellow and his demise by the railroad track as a consequence of his defect.

In my opinion, one of the most significant tunes in terms of music and the historical moment is that one about about rocket science.  'The Russians have sent a satellite around the world'!

Another tells the story of what will be of those who 'climb to the ship', in evident reference of the cruelty of the slave trade.

Rafael Cortijo had swing and  unique sound that fifty years tells me something and I can enjoy sober.

The dynamics among musicians is rare. Martin Quinhones, congas, Kito Velez, trumpet, Eddy, on sax, Roberto Rohena on bongos...and the rest made of this band something else.

I can only think of Ruben Blades in terms of decades of creating music, experimenting and always being authentic. Rafael Cortijo, Ismael Rivera, thanks for the times...Lets mention that a Colombian, Nelson Pinedo and a Cuban, Rolando Laserie recorded memorable tunes with this band.  There are others singers also. Check them on youtube.

EDITORS NOTE

Maruja was a film, one of the earlier ones with some  artistic merit in Puerto Rico. 

Martha Romero, Axel Anderson, (still alive) and many other great talented artists participated in this landmark film.  I believe 90 percent of the people in it are dead.

Finally please check: bembeteo.com, a site about the music discussed here from the perspective of an authority...in Spanish...Time to go, apaga i vamonos.

VANDALISM IN ME GARDEN REPORT

TODAY, around 4:30 in the afternoon I noticed a branch from a Turnera subulata, hanging by the Caliandra haemathocephala.  A branch from the latter was opened  in the middle, by snapping.  Whom ever did it, knew I was I was not home...It is not the first time..It is part of the islanders use and custom, a great segment of the population cultural trends.

In Puerto Rico, if anyone desires a branch from a tree, bush, or even a whole plant to propagate from a garden
down the street, they will take it without any qualms.

Two houses down, across the street, Farrukito, my pimp looking neighbor who fashions, bracelets,  chains, and  flamenco shoes, including white ones, has a Guava tree in front of the house.

I have seen Junior the toothless handyman, climbing upon a trash can to grab Farrukito's guavas without thinking it twice. He is not the only one. Ladies are into this bag also... In essence, respect to private property is a thing of the past.. 

Don Miguel the up the street neighbor has mentioned a similar problem. The populace snap the Hibiscus, Pleomeles or Acaliphas, with similar ease.

Your humble servant took some action.
I did some pruning to the  Turnera subulata to stop the branches from reaching the four feet cement wall dividing the property from the sidewalk.


To create a security system, a Pereskia bleo, a very primitive plant in its form and origins was planted in front of the vandalized victim.  This plant belongs to the cacti/succulent vegetation division. I have seen seen old ones in Santurce,  at seven/eight feet.


This bush is rather weird for the many spines as any cactus, and as many leaves as any spineless succulent.  The orange flowers are typical of many cacti in shape and texture.

In brief, one can take steps to reduce vandalism, at least in theory...Moral of the story? Do not plant attractive vegetation/orchards in any way, shape or form close by pedestrians in Puerto Rico. Your plants will thank you. Apaga i vamons.

ANNIVERSARY SAGA MOCK INTERVIEW

PART ll

crs:  It seems that you are not very fond of people in general, could we move to the collection?

AC:  Fine.  There were a few remarkable plants when we moved here:
Pseuderantemun reticulatum, Scadoxus and the strangest Gloriosa rothschildiana.  These plants were probably in fashion 2 or 3 decades ago.

crs: How do you know, could you read/predict the past?


AC:  You are not going to screw this interview as you did it in the newspaper, imbecile.  I KNOW because I research, observe ALL vegetation that surrounds me.  The above mentioned plants are not available in ANY nursery, nor they are found anywhere but old gardens.

to be continued...

A

THE ANNIVERSARY MOCK INTERVIEW

G

camile roldan soto

as the interviewer

crs:  Could you tell us about the beginning?

AC:  endemismotrasnochado was the original blog, followed by upinthebreadfruittree and ANGLOSPANO REVIEW. 

crs: What happened to these?

AC: A hacker made impossible to continue that work.  I declare for the record, those blogs are still followed reaching the 8,000 visitors, 101 countries and five continents. I confess certain sadness when it happened.

The hacker was able to reach some people from my site. I imagine they were Nigerians or Rumanians experts at this.

Ironically, they sent my sister, an adventist, and her husband a former coke snorter an email requesting 1,500 USA dollars, since I was in some difficult situation in London.  My documents were stolen.

crs:  Where is the irony?

AC: My sister and husband, adventists both, rip me off of over 40,000, plus interest for the last thirty years. Could you imagine their faces? Jaha bilingual laugh..

crs:  Could we move on?

AC: Sorry. I avoid this kind of personal crap always...At any rate.. My first post was about Parque Donha Ines in Trujillo Alto.  Very expensive and environmentally destructive to our biodiversity. This park is unfinished after ten years. Areces and Ocampo, with their accomplices have spent over seven million bucks in such property...and they are still requesting/begging funds from the stupid gullible public and other government agencies involved in the scam. Scratch me back..you get my drift.

crs: Besides that, anything good

to report about after five years?

AC: The only good things are those taking place in my garden.  The blogs may disappear anytime, your favorite blogger may pass away, but the garden will be around.

crs: Are you going to cover the five years now, in one post?

AC: My apologies. I shall continue with your help later...I would like to mention the following characters and their influence in my perception of this piece of shit society surrounding yours truly:

Fondita de Jesus, Hogares Rafaela Ibarra, Peninsula de Cantera, Proyecto Enlace, the blog stalker Edwin Gonzalez Bauza, agronomist, Fondos Beneficos Unidos, Asociacion de Alzheimer and more than a dozen too long a list to enumerate.. YOU guess right, nothing GOOD to mention about this scum...Time to go. Apaga i vamonos...

c

ANTIGONUM CAJAN TREND SETTING ANNIVERSARY POST

HOW can this sarcastic, bitter, wise, unloving/unloved son of a beach, be humble, the reader may wonder...Simple, says our hero, a matter of a figure of speech.

ON THIS ISSUE

the camile roldan soto awards

to

Alberto Areces Mallea, Phd, Gabriela Ocampo, Olmec Princess in exile

For their impeccable demonstration of imbecility while destroying the patrimony of the Puercorican islanders, during the destruction of 12 acres in Trujillo Alto, Parque Donha Ines, during 2000-2004

BONUS FOR THE WELL READ 

the Luis Munhoz Marin Foundation Botanical Inventory provided by

JULIO QUIROS 

the five hundred pounds librarian.

Before I get to the inventory, in apparent alphabet botanical order, let the record show that errors have been kept. What I have done is to organize it in a botanical name order, not the populace/common name given to me then. 

Luis Munhoz Marin Plantation

Botanical Inventory 

Altocarpus communis

Allamanda cathartica

Bauhinia sp.

Byrsonima spicata

Brugmansia suaveolens

Barringtonia asiatica

Bambos vulgaris

Cithrarexylum fruticosum

Chalcas exotica

Calophylum antillanum

Citrus nobilis/limonia/sinensis

grandis

Congea tomentosa

Cocos nucifera

Caryophyllus aromaticus

Cedrela odorata

Cinnamomum zeylanicum

Chrysophyllum

Casearia sylvestris

Cinnamomun camphora

Canangium odoratum

Combretum grandiflorum

Cordyline guineensis

Casearia arborea

Casurina equisetofolia

Dillenina indica

Delonix regia

Didymopanax morottoni

Eugenia jambos

Ficus nitida

Gardenia jazminoides

Hamelia axilaris

Hymenea courbaril

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Holsmkoldia sanguinea

INTERMISSION

Why do I bother?  Some inquisitive readers may ponder...I tell you native, imported or foreign reader, this is not a personal vendetta these mother suckers are getting millions of USA dollars, not

for environmental reasons as the gullible village idiots may believe, it is for their pockets and egos...  

Back to the studio

Inga laurina

Ixora coccinea

Lagerstromia speciosa

Malpighia punicifolia

Melaleuca leucodendron

Mangifera indica

Mamea americana

Montezuma speciosissima

Nerium oleander

Plumeria rubra

Pithelobium dulce/arboreum

Pretraea volubilis

Pinlebotaenia cowellii

Psidium guajaba

Roystonea borinquenha

Stahlia monosperma

Swietenia macrophylla

Spondius dulcis

Spathocea campanulata

Triplaris caracassana

Tectona grandis

Tecoma stans

Tabebuia pallida/glomerata

Terminalia catappa

Your humble servant states that there is less than one hundred species on this inventory.

I witnessed employees from the FLMM butchering perfectly healthy trees like Terminalia Catappa and Tabebuias to make mulch in the 007 Recursos Naturales huge shredder for the hell off it. That is that. Apaga i vamonos