Wednesday, December 22, 2010

FAMILY MATTERS

FOUR years ago, when I started the writing, the garden collection lived in fiberglass pots. However, the essence had been around over five.  It triplicated in numbers. 

As time went by, we landed in a house seventy years old, with a quarter of the the sandy total space not covered by concrete.  Out of 15 species planted by the previous owner, perhaps 6 were adopted.


The best garden is not necessarily mine. Or what I am convinced by practice, study and experience it should be.  Urban versus country side determine often what one can do, having neighbors by the property lines or not is fundamental when deciding what to plant in Puerto Rico.


People will destroy whatever is considered a hindrance within their property without much debate. Leaves for example. Nine out of ten trees/bushes killed/destroyed/mutilated in the isle are guilty of....leaves falling.


Having written that lets get to the families in question.  The botanical inventory is not something I do just to be different. It is more. I believe this blog is a point of reference for curious people with the urge to know what is going on
here, or the Caribbean, in terms of garden/horticulture/agriculture development and practice.


That is why placing photos of pretty flowers with great care hiding the lawns is not tolerated in my headquarters.  After all, many people with nice gardens, love, enjoy, bull fighting, palms, lawns, bromeliads, and smoke, who cares?

I believe there is something weird about having two hundred species of the same thing, orchids, roses, crinums to name three. That is not a mirror of nature, but an aberration, excellent for the growth and development of pests of many types. 

The wise gardener works like an editor in reducing the whole, doing some substraction when necessary.

To show one, ten flowers from the garden constantly, except in photography blogs, is absurd. Dismembering the garden distorts, does not allow for evaluation of the installation.  Only when the watchful reader can see the evident interaction between us, Flora and Fauna he/she can pass judgment.

BETWEEN TRIOS AND QUINTETS

ACANTHACEAE
Pseuderantemum carruthersii/var carruthersii reticulatum
Asystacia gangetica

AMARYLLIDACEAE
Crinum asiaticum
Eucharis amazonica
Proiphys amboinensis
Scadoxus

APOCYNACEAE
Plumeria obtusa/rubra/rubra
lutea

CONVULVULACEAE
Ipomoea quamoclit/aegiptia/
batata
Merremia quinquefolia

  

EUPHORBIACEAE
Euphorbia pulcherrima/tirucalli/
neriifolia
Pedilanthus tithymaloides

FABACEAE
 Pithelobium dulce
Clitorea ternatea
Calliandra haemathocephalla
Bauhinia monandra

SOLANACEAE
Capsicum florescens
Datura stramonium
Cestrum diurnum
Brunfelsia pausiflorea

TURNERACEAE
Turnera/ulmiforme/diffusa/
subulata

Plants that one would never thought are related become familiar when doing this little exercise.  It is wise, and fun.

But is not guarantee of anything. Alberto Areces Mallea, Phd, could tell you one hundred things just from looking at the flower of species under his area of expertise, cacti. 

Yet, this ignorant fool regarding soil, soil analysis, inventory of flora and fauna, forest restoration protocol and procedure, destroyed 12 acres like stealing a candy from a child...Still fresh like nothing happened....

apaga i vamonoh.

Thanks to friends and foes
for the good wishes expressed
or kept quiet, during the holiday
season.

FLORA/FAUNA RULE

or mocking famous last words
from Floka Olivieri:

To die blogging is to live forever! 

2 comments:

  1. Yes!!! Exactly....your style sounds like fun and I agree on the lawn and use of different plants around your home....I clump the variety of plant with leaf like structure to give each garden a unique feel...well that's the theory. I love this post...thank you for sharing:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rohrerbot,

    Thanks for the visit and your feedback....

    ReplyDelete

Popular Posts