WEED BEHAVIOR IN PLANTS

I have been  interested  in weeds, their behavior, history, aesthetic value and possibilities in  the garden, for quite some time. I will present a few examples from a wide and extended list in most urban, rural eco-regions  around  the isle.

Weed behavior could be defined as self seeding habits in the urban context where I live and practice gardening.  The taming of asphalt/concrete is part of the scheme, since these seeds  will grow in any imaginable crack, crevice or surface with little dust/soil/dirt, water or humidity, under light or shady conditions. Before I get there lets check this information, pertinent to the subject.

Weeds* often produce seeds in prolific numbers.  A good sized mullein or Canadian fleabane can release in excess of 400,000.  Weed seeds have evolved devices to ensure they get ferried to the widest range of new habitats. They can be armed with hooks, burrs, spines, ribs, hairs to help them stick to passing animals (or botanists legwear). There is also seed glue.** The common garden weed shepherd's purse is named  for its seeds heads, which resemble the little pouches or skrips worn by medieval peasants. Open up a purse and the seeds spill out like tiny gold coins.  They are covered with a thin layer of gum, which become stickier still when it's moistened--as for instance by contact with the soil--so that it can cling to the feet of birds. 

 WEEDS

RICHARD MABEY

PAGES 30-31

  

* Many plants also...** Mesquite, in me collection is one good example. 

Tecoma stans is very popular and pleasant. In the urban context is a pain the arse. The amounts of seeds are incredible, flying long distances and growing where they please. Bees love them, therefore, the mess they create is balanced when flora/fauna is concerned.  Bees and hummingbirds are fans.


Turnera ulmifolia.  The seeds are minuscule, blown by the wind they are moving up and down the vecinity...It can grow 5', a favorite of bees.

OTHER WEED BEHAVING SEEDS

IN SANTURCE

Pithelobium dulce

One of a few perfect trees for the right context/space. I has been featured before.It can reach a monster symmetric size with a round nice scaffold and crown. Birds love the sweet red/white pods.

Swetenia macrophylla

There are plenty of these trees around. Most of the time in too small back yards, sidewalks, planted in every wrong possibility one may think of.  The amusing difference is that nojuan ever plants Pithelobioums, it grows where it wants, like a weed if I may. 

These few exampless will suffice to get my drift. 

I made some comments recently about 

Guaiacum officinale in Feisbuk, in therms of their aesthetics and properties for the urban context.

In turn the photographer, in a futile attempt to be cute, added his view on the durability and hard wood quality. I added that since I am not a carpenter or woodworker..Juat the hell, what matters to me is the beauty having one at home since it was 5" and to enjoy the crown and scaffolding, perfect for the spot where is planted at 10', seven 7 years later.

that is that.

BETWEEN SANTURCE AND LONDON: PARIETARIA

IF you are sixty of age, you probably grew up in an agrarian culture, at least if you are in  the Caribbean.  If you had a mother, she probably had some notions about medicinal herbs.

Mine did and there are around ten names of medicinal plants I remember from conversations or for being cured with them. That is the background of this post.

I would have never expect to find the name of any plant from my context, concrete/asphalt in the Caribbean,  a weed, growing in London. It does not matter if it they are not related or even similar.

Richard Mabey, on page 287, mentions it. The book, WEEDS has been mentioned more than once.  I declare for the record,  that if you want to be a first division or great leagues gardener/collector, understanding weeds would be one of the credentials required.  

Pellitory of the wall:  A wall lover, this species tags older
walls all over London.  It will also grow on stony ground and gorgeous brownfield sites.  Old French and Latin are the origins of the words Pellitory and Parietaria (the scientific name) they mean wall. 

ALL was hunky dory in the beginning. Something was wrong. Plants growing in cold climates need that cold period to survive. That is when research left no doubts. The British Parietaria has nothing to do with what we call Parietaria.

Ours, is Pepperomia pellucida aka  Planetaria or Prenetaria. In me garden it grows on and off, where it wants, always a surprise. It is mentioned  in this poem by Hector Ruben Cardona, Phd, linguist, friend and former classmate.

Prenetaria

De la Noche Buena 

con la prenetaria,

tras una plegaria

se sirve la cena.

La mesa esta llena

de manjares ricos,

gratos, exquisitos,

con clavo y gengibre;

y que viva libre

siempre Puerto Rico.

Time to go.  Names can deceive, so  does perception. That is why a little research is always fun.

CONVULVULACEAE AND FABACEAE

 editors note

Merremia umbelata is the dk yellow flower in the picture at right, found out on 10 December 2011.

IT has been a while since I posted anything on  the premises.  Let the record show that in this particular blog, I try to stay away from what is posted, thought as pertinent in other gardening blogs in the same territory.

That yellow flower belongs to the first group in the title. I have been trying to find the botanical without much luck.  I know fifty percent of what I need to know.  Perhaps some kind spirit will tell me exactly what it is.


The one below is Centrosema pubescens. Sorry, you can not buy either one in any nursery down here, or perhaps there, where you reside in the tropics. These two are part of the vine collection, a number between 5 and 10.


When I look at photos from nurseries I can not recall seeing any vines of these kind on sale.

THAT being written, the other photo shows the north garden fence covered with the vines mentioned. It is the view from the village feeble minded side, next door.  

that is that

FORMER SAN CARLOS HOSPITAL PIMPED PAVEMENT V

BACK TO WORK

I  was away for some time,  but have kept my interest in the horticultural scene, mostly my own, for reasons discussed here or in endemismotrasnochado, the original blog...There is nothing much happening beyond me humble garden.

Here a couple of photos that have never appeared in any of my multiple blogs, since they have never bloomed until now.

The Brunfelsia pausiflora, a Solanacea was a present.  Cut stem in  water until it developed some roots. Planted in the west garden, front of the house. It is significant for one reason. It is not tolerant of the surroundings where I live, a mile from the Atlantic with  salty breezes, heat, sandy soil and no humidity.  It prefers altitude, humidity and some shade.  The common name in the photo in case you do not know refers to  the change in color as time go by...Just like another rarity in my  collection the Gloriosa Rothschildiana. It starts yellow....passing away red. I have never seen either one out of me garden  in the San Juan Metro Zone, except for one variety of the second  in Centro Equestre, not too far from here.    

The Plumeria has Catholic roots...It was confiscated from the Archbishop Office in Baldorioty de Castro Avenue, 3 years ago. Cut stem in sand.  Plumerias are resistant to drought, heat, salty breezes, rust, and the green/black caterpillars  that twice a year attack their leaves....becoming huge beautiful moths later. 

Any Plumeria will compensate gardeners with their unique fragrance, in my opinion  only comparable to Gardenia augusta and Polianthes tuberosa.      However in  my  collection yellow, pink, red and white, the latter have the most intense scent. 

that is that

MY FIRST CUT FLOWERS POLIANTHES TUBEROSA

IT is a little difficult to explain how these small delicate flowers fill a room with their sublime scent, only comparable to Gardenia augusta, or Plumeria rubra.

To possess it, to have it in my room, close by while I write these lines, an horticultural trip like no other..

The truth is  that Polianthes tuberosa does not have any beauty worthy a grain of salt.  Its follliage,  Allium like, weed wise, the stalks can reach 52 inches.  However, the ivory flower itself, is a delicate beauty, with a distinctive scent I can trace back 50 years in my dusty memories.




That could be a wide subject for future arguments. Flowers: Fragrance or Beauty?   A great majority of blogs and gardeners are stuck with having the biggest, best looking flowers of this or that..Not your humble servant....give some fragrance anytime. Beauty in the tropics is not abundant, heat/sun/rain are enemies of flowers...

Others may refute with heliconias, gingers and bromeliads, but sorry, I do not care for them...

that is that.

Some more  information about Polianthes,  in a wider secheme of things:
antigonumcajaneveningpost.blogspot.com

Stygmaphylllon flloribundum New Inductee in the 100 Club

IF the subject is of your interest, click on the the photo.

if that does not work:

antigonumcajaneveningpost.blogspot.com

 That is that

POST WORTHY FLOWERS

I decided that to be able to claim being a trend setter, spanning the globe...I could not follow the herd..Not that there is anything wrong with it. However I always wonder, as a critic, why should I post a photo that anyjuan could find a hundred times in the web or any gardening post?

That is why Calathea loeseneri and Chrysothemis pulchella appear here. The fine flower from this Calathea has the texture and colors of Bird of Paradise, an impressive, excellent flower for arrangements.
The next one, has an exuberant foliage, shiny and attractive. Neither one is a common place in any garden down here or many blogs anyjuere.

The agavacea to right of the last mentioned was bought from a catalog during the New York exile.

It is eleven years old.  The first two have been in my collection for the last year. I have to thank Rengui, my inlaw and collaborator with many decades of expertise.. 

The green scary iguana, is the bonus...Scared the hell out of your humblenees this morning. Not native or endemic, has become a plague in our environment. The urban and rural, including sea shores, mangroves, everyjuere...They are the result of scum bags who imported them, followed by the mentally retards buying and throwing them away when bored.

The vegetation is in the north garden. The iguana, in the west.

that is that.

NON BOTANICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I believe gardening should be a pleasurable activity without any high intensity shores. Hedges, bonsais, turf, pruning and trimming are out of the question, not in my garden, with very few exceptions.

The white house right in front of ours has new owners. The old fart had already marked his territory destroying for good all the little vegetation in front.  The house in question had this shitty, ill pruned croton/hibiscus hedge and a couple of Dracaena marginata.  Nevertheless,  it served some purpose, at least from my critical view. It offered privacy for them and myself. When I sit in our porch, I did not have to look/see  their ugly mugs..

It reduced the noise and glare.  Theoretically, vegetation for hedges should be any with small leaves, like bonsais, more or less, preferably small, slow growth bushes. 


Not in Puerto Rico. The fools for hire, property owners plant  three or four varieties of Ficus. Such stupidity most be native/endemic.
But I will not get into that aspect of our island nation gardening trends in the asphalt/concrete isle. Not today.

Back to the studio.

With the passing of time, I am learning that perfection is something not everyone achieve and or aim for.  The hedge featuring in this post is an example. It was not perfect, aesthetically dubious,  but it was useful.

BONUS

  wet picture of 

me garden...The first ever...

that is that

AC THE PROPAGATOR

INTRODUCTION

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF PROPAGATION 

BY

Graham Clarke and Alan Toogood 

I have mentioned this book before, is the best I have seen on the subject.

The Greeks

Some 2000 years ago the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, who is best remembered for his botanical works and the book Enquiry into plants, wrote of the widely cultivated plants of the day.  Olive trees and date palms were grown

from seeds, and so were rather more familiar garden vegetables such as beet, cabbage, celery, cress, cucumber,

leeks, lettuce, onion, radish and turnip.  Parsley, thyme and hollyhocks also feature heavily in his ancient writings.

Cuttings from plants were also described by Theophrastus. The earliest types of cutting were, in fact, rooted suckers which had been uncermoniously pulled off

the parent plant and set in the ground.  Today we call these pieces of shoot with roots attached: "Irishman's cuttings".  However it had been observed that some plants could be propagated successfully by taking cuttings without roots already attached, and these included almond, apple, basil, bay, fig, marjoram, pear and pomegranate. 

In June 2011 AC The Propagator presented two examples of leaf and cut stem propagation in his blog in the third person.  The roots developed for a couple of weeks in water. It is slow but it cost nothing.  Turnera subulata and Pseuderantemun reticulatum are two of many I have propagated through the years. But the leaf one is the first, after watching a good friend, who learned it from her mother. Featured on 5/21/11,

A Historical Urban Garden Inventory in Caguas.

Every gardener in the trade has his/her own tricks and preferences.  Root hormones is another possibility, but they cost money, and takes some time also.  I only use this with difficult to propagate Bouganvilleas or Allamandas to name two. I mean survival rates. How many of every 3 make it?

There are more or less eleven ways to propagate. Fundamentally I use three. Division, seeds, cuts stems with/without roots. If the subject interest you...You know the drill. Research.

that is that

 

SLUG ATTACKS ONE CARICA PAPAYA WOUNDED TO DEATH

I REITERATE, there are too many blogs with pretty flowers.  So far, in the concrete/asphalt where I reside,  only ENID, has the virtue of writing about beauty and ugliness regularly in her garden.

My crop of papayas last year was rather good, with 17, versus 2, of which one has felll prey to slugs and other flying insects. The other one may survive with a ziploc aid.

These mollusks are hermaphoroditic, which makes us ponder about the rejection of homosexuality in every church/society, considering that nature has its own perversities If I may.

Slugs are pretty simlar to snails in structure and biology except for the external spiral shell.


No, I appreciate it but no. Do not tell me how to exterminate them unless is a secret that only you know and would get rid of them at once.


I have been thinking that killing may really affect me karma in the next life. 

That is that.

GLORIOSA ROTHSCHILDIANA

THIS out of the common place climbers, uses the tip of the leaves to grab whatever is available. It is not something one will find in most gardens. I believe they were fashionable in some areas of the San Juan metro area decades ago.. I have never seen it here or anywhere else, except reference books.

Old ladies stop to inquire about it. They grow profusely in every cardinal point in me garden, except in the east, all concrete and fiberglass pots.The upside down flowers remind me of  some Brugmansias.

I am not fond of using flower photos. There are too many  blogs in that bag, not that there is anything wrong with that. However, I have never seen these in any other garden or photos in five years. That is good reason to share them. 

On the other hand, to start life as yellow, passing away as red, will bring you gardening memories such as Brunfelsia pauciflora.. 

that is that

ANTIGONUM CAJAN FORBIDDEN TREES IN THE URBAN CONTEXT

THERE IS nothing more  irritating than strolling around residences or streets with sidewalks planted with the wrong trees, particularly in Ponce de Leon avenue, one of the best known in the San Juan metro area. Anything I write below regarding this subject applies to Puerto Rico as a whole.

Ashford Ave in El Condado is another example of ugly old trees as wide as the 3 or4 feet wide sidewalk, something totally absurd, not to get into the branches obstructing the electrical wires..or the pedestrian passing by. .Or the root system, usually a four square feet in the best case, blowing up muffing like, spreading and lifting the concrete pavement creating a hazardous condition.

The national brain deficit is more evident in this issue than any other regarding systematic maintenance, except for street/roads and highways. It is not surprising considering that no inventory (except the ones I have published) is available for any one interested in the subject.

I could go on forever, but that will suffice These trees are a pain in the arse for breaking the pavement, wide and low canopies, grow too tall for lack of light, drop too much organic waste such as leaves, seeds, flowers creating a problem of litter and slippery conditions, often staining any pavement., You will have to take my word or do your own research.

By the way, the idiots in 007 Recursos Naturales, Fideicomiso and Parques Nacionales do not have the staff with criterion to write anything like this. But they are very kind giving away hundred of thousands of trees every year at a blink to the lay man/woman...Nevertheless they  have never been able to substitute the kidnapped, killed and disappeared  one hundred trees in Ponce de Leon Avenue. Without any further redue, the list.

FORBIDDEN TREES.  \

 

Tabebuia

Thevetia peruviana

Bursera simaruba

Any Ficus

Eucalyptus

Lagerstroemia speciosa

Mahogany

Delonix regia

Terminalia catappa

Pithelobium dulce

Bucida busaris 

Suggestions

Murraya paniculata

Plumeria

Guaiacum officinale

Bauhinia

Tecoma stans 

ANY PALM 

is also forbidden for

similar litter reasons.

that is that

Remember, only you can

prevent forest

fires. 

apagad e iros 

\

SANSEVERIA CYLINDRICA ARRIVES

YESTERDAY, as I was returning from the market, a friendly woman approaches me to inquire about some elongated, spiny like plant in me garden. I inquired as to its location.  Is it in a corner? Yes, said the inquirer.

Asparagus, says I. Making a typical face of the unbeliever since that name is associated with the edible ones, being family and all.  


Her curiosity was triggered by Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers', perhaps the most attractive among these ornamentals. This variety is unusual in the San Juan metro area. Ours were bought in Guanica City, around eighty miles from here.


The best part of the story is that since we were chatting in front of their house, I had noticed months ago another rare  plant, Sanseveria cylindrica they got in recycled paint cans in the sidewalk.


I suggested the swap, and today she appeared with her grand daughter, giving me a holler. And the adventure was consumated. She took hers and I planted mine.


Before I go, let me share that while on the botanical name research in one of my reference books  TWO DK plants in my collection were accidentally found: Malpighia coccigera and Neomarica caerulea.

The first was a request from yours truly to Myrta, domestic help of pain in the ass Lucy Laborde. The second a present from Rengui my inlaw.

In brief the collection keeps growing even if no new plants arrive, while discovering their botanical names.

that is that

until next

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Nature present plants in many shapes, ways 

and forms...however cylindrical leaves of this size are 

not very common.

CHAYAMANSA EXITS....

I usually post about vegetation joining the collection, but some leave the premises for different reasons. Cnidoscolus chayamansa a small tree,  was unable to grow in such a manner that would enhance the collection.  I know the leaves have medicinal uses that you will certainly find out, but it was  not enough.

In this  life departing department, I had to execute tens of caterpillars of the Plumeria and Allamanda  persuassion with my secret hot sauce pest control. Forgive me lord because I have sinned. It is not a nice sensation but this time the victim is looking too good, without any rust. Otherwise, other would have been them caterpillars(Tethrio Sphinx Moth) destiny.  In addition, I got rid of a couple of leaves with around fifty eggs.


In the caterpillar department another adventure developed. For the first time in five years I got the chance to watch some 
munching  Jathropha gossipifolia  leaves, an endemic kind.  I allowed them to live since none seem to move when you stare. On the other hand, this small tree is self seeding. If you pay attention, you could hear the seeds popping like fire crackers, flying away naturally, but more so when irrigated after a hot day. Barleria repens, Dipteracanthus prostratus are other two with similar habits..

 Let the record show this type is not the Jathropha planted in millions of acres of Indonesia, Costa Rica and other places for bio fuel...A certainly foolish and destructive  agro bussiness.

Finally for show, the seed pod of Datura stramoniun. One of those rare medieval weapon looking creatures of nature. As you know this relative of Brugmansias, is not sold. I collected it 36 months ago. Once one survives, you will have it forever, thanks to the amount of seeds and incredible survival rates.

A HISTORICAL URBAN GARDEN INVENTORY IN CAGUAS

 DELIA SOLA APONTE AND CECILIO DIAZ

BOTANICAL INVENTORY

Citrus paradisi

Citrus sinensis

Coccos nucifera

Hyllanthus acidus

Melicoceus bijugatus

Persea americana (3)

Psidium guajaba (2)

Punica granatum

Passiflora edulis

Capsicum annuum/florescens

Coriandrum sativum

Cucurbita

Eryngium foetidum L.

Nasturtium officinale

Origanum marjorana/vulgare

Portulaca olaracea

Asparagus

Allamanda cathartica

Bauhinia

Begonia aconitifolia

Bixa orellana

Catharanthus roseus
Caesalpina pulcherrima

Croton

Cajanus cajan

Daylilly

Euphorbia pulcherrima

Gardenia augusta

Hibiscus

Heliconias

Ixora

Jasminum multiflorum
Jathropha gossipifolia

Malpighia glabra

Murraya paniculata

Nephrolepsis

Orchids

Plumeria

Plumbago

Roses

Scadoxus

Sanseveria

Strelitzia reginae

Zingiber officinalis

Zephirantes

EDITORS NOTE

Environmentalists from the monitor should start doing research and inventories about the vegetation in their residences and communities, that is the only way to preserve the landscape and environment. Taking the intelligent required measures to propagate healthy specimens. Cleaning your butt with recycled paper, turning the light/water faucet off is just a trivial useless gesture.

If you are interested in people and their contribution to our flora and fauna read the information below.

  ONE OF THE RELEVANT 

aspects writting

a blog  about horticulture/gardening with a botanical focus is keeping a  trace in  historical terms regarding what/when people planted during the last hundred years. The residential property in this late urban garden, 1921-2011, next door to Notre Dame Catholic school, is in Manuel Soto Aponte street in Caguas.

Delia Sola Aponte,  whose  family  I met during my high school, sharing fun times of  music and gastronomy was Yldefonso Sola Morales, sister. One of the  founders of the Popular Democratic Party, mayor of Caguas, senator and   public servant during his life. Mr. Morales is one of those figures ignored in the web. Researching his life will be useless....except plenty of information about the baseball stadium  with his name, next door to my childhood residence in Savarona.

Where the hell is Juan David Hernandez, el historiador de Caguas? No relevant information about this public servant is available for researchers.

The husband Cecilio Diaz, whose job as a line warden allowed  him to travel  around the Caguas Contry region, is an important part of this unique garden and collection, since he brought home plants noticed during his trips. I must add that Mary Ann Jackowski one of 6 children at home, is the most important living landscape painter in Puerto Rico, according to your humble servant.

Finally, I declare that I have never had the chance to meet a warmer warm, witty, friendly, musical family. They all sang in tune, some played strings and light percussion instruments with a serious, yet fun music wise attitude and lots of humor. The way it should be. 

This family still  owns the property after ninety years. The space facing west, is probably between 3 and 4 hundred square feet, with little or no concrete around it. While researching information for this post to find  botanical names, I am still surprised at this unusual and wide collection in the urban context. The possibilities of good soil with no irrigation system, a variety of edibles, herbs, fragrance, fruits and ornamentals. Me garden  gets a little short in the edible/fruit/herbs department when compared to that masterpiece, gone for the last 15 years.

Delia Sola Aponte and Cecilio Diaz family respect and interest in our flora/fauna shows that concerned, educated people with a sense of aesthetics and pragmatics could/can save money  cultivating food crops to expand and improve their diet and gastronomical interests, enhancing their environment for themselves and other living creatures.In addition to the joy and pleasure of the gardening activities as a family.


I reiterate that horticultural/garden installations in Puerto Rico, nowadays stink in general. People have lost interest in cultivating with the aggravating situation of silly cookie mold plant varieties species sold in useless nurseries in most of the isle with the murdering of aesthetics, death of creativity.

In the past, people had to use their imagination, requiring more propagating skills. Now, they drop by Home Depot and that is that. All the above is true in the asphalt/concrete urban context and beyond, in many instances.

Thanks to Maria Luisa Diaz, daughter. Without her assistance, this post would not be around. Thanks to her family for the times shared and surviving memories.

INVENTORY

DELIA SOLA APONTE
MANUEL SOTO APONTE  STREET

RESIDENTIAL URBAN GARDEN IN CAGUAS

ENTERS...CAJANUS CAJAN + ONE

YOU ARE RIGHT.  The similarity between last names is  not accidental. It is fifty percent me nome de plume. My first name derivates from one of the most interesting vines in the wild in Puerto Rico, originally from Mexico. Curious? Write me first name and you will find out.

Getting back to our new inductee, let the record show that it is part of our gastronomy. It is also a favorite in other places in the Caribbean.  In Puerto Rico, is an iconic dish with rice, even though one can create many concoctions with these beans of intense and peculiar color and fragrance.

I got the seeds from the abandoned next door house.. Only one was planted to avoid rumors  about the theoretical allelopathy from this small bush.

The plus one in the tittle is the Spathiphyllum, a present, an totally inadequate plant for Santurce or any hot, dry and flat topography, not far from the Atlantic.  This silly looking plant requires cool and humid environments.  By the guai, the two behind it, are Pseuderantemun carruthersii, interesting and not abused bushes.


Spathifhyllum are abused in too many instances. Not long ago, in one of my other blogs, I used the expression common place plants, since they are in every other backyard in Puerto Rico, and a couple of lame bloggers from Florida felt insulted. This plant, like others in template countries may be a big deal for some one track mind gardeners, but who cares. A garden is a whole, not divided parts.


Thanks to Amanda Abella...... for her kind review. A compliment to yours truly for  this blog:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7741396/5_gardening_blogs_should_read.html?cat+32 and check the  other recommended blogs...if you may...

that is that.

apagad e iros.

TWO MORE MEMBERS ARE IN

FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS, I searched without much purpose the botanical name for the over used, abused, Rain Joe.  Duranta repens,  thank God, is the name.  Every imaginable fool, plants this wonderful bush, tolerant to heat/sun/drought and mutilates it for hedges.

For some reason, the unusual chartreuse green leaves in the tropics,  caught my attention. On the other hand, it is planted so often in stupid looking hedges, that I felt some repulsion at the same time.  I bought two. anyhow in some nursery when they were sixteen inches tall two years ago. One is shown at right, the other is in the west garden, to be featured later,  between the Guaicum officinale and Calliandra haemathocephala.

At any rate. the beauty of this small tree/bush is in the rare orange berries racemes and violet fragrant little flowers.  These three aspects color, berries and flowers is what makes this species so attractive. People constantly pruning it, miss the most significant feature of  Duranta repens.

The populace uses it as hedges, yours truly as focal point, or conversation piece. Imagination  works as a spark. Letting  it grow as nature demands transforms this impressive member of the collection.  

Let the record show that I am not prone to buy plants in nurseries, that is for wimps, or people in the Green Industry without any option. In my collection, one pink Plumeria, a couple of Asparagus, the columnar type, one Phalaenopsis, and seasonal Poinsettias are/were bought in nurseries.  Everything else has been  product of stroll collection, swap, exchange or presents.

Another rare, not too common, inductee, with beautiful white flowers and green leaves on top with dark purple in the underside is Clerodendrum quadriloculare.  The 3,  traveled from San German, from cut stems, were a present from Tito Collazo, a neighbor, collaborator, graphic artist and gardening fan.


The problem, with Josefinas, if not careful when planting, is their propensity to be invasive. Believe or not they tend to propagate as grass does, by stolons/rhizomes  through their root system. 


Moral of the story...In a country such as the one I have to live, refusing peer pressure, not going with the flow, present great opportunities to do things differently with nice visual impact in the garden. To set trends if I may, often.

time to depart...

apaga i vete.

THE COLLECTION KEEPS GROWING TWO INDUCTEES

WHAT CAN  I SAY?

Epiphylum oxypetalum has joined the 100 Collection Club.  A favorite of mothers and grandmothers in my childhood. It has lost some relevance, except among those like yours truly, not relying in useless nurseries.  It is not pretty, it looks like a flat fish, but the flower compares in fragrance and beauty to any Nenufar.

Pepperomia pellucida is another inductee.  This plant grows wild and self seeds.  In that way it came to me, to be part of this unique collection, a work in progress in the Caribbean.  It has medicinal virtues, but I will not get into it..It is a subject by itself.  The tittle may be: Antigonum  Cajan, the medicinal side of his collection.

There is not much to add but to invite you to antigonumcajaneveningpost.. 

apaga i vamonoh.

THREE NEW INDUCTEES

I know.  I have been away for too long. But who cares, there are over one hundred and fifty million blogs.

I have reached new Olympic Heights...my first tomato, buahaja bilingual laugh. Solanum lycopersicum. It is the cherry kind. The ironic part of it is that I just dispersed the seeds in different contexts, you know south/north and so forth. This one will go blue in the inventory since I doubt very much it will become a permanent star in the collection.

Chorophytum comosum, very popular among mothers and grandmothers in the  past, before nurseries screw it. Imagination, propagation skills, good taste,  were murdered when they became a part of urban life. Not particularly amazing except their children/offspring hang out as if abandoned to their luck, in baskets. Therefore their name: Malamadre or Malpadre, down here.

The one I have is planted in a folkloric chickpeas hanging tin can from Goya, si es Goya tiene que ser bueno.  A present from Rengui, one of my closest collaborators in planting, propagating issues.

Tito Collazo the graphic artist legend across the street, and  owner of Dalila the pony like dog, gave me a Clerondendron quadriculate. A really pretty, not abused small tree around this neck of the asphalt/concrete.

And that is that. If you are serious about gardening in tropical latitudes I suggest:
 

TROPICAL ORNAMENTALS

W. Arthur Whistler

Timber Press 

2000

This book is

one of my official

reference books.

That way I do not

have to ask. I research.

that is that.

 

Dipteracanthus prostratus Eureka!

DURING March 2010, I thought I had found the botanical name, of this known plant in India, in a  now dead blog, from a national from that country.

I had to wait until now to find the correct name: Dipteracanthus prostratus or Ruellia prostrata, instead of Dipterantus prostratus as I thought it was from the mentioned blog.


At any rate these varieties grow wild, considered a weed in every context.  I have domesticated them and are among the most important in my collection.


Not only because they self seed, but no one that I know, plants them, and you can not get them from nurseries.

So there. The name will be added to the collection inventory previously provided. 

That is that.

BOTANICAL INVENTORY UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO

I TAKE the opportunity to reiterate that is not really important to plant this or that, here or there without keeping records for the studious, research or just monitoring for pest management, growth habits.  Unfortunately, in Puerto Rico no one seems to understand the relevance of systematic maintenance in the field or the computer system.

Albizia lebbek

Nerium oleander

Plumeria rubra

Hymenaea courbaril

Terminalia catappa

Sterculia apetata

Araucaria heterophylla

Couropia guianensis

Yucca elephantipes

Swietenia mahagoni/macrophylla

Cordia alliodora

Muntingia calabura

Cassia javanica

Melaleuca quinquenervia

Ceiba pentandra

Cupressus sempervirens

Clitoria fairchildiana

Cocos nucifera

Barringtonia asiatica

Anadenanthera peregrina

Clusia rosea

Dillenia indica

Hibiscus tiliaceus

Thespesia populnea

Ficus nekbuda

Delonix regia

Peltophorum inerme

Enterolobium cyclocarpum

Psidium guajava

Crescentia cujete

Cananga odorata

Artocarpus heterophyllus

Agathis robusta

Ficus microcarpa F. retusa

Callistemon citrinus

Montezuma speciossima

Pimenta racemosa

Conocarpus erecta

Mangifera indica

Calophyllum brasiliense

Hura crepitans

Morinda citrifolia
Ochna mossabicensis
Phoenix sp.
Livinstonia chinensis
Chrysalidocarpus lutesecens
Caryota urens
Aiphanes acanthrophylla
Veitchia merrilli
Ravanala madascariensies
Roystonea borinquena
Corypha umbraculifera
Bauhinia monandra
Pandanus utilis
Casuarina equisetifolia
Pterocarpus indicus
Cavanillesia plataniforia
Lagerstromia speciosa
Tabebuia rosea
Pithelobium saman
Tectoria grandis
Spathodea campanulata
Thuja orientalis
Bucida buseras
Cordia sebestina

This inventory was provided by
Pablito Bayamon
pbayamon@gmail.com

This character teaches biology at the UPR.  He like Areces Mallea, Phd, is the complacent, foolish, looking the other way academician.

Pablito, no only has never noticed the tens of mutilated trees in the Rio Piedras campus. His inventory does not show anything else but trees. No bushes, vines, vascular plants that constitute the whole.

As the greatest fool, Areces, who destroyed 12 acres to plant trees and palms in Parque Donha Ines as if our flora endemic, exotic or native, is just TREES.

Once upon a time the UPR was an attractive, relaxing green space to visit. Now is just a HUGE parking lot in which the vegetation is just a waste, more cars could be parked in it... Just as they do in Museo de Arte.

THE POTS GAMUT

SOME time ago I reported me fans, informing the pathetic situation in some museum of art in Puerto Rico, to a woman with more tittles than the duchess of Alba, that by di guay is a fan of the Real Betis.

Lilliana is her name, (http://antigonumcajaneveningpost.blogspot.com

/2010/08/museo-de-arte-contemporaneo-what-is.html).
Well, I have the credentials to do consultant jobs regarding any aspect of landscape installation/maintenance, ALL of them.
As usual, pro-bono.  After I wrote a list of everything wrong with the property and inclined, hazardous Eucaliptus in the sidewalk in front, she got cute. 

In the silly back and forth messages in feisbuk, "Shakespeare, Versailles, happy mediums", were the academic lame slick utterances...followed by 'lets talk'.

In typical academic demeanor she went to mention the Keebler soda crackers tin cans used as pots in the ancient past, in Puertorico's cities/towns/country side, before the sterile cookie mold nurseries became the rule, in her vicinity.  In mine, the recycled cans were Sultana, un nombre con justa fama.  The brands could start a sociological debate, but not now.   But let the record show that recycling is something people with imagination, with money or not, have always done as in this example.

As a tribute to her, el museo de arte, and the ivory towered puertorican pundits in every academic field I dedicate this post.

 POTS BY NUMBER

l
Pandanus 
oval galvanized steel
ll
Barleria repens/Clitoria ternatea
Sideways terracota frog acquired by the missis in charge. It is a good time to tell the reader that Barleria and Turneras (3species) occupy
the most space in the collection, also as individual plants.
lll
 Sideways endemic Zamia, among others, plant a present from Rengui, me inlaw.
Terracota on top of 
same
lV
Capsicum florescens
Citrus sinensis
Fiberglass
V
DK cranberry like 
fruit tree
Concrete, pot is one of two, a present from Don Miguel, neighbor and #1 garden fan.
VI
Myosotis, Asparagus and Turnera subulata
Tin 

that is that...