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