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A Tropical Garden
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I live in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico - A tropical environment on the Pacific coast.
For several years now I've been trying to cultivate a tropical garden... I've had a few successes and many failures, but I keep trying! We live only a few meters from the ocean. The yard is overhung with tall coconut palms, almond trees and laurel.
 Hibiscus |
 Aloe Vera |
 Pink Beauty Caladium |
There's not much direct sun, and there is a lot of sandy soil and salt-laden breezes running through. These conditions have not made my attempts at gardening very easy. After trying time after time to grow things that flower gloriously in the interior and more temperature climates, such as carnations, nasturtiums, pinks, marigolds, chrysanthemums, dahlias, geraniums, sunflowers and you-name-it, I gave up and started watching what seemed to like to grow there... and I came up with these plants you see right here.
There are other gardens nearby that have successfully grown some of those flowering beauties that I've not have luck with after years of trying, but they are just a few hundred yards further away from that salty beach breeze, and I guess that makes a great difference.
So I decided to forget those fantasies of riotously blooming, multi-colored blossoms and content myself with every variation of green available in nature, with good splashes of pink, purple, orange and yellow leaves, set off by ridges and curls of white. As far as edibles are concerned, in this garden I've had fair luck with potted herbs such as basil, chives, parsley and coriander. Depicted here are some of the varities that have met with success: Hibiscus in all it's forms; Heliconias in a variety of different floral configurations (these plants put out some weird flowers - we affectionately name them "alien plants"); Caladiums and of course the succulent Aloe Vera; the multicolored leaves of crotons; climbing tropical vines and Ixoras (red, yellow and pink varieties, which flower constantly).
As far as the edibles are concerned, Roma tomatoes do all right if they have enough sun, although I've found that in this climate they mature very rapidly and end up somewhat devoid of natural juices; cherry tomatoes will usually thrive. Okra does reasonably well if I manage to keep it's tender stalks out of the path of falling coconuts and palm fronds, which is kind of difficult in my garden. Okra also tends to get a leaf mold that doesn't seem to affect the pods themselves. In my garden, cucumbers grow... but are forever plagued with fungus, making them runty and strangely-shaped. Herbs do well: my garden almost always has both small and large-leaf basil, spearmint, parsley. Ginger root and turmeric grow rampant! And one of my standby grow-it-yourself salad greens that flourishes in this climate is arugula.
I have had absolutely no luck with carrots or other root vegetables - my sandy garden under the palms is rife with cutworms called "gallinas ciegas".
One year I managed to get a fair harvest of black-eyed peas - at least enough to make a few spoonfuls for New Year's Day!
