Sunday, April 15, 2018

OUR TROPICAL GARDEN IN MEXICO--A Little Bit of Paradise

Year-Round Color and Sound  

These Tropical Flowers Bloom Year-Round
     One of the splendors of living in tropical México is the year-round beauty in our garden. Plants are always blooming, some all year long, some for a season. Green is the background color all year, with vibrant pinks popping out throughout. Orange flowers bring the hummingbirds. The bougainvillea bring other birds for the shade and a meal of insects. The red berries hanging from a palm tree bring the chachalacas.
Vibrant Pink Leaves Popping Through the Papaya Tree
These Orange Flowers Bring Hummingbirds
Red Berries in the Palm Tree Bring Chachalacas
Bougainvilleas Bring Groove-Billed Ani Birds
     The garden is a riot of color throughout the year—variegated leaves mix yellow, red, and green on one plant, striated light and dark greens in another that appears north of the border only as a house plant, and the purples and greens of the wandering jew plant creating a colorful ground-cover. For those of us who enjoy gardening, this is paradise. For others, it is an exquisite backdrop in daily life.
     Fruit-bearing plants including papaya, bananas, and pomegranates, grow well in our yard, only requiring weekly watering during the dry season. So, I decided to try planting a Roma tomato seed in one of my pots this spring. It not only sprouted and is climbing up a column of our terrace, reaching for the roof, but it is also producing nice-sized tomatoes.
We Have a Small Bunch of Bananas This Year
It's Fun to Watch the Papaya Bloom and Produce Fruit
Our Roma Tomato Vine is Reaching for the Roof
     Jon and I have both enjoyed watching the tomato plant grow, checking each day to see how many new tiny green tomatoes have set on. I thought it might be too humid to grow tomatoes here since I found when I lived in Houston, Texas, the tomatoes mildewed on the vine before they ever began to turn red. But a sunny spot in the yard and some good home-made compost in the soil are all we needed! Next, we’ll try jalapeños and cucumbers. The growing season is so long here, it’s wonderful for wanna-be farmers like us.
     One of our favorite bright spots in the garden is our poinsettia plant from Christmas 2016. After Christmas that year, I plunked it into a pot where it gets afternoon sun for a few hours each day. I ran two one-gallon drippers from my irrigation system to the pot so it gets watered weekly during the dry season from October through May. It has grown to be three feet tall with amazingly bright red flowers that have lasted from January through spring.  
     Then our plumeria and orange hibiscus begin blooming, bringing more hummingbirds. What a wonderful addition to our already vivid garden, letting us know it’s spring in the tropics.
     Our small water feature creates a wonderful bubbling background sound in our garden. It brings hummingbirds, Yellow-winged Caciques, and little Yellow Warblers to the fountain to bathe and drink while sitting on the bubbling rock or in the pool of water. Jon built it from a small pond pump, a plastic plant pot, and various other parts. Watch the short video below to enjoy the musical sound it makes. To view the video online, click HERE.
Our Bubbling Water Feature Brings Birds
     Our bubbling fountain also provides a display for some of the many rocks and seashells we have collected in our years of travelling. These are some of the few trinkets we brought with us when we moved to México, reminding us of many good memories we have shared on the road.
     I invite you to SIGN UP for my "Healthy Living and Traveling in Mexico Newsletter", published monthly with stories about our latest adventures, my recent blog articles, and news about my books.
To read more about
“RETIREMENT Before the Age of 59: Healthy Living in Mexico #2”
check out the book on Amazon worldwide, FREE with kindleunlimited.
     Thank you for reading my books and blogs. Look for my new novel, "Just Another Manic Moment" on Amazon worldwide. View my Amazon Author Page by clicking HERE.
Terry L Turrell, Author

11 comments:

  1. Terry I enjoyed this as always.LOVE MOM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mom! I hoped you would enjoy the photos of our garden.
      Love,
      Terry

      Delete
  2. THIS is what my minds eye sees when I read Mexico anywhere... And what I crave to have in my jardin algun dia. Thanks for sharing, its lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Candace,
      Thanks for reading my blog (and books) and for your nice comment. I'm glad you enjoyed my photos of our garden. Best wishes with your plans.
      Terry

      Delete
  3. Terry, I am newly retired in Bucerias and am looking for books on what grows well and when here. I have a small yard so some vegetables are possible but also ornamental. Our poinsettias are almost trees now from one season in the ground, amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      I am still learning the names of plants here, also. One of my readers sent me the name of a book that I plan to get from Amazon, but they may have in bookstores in this area. She said that most of the plants that grow in Hawaii also grow here. Here's the Amazon.com link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0935180834/?coliid=I3PPLB3RM5ZZL8&colid=3QKQRLGLXIDNV&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
      Best Wishes,
      Terry

      Delete
    2. The name of the book is Exotic Tropicals of Hawaii: Heliconias, Gingers, Anthuriums and Decorative Foliage by Angela Kay Kepler (Author).
      Terry

      Delete
  4. Terry, your garden is gorgeous! I think your hot pink plant is Hawaiian Ti Plant. I learned this as we saw them all over in central Florida, where we've been since last August, and I bought a couple during the winter. Yours look much happier and healthier than mine, but mine are stuck in pots at our RV park. I am sure they like being in the ground much better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emily,
      Thanks for your great comment on this blog. I looked up Hawaiian Ti plant photos and you are right! There are lots of varieties of that plant, apparently, all very colorful. I love that when they get tall and gangly, I can prune them back and stick the pruned plant in the ground. Given enough water, it grows into a new plant!
      Sorry, I was delayed in my reply to you. I have been obsessed with getting my new novel published on Amazon. Now that "Just Another Manic Moment" is available for pre-order, and going live 5/22, I can start to write my blog articles again. Thanks for reading my blogs.
      Terry

      Delete