GARDENING NATURE REPORT

A FEW DAYS ago, I was invited to the residents association meeting. I would have been my third in two years. Your humble one stayed home. If you look at the pictures in the right side, you will notice a mutilated Bouganvillea, in the next to the sidewalk 'garden' of the president. A somewhat strange character NEVER seen in the yard or walking around anywhere.

Most of the people living around the vicinity do not WALK or tend the plants, trees, bushes with the needed care. The vegetation looks like crap most of the time, as a necessary evil.

Lets start again...The first picture is a Zamia. (Editors note: RIP. Friday 4PM.) It made her debut here sometime ago. That picture is further down if you want to compare the growth for the last twelve months.. I changed the soil recently and the trunk snapped at the base either by my clumsiness or the wind...Only one third of it is still attached. To my surprise the new
leaves are still looking healthy as if nothing has happened. I speculate that it should
pass away, I will keep you posted.

The next picture presents my Bouganvillea, contrary to anyone else, mine is not pruned foolishly. When a branch gets on the way, not following the designed intention, it is eliminated at the base in angle, to avoid the opened scars shown in Ms. Laborde's, mutilated bush, by illiterate gardeners for hire. The difference is evident.

The ugly aspect of mutilated branches is only the superficial one. The stupidity is ever lasting. Every single branch will probably produce five more branches, add and multiply..I forgot the amount of times I have mentioned the issue of improper pruning
and this will suffice at the moment.

The fourth and fifth pictures present a Vitis vinifera. Believe it or not. It grows very happily from the right side of this abandoned house. I assume it was planted more than ten years ago, when this vines became fashionable in some segments of the population. If you look carefully, you may notice a bunch of grapes growing in the middle of the picture.
I doubt very much there is any such vine growing in the concrete/asphalt isle with telephone/electricity wires as a trellis.

All this may seem irrelevant, except for one thing...If an abandoned grape vine
can grow at this length, Puercorico could have had a wine industry if anyone had thought about it. Even if the grapes are good enough just to make sweet Boones Farm or El Canario (for bums or cooking), grape juice, or raisins. After all, no one is writing about Cabernet or Pinot Noir grapes....nor competing with Australia or Argentinian wines.

Everyone knows those beautiful self seeding plants by now. They will make any
garden more complete with the bright intense yellow/orange, making bees very
happy and content...And that is that...