A GARDENING OF THE MIND

OFTEN while traveling in the blogosphere, mostly in gardening depots, I find some with excellent pictures, good information, botanical names and excessive literate inclinations. As if gardening or the aesthetics of it, belonged in some ultranatural, subjective, psychodelic, innerscape of ecstasy for the self. A total immersion of
some metaphysical trip that many seem to enjoy and relish.

This brought me back to what seems real. The first notions of nature, plants took place in elementary school. Some vine out of Mexico with the last name, leptopus, is one vivid picture. It climbed the fence with nice pink flowers, behind that school, now without a single space not covered by cement. Then, it was just one building with metal roof and space to run/play things children do.

Others in that category of memories, Pothos. Apparently, every housewife had one in
a glass jar with water, at least eight out of ten. Other familiar common places were
Diffenbachias, Alocasias, Anthuriums, Hibiscus, Allamandas and Acaliphas. I would
like to remind the virtual reader: I write from a tropical islander in the city, an urban gardener focus.

It seems that there was less money, no nurseries, television programs, or computers to learn
anything, to buy anything regarding plants. The few plants people had were important, not as it happens now. People hire some jerk to install a garden, later
to contaminate air, water and soil to give it maintenance without any second thoughts
about the lack of wisdom in the whole process.

The first two things I planted from seed were Bauhinias, white and purple, and Cannavis sativa a natural herb that many people got to embrace in the sixities.
Unfortunately for yours truly, there was a neighbor, Carmen la Ronca, who apparently knew what it was, telling my mother. One day after returning from my basketball
matches, they had dissappeared.

That is how it started. Four decades ago, to be exact went by until I decided to get serious about my vocation. I registered in the New York Botanical Gardens and got a certificate
in Commercial Horticulture Landscape Management. I thought then of the possibility of starting some type of landscape installation/maintenance enterprise.

However, soon after returning to this god forsaken isle, I encountered that most people paying peanuts for the hard/dirty work. Both, those customers calling to have
their garden done, and the illiterate, poorly educated, without landscaping credentials or education, laborers/ owners of companies looking for hire. That is the picture down here.
Even agronomists and landscape architects lack the rudiments about plants, trees,
bushes, climbers, palms (their favorite), except for digging the hole. Their skills are
"free estimates" and billing to the max.

I believe that writing a blog requires to kick the ego in the butt. Not everything
I think/write is necessarily the way I perceive it. However, any one can go out of
their house and observe that here, Palms of any kind are planted up to one feet
from a building or a wall, too often, and no one seems to care about the problems
or the aesthetics of such stupidity.

That is why this blog is about full court press. There is room for the esoteric/mystic/hollistic focus once in a while, but the daily destruction of nature requires some mentioning of it. Considering that too many gardeners have lost focus, preferring
to get stuck within the inner self with blinders on top.