More yard photography. Gardening in Costa Rica is more of a fight against invasion by your own plants than it is a struggle to keep things alive. The end result is that we feel like we don't have many resources online nor in print for tips and tricks for the tropical gardener. On the plus side, half of the time (or more) if we want a given plant, we can find it growing wild and just dig it up and stick it in the ground. If it doesn't grow wild nearby, often we can just cut some off of someone elses ornamental, stick it in the ground, and stand back. So it is a mixed bag. We are having fun with it, and it is labor that keeps on giving back as the yard gets prettier and prettier with each effort on our part.

Ok, sometimes we screw up, or prune too much, or let stuff go too long, then prune and it looks haggard- we aren't particularly *good* at this yet, just enthusiastic.

Locally called Avecilla. This is the prettiest coloration we've seen. We've got a stand of it by the front stairs now.	The Ylang ylang tree is sorta hiding behind the palm cluster. Small now, but only a month after transplanting it is looking healthy, we have big hopes for it.	We planted these Plumeria branches with the hopes that they'll bloom for us on the porch outside our bedroom. Eventually the porch will be covered (time and money permitting) by a roof, at which point we'll have to find somewhere else to put the plumeria. Assuming it takes. Local wisdom says to plant plumeria cuttings in the dry season as they don't like wet feet when they are freshly planted.
more pretty avecilla filling up empty space by the guest room door	This little iguana spends most of his time sitting on/around the compost pile. Not sure if he is dining on kitchen scraps, soldier fly larva, or both. He (she?) has gotten fairly tame and doesn't run away when I go out to add scraps.	Our baby banana trees. These are purported to be "manzana" banana trees. Which means "apple" in Spanish. I'm not sure what that is going to mean for the fruit that comes off of them, but I was told it would be delicious, which is fine with me.
Our vetiver champion. This was a plug about the diameter of a soup can and only knee-high tall just a few months ago	Lemongrass. It was even more pitiful looking last month, but seems to be coming back, we hope.

Labels: Costa Rica, photo, plants, weather