Dry Season Flowers

Gurania makoyana

Take a look at the fascinating bloom of Gurania makoyana (f. Cucurbitaceae). Barry – is that the right name? This plant grows well down at the edge of the forest at Tigre hill and the bloom lasts for weeks. Lots of wild flowers and vines are in bloom at the moment – Ageratums, Iresines, Lobelias and species in the mint, daisy, verbena and Morning Glory families by the score! 

Here’s a picture I took today down in the lower pasture of Tabebuia rosea (Roble de la Sabana). You can see the pink and yellow blooms of Tabebuia species all over the Central Valley right now. They are deciduous - dropping all their leaves prior to flowering - so the canopy becomes a totally eye-popping show. The Cortez Amarillo (Tabebuia ochracea) is also in full bloom right now in the coffee fields nearby but, here at El Tigre, the tree has still not dropped the leaves, so we don’t expect flowering until later in the month.

Another yellow bloom in the Trumpet Vine family sparkling up the roadsides is Tecoma stans (Vainillo) a small tree that tolerates extreme drought and rocky inclines; dozens of Vainillo trees perch jauntily all over the cliff-sides along the highway between Ciudad Colon and San Jose. Note the leaves and flowers together. Willow Zuchowsky writes in “A Guide to Tropical Plants in Costa Rica”, that Tecoma stans can easily be reproduced by cuttings, and that is very true!  Other roadside  trees in bloom: Poro (orange flowers) and Jacaranda (violet flowers).

Nancy, look at the color popping over the Hibiscus shrubbery! Assorted Bougainvillea cultivars (shades of bright pinks) co-mingling with blue Petrea, purple Morning Glories, yellow Allamanda and, for the reddest red (la mas roja - zui duo hong se de) of any flower I have ever seen, Passiflora vitifolia! Such a blast of intense color might assault the sensibilities of, say, those English gardeners who might gasp in shock at a multi-colored Azalea shrubbery in full, kaleidoscopic bloom. It’s all just too bright – too much for the eye!

Or is it? We are having solar flares today – the sun feels too intense to go outside. Thus, I’m typing this while gazing out the window at the transformation of the shrubbery just below. From the smooth, clipped-hedge green, shaped charmingly by Armando these past 5 years, we now see encroaching eye-popping magenta and pink bracts, mixing with red and blue flowering vines crawling here and there. Will Armando manage to tame the tangled monster into something pleasing to the eye without losing the view?  Easy Peasey!  And, yes, it goes without saying that we have added edible vines to the tangle – chayote and granadillas.

Here’s a shot of Danny helping his dad out in the garden. Danny just turned 10 years old and, typical of that age, he’s curious about absolutely everything – gardening, animals, electronics.  If it exists, he’s interested in it! Experiments abound all over the place! Learning comes from failure as well as success; perhaps the best lessons come out of something that didn’t work as expected - understanding why.

Here’s Danny again, helping process the frijol harvested a few weeks back. The guys harvested an awesome crop of beans this year and we feasted on frijol molido for Danny’s birthday! We just began an experiment using spring water to feed a garden in a clearing in the secondary forest, to see what thrives and what doesn’t. However, the dogs wrecked our first attempt, and so we are now fencing in a second attempt…

Poor Flopsy has suffered these past weeks with yet another bout of ‘kennel cough’; it always seems to affect him but not the others. However, as it wouldn’t get better, Yaneth took him to the vet today and came home with meds, including prednisone - poor little Flopsy. Our old dog, Tigre, was in the middle of a course of antibiotics when he went missing, never to be seen again!

Zinc is still a pup, as the destroyed rugs and shoes lying all around constantly remind us. Training puppies teaches all of us patience; a good lesson for kids to learn (and GRAK…). And we’re always learning new things here. I was tempted the other day to get into apiculture (bee-keeping) until Armando - well experienced in the art - told me the story about someone in Puriscal who wanted to get rid of all of it – sell it all cheap – name your price – because the Africanized bees killed his horse and some chickens! We currently benefit from the bee hives located just below on a neighbor’s forested property. There are no animals or people living near the hives and the bees travel up the mountain for the pollen in our gardens and orchards here. We enjoy the honey; they enjoy our pollen – a mutually beneficial situation…

Take a look at Gerry with the most perfect lemon (for his G & T, of course!) Armando has brought home to us yet. If we can’t grow something here, then we buy it from the neighbors. We always buy locally if we can; it keeps the economy rolling along and keeps our own garden experiments to a manageable number. Focus is essential for success. This is a lesson I never seem to learn, however! Hugo just walked over with a bag of coffee, grown at a local farm and roasted in San Jose. Wonderful local coffee! But no, we shall not grow coffee here…


Next time you drive by a rubbish heap, stop your car and take a careful look at it. You might find a treasure there, thus reducing the pile. Last Sunday, University of Peace students and El Rodeo neighbors did an awesome job hauling a lot of ‘stuff’ out of the river - old chairs, tires, broken toys, all manner of debris - and it is now all piled up along the side of the road awaiting collection by the Municipality. But, yikes, the Municipal Truck is broken! However, let’s not complain; let’s take the opportunity to go over there and rubbish hunt. It’s a kind of in-your-face lesson on the Law of Unintended Consequences... Luckily, villagers now have many more recycling options, rather than just hurling stuff out into the creek. I am really very proud and grateful to the UPaz students for taking on this project, along with neighbors of El Rodeo.

February 13, 2011- El Rodeo Creek Clean-Up Day

Take a look at El Rodeo’s new recycling collection area, located next to the village square. Recycling has really taken hold lately in the neighborhood. Patricia and Memo began the center at Memo’s Market, and it was an immediate hit. Many people began to bring their recyclables and, as success built on success, they expanded and moved the collection center to a convenient spot in the village. We have all learned how much less landfill trash we produce when we reuse and recycle.

Now, if only the weekend warriors who flock to the El Rodeo forest would use the recycling bins, rather than tossing their snack trash out on the roadsides! Children have begun educating their parents and the culture (or lack thereof) of throwing trash about willy-nilly has actually become less widespread – but not enough. The time has come to clean up all the trash from the past. Volunteer groups all over the country have begun to organize major clean-up days of their local trash heaps – located along roadways and near rivers.

And the neighbors in El Rodeo have joined with students from U.Peace for a major clean-up day too! Please join us at 7:30AM, Feb. 13th, at the Elementary School in El Rodeo, near the University for Peace, to haul trash out of the creek that flows through the village. Students, neighbors, friends and fans of the forest at El Rodeo – join us and become part of the solution to the garbage problem plaguing our creeks and roadways.

Here’s a picture of Sunday volunteers from El Rodeo cleaning up the roadside trash. Trash attracts more trash unfortunately; but the converse is also true. Over time, volunteers who clean up the El Rodeo roadways have noticed less trash than before, and we want the trend to continue. More people now have a better understanding of their individual impact on the environment – negative or positive – and they want to be part of the solution.

On behalf of the El Rodeo Emergency Committee, I wish to thank all of the drivers who made a voluntary contribution last Sunday morning, entering or leaving El Rodeo, to our river clean-up cause. We collected just over 100,000 colones, generously donated by drivers going by that day, which will be used to provide supplies for the big clean-up event on the 13th. Yes! Volunteers will receive refreshments and lots of gratitude, and we will all have a lot of fun cleaning up the river.

Here’s a picture of our friends, Nancy and Don Adams from New Orleans, visiting Monteverde with us a few weeks ago. It takes a tourist to make a local a tourist, and there’s much to see in this beautiful country. They spent a few days in the Osa Peninsula - a must-experience forest - and then we all went together to Monteverde, which is a cloud forest known for epiphyte-laden trees and a special kind of energy. We have traveled extensively around Costa Rican forests and they are all amazing. But there’s something truly unique about the fresh beauty of Monteverde – you feel like you’re in the lungs of the earth. I had something akin to a spiritual experience years ago while hiking in the rain at the Santa Elena reserve there.

Here’s a picture of Gerry on the hanging bridges at Selvatura near Santa Elena. It was a truly remarkable experience. We also spent time with Willow Zuchowski, viewing some of the delightful ProNativa gardens she has planted around Monteverde. Next time you are in Monteverde check out the gardens at the Estacion Biologica and the butterfly garden at Stella’s café. Willow planted both gardens with beautiful Costa Rican plants. Several years ago, Willow spearheaded the idea of planting native plants rather than exotics. Why would anyone plant an exotic plant, when there are so many native species that will flourish in their own habitat for much less effort? You would be amazed at how some people refer to Costa Rican plants; they call them ‘monte’ - weeds - and they pull out the lovely native plants and put in exotics that, of course, require more care and water. And some of them then become invasive, wreaking havoc on local ecosystems. ProNativa suggests that we plant what flourishes naturally in our environment - go with the flow with respect to nature - and the result is beautiful. Native plants attract native fauna – birds and other animals.

We’ve had a rough time at the Finca these past few days. First, we lost our prize criollo hen to that murderous pup, Zinc, who only just wanted to play… We are now building a secure garden for the chickens, so they can safely feast on kitchen scraps and nature’s insect bounty. But we’re not just confining them because of Zinc. He now knows, like all the other dogs, that chickens are part of the stable yard. But we have lost too many free-ranging chickens to forest predators – hawks, coyotes, snakes, pizotes. It’s not easy keeping free-range, criollo chickens in a forest. But we have a plan…

We also lost our favorite old dog, Tigre, to the forest. We don’t know how or why. We’ve searched high and low but he has disappeared without a trace. We can only think that, since Yaneth was dosing him twice daily to treat an ailment diagnosed by the vet- Erlichia canis, well, maybe Tigre had just had enough of the pills and took off for a spell. That was Sunday.

Then, on Monday, Lola la Vaca’s oldest calf went missing – a big, shiny, black bull named Negrito. He is a sweet calf and very handsome – not destined for the freezer but to father many more beautiful cows! We all love Negrito and are worried sick – we suspect that he broke through the fencing and followed a couple of cows back over to the neighbor’s pasture. We have ample pasture for our four horses and three cows, but not for visiting cattle – they bring fleas and ticks with them as well, which we have pretty much eradicated in our animals, unfortunately starting the whole cycle all over again…

Jose, Danny and I went by horseback yesterday all over the neighboring pastureland and trails looking for Negrito and Tigre. Sadly, there was no sign of either. However, we haven’t given up hope.

Today Saturday – wonderful news! Jose and Jorge went out by horseback again yesterday afternoon and found Negrito down at Limon Pasture – gallivanting with the ladies – just like he did this time last year! It wasn’t easy for the guys to bring him back. He was not quite finished having his fun. But in the end they returned him back to the cow byre where he is resting comfortably.

Snake experts from the University of Costa Rica gave a talk the other day in the Quittirisi Reserve on the topic of venomous snakes. We are grateful to Luisa and Bob for transporting all the guys to the meeting at the Reserve. Armando has dealt with snakes his whole life but he picked up new information at this talk. What could he pass on to us? Basically: first-aid for any snake-bite in Costa Rica is this – calm and transport the patient to the Cruz Roja as fast as possible and they will handle it from there…