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GARDENING IN THE TROPICS

Surprisingly, a tropical climate is the most difficult environment in which I have ever had a garden. And, I have been gardening since I was a youngster growing up in Rhode Island, a tiny coastal state in New England, the most northeastern part of the United States. As an adult I have had beautiful and very productive gardens in Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., and in Taxco, Mexico.

Gardening on the Caribbean island of Montserrat has proved my greatest challenge. Instead of being the garden of Eden I envisaged when we bought our property, it challenges everything I know. It seems that every gardener arriving to live in Montserrat does so with the same enthusiasm and unbridled hope as I did; here it is sunny and warm year round and there are many months of rain -- what a garden I will have!

When we bought our property in Montserrat in the West Indies several years ago, I fell in love with the overgrown garden, the views and the national park that lies behind the property. The house was comfortable and the pool was lovely, but the garden was not exactly as it appeared. In the garden, the first two inches or so of the soil was pure volcanic ash, a fine grained powdery cement-like material. Below that, we found about two inches of rock hard barren generic dirt and rocks and below that we found even harder clay. None of our familiar garden tools were up to the job of dealing with the ground so we turned to the local favorite, a mattock. The mattock redefines what you may think of as a "pick." I can barely lift it and by the time I've carried it to the garden I am exhausted and there the tool lies till tomorrow.

With my over-riding gardening optimism and my husband's desire to make me happy, we dug out a fifteen by fifteen foot garden the first year and I began to enhance the soil -- making good dirt is one of my passions. We have now been here for several years and often when local farmers come by delivering produce that we don't grow, we'll hear comments like, "Look at that fat soil." Fat soil is prized here in Montserrat as the best place to grow vegetables.

CARIBBEAN OR TROPICAL GARDENING HINTS

Gardening by the Moon

Listening to local farmers and asking many questions we have learned that planting by the moon is a Montserratian traditional practice.

New moon to the Full moon
Sow seeds and transplant seedlings

Full moon to the New moon
Cultivate the soil, weed and harvest

New Moon to the First Quarter
Plant above ground plants including flowering annuals

First Quarter to the Full Moon
Sow the seeds of above ground plants

Full Moon to the Last Quarter
Plant root crops, bulbs, perennials and biennials

Last Quarter
Turn over the soil, but do not plant

Soil pH

The sweetness (alkalinity) or acidity of your soil will affect the health and productivity of your garden plants. A pH on the sweet side is normally considered beneficial for most vegetables. Gardeners routinely apply agricultural lime to sweeten the soil before planting. Here in Montserrat there is no lime available so farmers tend to use wood ashes or nothing at all. This has a decided impact on the quality and quantity of vegetables that are produced here. The pH scale runs from 0 to 14 with 7 being just about neutral. Numbers above 7 are alkaline and below 7 are acid.

Summer vs Winter Planting in the Tropics

One of the most important things I have learned (finally) is that the most successful vegetable gardens are planted to be harvested in the winter. Here in the Caribbean, summer is a time for letting the garden rest -- with very few exceptions. Mung beans, yellow/orange sweet potatoes and..... I'd love to hear if you have had real success planting other crops.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2008/2010

Gardenia Gardenia augusta
This the most wonderful flowering bush I've ever met. It has deep green 2 to 3" shiny leaves and bright creamy white flowers that smell like heaven. I've had them as house plants in Boston, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., and outside in gardens in Oaxaca and Taxco, Mexico.
Photographed: In the Botanical Garden at Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: This variety prefers a neutral to acid soil and light shade when planted outside. As houseplants they'll do well in a sunny window with regular misting. They do not like dry air.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO2008/2010

See also Crape Jasmin on the "C" Page for what is called a gardenia in Montserrat.

GERANIUMS

Geranium Pelargonium sp.
A geranium always seemed the preferred plant of people who had no interest in plants or in gardening. The geranium performed the function of having a colorful and green bush at the front door during summer. In the fall, a planter of chrysanthemums fulfilled the same function. In the northeastern United States, the chrysanthemums were followed by a big pumpkin.
Having lived in Mexico and recently traveled in Greece, I gained a new respect for geraniums. I had some growing nicely a couple of years ago until we began having routine acid rain and then ashing and acid rain from the Soufriere volcano here in Montserrat. Plants with shiny tough leaves handle ash and acid rain rather well; plants with hairy leaves like geraniums and tomatoes suffer greatly or die right away when exposed.
Planting and Care: These can be strong and tough plants to grow where not much else will thrive. They have lovely blossoms and and velvety medium green leaves. Give geraniums lots of sun and don't let them get too dry and you'll be thrilled with their appearance and their ease of care.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2007

Hanging Geranium #1 Variety Unknown
Photographed: At the entrance to the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in May of 2010.
Planting and Care: Differing from its upright cousins, the hanging geranium has smooth shiny leaves as you can see in the photograph to the left. But, like its cousins, this tough flowering plant prefers neutral soil, full sun and relatively dry conditions to be at its happiest.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2010

Geranium #2 Variety Unknown
Photographed: At the entrance to the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in May of 2010.
Planting and Care: These can be lovely and tough plants to grow where not much will thrive. They have lovely blossoms and and velvety medium green leaves. Give geraniums lots of sun and don't let them get too dry and you'll be thrilled with their appearance and their ease of care.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2010

Variegated Geranium #3 Variety Unknown
Photographed: In the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in June of 2010.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2010

Geranium #6 Variety Unknown
Photographed: At the entrance to the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in May of 2010.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2010

Geranium #7 Variety Unknown
Photographed: In the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in June of 2010.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2010
Hint: Pelargonia, Geranium

GINGER

Blue Ginger Dichorisandra thrysifolia
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan botanical garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Hedychium Ginger Mystery #3
Photographed: In the Hotel Atitlan Botanical Garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

**Kahili Ginger Hedychium gardnerianum
We found this plant in an area of the property that had long ago gone back to being a truly untamed tropical garden. The kahili looked much like a spathphylum plant I'd had years ago so I transplanted it to see what it would do. Not much was the answer for a few years and then suddenly it flowered with very muted colors and very unflower like flowers that did in the end have a strange appeal.
Planting and Care: This type of ginger like so many of the others seems to prefer a semi shady area with bright light and routine rainfall or watering. It should be planted where its foliage will be the highlight rather than its infrequent and unusual flowers.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©Krika.com 2008

Pine Cone Ginger, Shampoo Ginger Zingiber zerumbet
This is one of the more other worldly types of ginger. It could easily star in someone's sci-fi movie. The three young flowers to the right were on stalks about one foot high emerging from a plant with leaves about six to seven feet tall and very scruffy looking.
Benefits: Ingredients in the pine cone that you see on the left are actually used in shampoos.
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan botanical garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala and as part of a floral arrangement.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Pink Ginger Lily Alpinia purpurata
This is an exquisite member of the ginger family along with its identical twin the red ginger you may see below and what's best is they bloom most of the year. We lost ours to Montserrat's devastating volcanic eruption in July of 2003.
From: Malaya
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan botanical garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2004/2010

**Red Button Ginger, Scarlet Spiral Flag, French Kiss, Dwarf Cone Ginger Costus woodsonii
This is a lovely easy to grow plant in the ginger family. It has bright red knobby sorts of flowers, almost like tight small pinecones.
From: Central America
Photographed: In our deck garden at our home in Montserrat.
Planting and Care: Red Button does best in sun or in a semi shady area with routine rainfall or watering though it will tolerate some dry periods. It doesn't seem at all difficult to grow or even to thrive and it makes an attractive and distinctive backdrop for other plants.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©Krika.com 2009/ 2010

Red Ginger Lily Alpinia purpurata
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan botanical garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

**Shell ginger Alpinia zerumbet
This large variety of ginger will grow to about nine feet when planted in its preferred partial shade and given adequate water. It is a tough plant; ours survived a recent drought with no watering as we were away for several months. Its sturdiness is wonderful, but its flowers are the real reason to have it in your garden. They are lovely!
Planting and care: Shell ginger loves water and will do well in a sunny to semi shady setting flowering usually in the spring. It should be fertilized about twice a year.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2007

**Spiral Ginger, Crape Ginger, Crepe Ginger Costus speciosus
From: Tropical Asia
Planting and Care: This lovely spiral stemmed ginger well situated will grow to about six feet tall and will have lots of lovely flowers and the foliage all by itself is very attractive. It will grow best in a bright semi shady area with routine rainfall or watering.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2007

Torch Ginger, Tulip Torch Ginger Etlingera elatior or Phaeomeria speciosa or Nicolaio elatior
This is one of the creepier gingers which in almost all phases of flowering appears to be a plant from outer space, something dropped here on earth by accident or with a sinister plan. Of course this makes me want one for our garden as soon as I can get seeds or a seedling.
Photographed: In the Botanical Garden at the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Growth: While the leaves will shoot up to 14 feet, the flower stalks will be only 3 or 4 feet tall. They emege first looking almost like a thin tulip on the top of a tall stem and then the real flower flows forth. The plant is said to prefer full sun or bright light, but all of the photographs here were taken in relatively deep shade. The plants do seem to require lots of moisture and like almost all plants in the ginger family they do not like to be in a windy situation.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Variegated Ginger
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan Botanical Garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

White Ginger, Butterfly Ginger Lily Hedychium coronarium
Benefits: In some places parts of the plant are used medicinally.
From: India
Photographed: At the Hotel San Buenaventura on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: Like most gingers this one likes to be in the semi shade though it seems tolerant of more or less light. It is also most content with a highly composted moist soil.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Yellow Butterfly Ginger, Nardo Ginger Lily Hedychium flavum
From: The Himalayas
Photographed: In the Hotel Atitlan Botanical Garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: Like most gingers this one likes to be in the semi shade though it seems tolerant of more or less light. It is also most content with a highly composted moist soil.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Globe Amaranth, Bachelor’s Buttons Gomphrena haageana
This relatively small plant, about 15 inches tall and wide adds a bit of color if you have a lot of greenery, but on its own it is not too interesting.
From: Central America
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan botanical garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: This bright little plant is as useful in the garden for color as it is easy to care for. Though it prefers a sunny spot and routine rainfall or watering, it is adaptable and will tolerate some shade and dry periods pretty well.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Glory Tree, Cashmere Bouquet, Scent Malli Cleodendrum Chinese 'False Pikake'
I came across this bush in the midst of a very shady, very wet tropical area of a botanical garden. The bush looked like it could have been a strangely appealing weed, but it turns out not to be so. Still it does take on a bit of a raggedy appearance. The wonderful part of it is its flowers centered in a circle of very large leaves (maybe 6 to 8 inches long). The flowers look very much like what a wedding's flower girl would carry as her bouquet. It is said to be very fragrant at sundown, but we are almost always reading books by the lake at that hour of the day.
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan Botanical Garden on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: It is said to be "shade tolerant" which probably means it will do just fine in the sun too. It grows fast and spreads even quicker so choose your site carefully.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Glory Bush Tibouchina urvilleana
This is an easy to care for long blooming informal bush growing to perhaps 10 feet or so. While it doesn't seem to wow you at first, it does grow on you over time.
Photographed: May 2010 at the Hotel San Buenaventura at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text and Photographs ©KO 2010

**Golden Apple Tree Aegle marmelos
The golden apple belongs in the citrus family. Its fruit is highly prized by those that know it. We just received a seedling so it will be a few years before we will know if it will be one of our favorites too.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

Golden Dew Drop Duranta erecta
With its beautiful purple flower this plant is inaptly named.
Planting and Care: Plant it in full sun to appreciate its full potential and prune it once a year to keep it well formed.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

Gold Fish, Guppy Plant Nematanthus sp.
This is a very attractive plant with its deep green shiny leaves and its unusual salmony orange flowers.
Benefits: Aside from its visual appeal it is nice to have as a butterfly and hummingbird attractant.
Photographed: In the Botanical Garden at the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: Family: As you can see in the photograph, it will grow well as a hanging plant, though it is normally a ground cover in the open garden. Give it bright light or sun and a moderate amount of water to keep it happy.
Text & Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

Long spikes of large red bracts with orange flowers. All flowers on the spike face the same way. Blooms non stop. Excellent color accent. Leaves are light green with yellow-white veins, the plant is very ornamental even when not in bloom. Can be grown both in full sun or in light shade.

Grape Ivy Cissus

Green Tea
Green tea is a light and easy to make cool summer drink or hot warming tea to speed away winter's cold. For cool tea take four tea bags and place them in a quart bottle of filtered water. Leave it on the shelf for the day. In the evening, take out the bags and put the tea in the refrigerator. Hot green tea is the usual bag in a cup or loose leaves in a teapot with boiling water.

Green tea tops everyone's list of good things to drink, but did you know....???
1. It is said to be an antioxidant, beneficial in preventing cancer and in losing weight.
2. If you have overdone a late night of studying or working and are looking worse for the wear in the morning, place a cotton ball soaked in green tea on each of your eyes for five to ten minutes before getting on with your day. You'll look less puffy and feel much better.
3. Keep a fresh bottle of steeped green tea in the refrigerator to spray on any skin irritations from sunburns to pimples.
4. Surprisingly, green tea may also be of great benefit to those of us with gingivitis because of its cleansing properties and it is said to contain teeth hardening fluoride in a natural form.
5. Because of its high mineral content, green tea may be of benefit in preventing bone loss in the aging process.
6. We've all seen advertisements for putting a box of bicarbonate of soda in the fridge. Now it's time to consider green tea leaves as a natural odor absorbing material. Place a bowl of green tea leaves in your kitchen and see what happens.
7. At the end of the day your feet will appreciate a good soak in green tea. Not only will your feet feel better for the attention, they will also get a good dose of the tea's anti fungal agent.

Warning: As with almost everything, there is said to be a downside to green tea. If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant ask your doctor about the potential negative affects of green tea.

Groundleaf, Sea Grape, Tin Roof Tree Coccoloba pubescens
This is a common tree in the Caribbean growing in full sun or semi shade with no care. It is small with very large round rough leaves. We had a few of them in the garden, but to us they seemed to fall into the "weed tree" category so we had them removed.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

**Guava Tree Psidium guajava L.
Growing to between twenty and thirty feet tall, the guava gives us not only its delicious fruit, but many curatives as well. We had a lovely guava tree in our Taxco garden which required absolutely no care and annually gave us bushels of fruit. That was a tree after my own heart! Here in Montserrat, in an area called St. George's Hill, there are beautiful groves of guava trees. We were able to visit that area of the island a few years ago when it was not included in the volcano exclusion zone. Sadly, St. George's Hill is now off limits to all of us for the foreseeable future.
Benefits:
1. Its leaves and bark may be steeped as a tea to treat diarrhea.
2. Guavas are very high in vitamin C, much higher than oranges, and they are a good source of vitamin A.
3. To treat colds and inflammation of the legs, blend peeled guavas with orange juice and strain for a delicious and hopefully helpful drink.
4. To treat itchy insect bites, crush guava leaves and apply to the bite.
From: Florida, Mexico through Central America and the West Indies
Planting and Care: This very pretty tree is known to be a heavy feeding fast grower, producing its wonderful fruit in its second or third year. The guava grows best in full sun in a warm and sheltered setting with a rich moist soil that is more alkaline than acidic (a pH of 5 to 7). It will also give its best if you provide a generous amount of fertilizer on a regular basis.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2007
For more information see http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/guava.html