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OUR TROPICAL GARDEN

 

Click below to see our garden plants alphabetically listed by common name.
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**Nadine Tree
The wood from this tree is used in Montserrat for making charcoal. Maybe you would like to read a story I wrote about making charcoal in Montserrat with photographs of the process and the fellow doing the work.
Text Copyrighted ©KO 2004/2010

Click here to see the story.
 
Nardo Ginger Lily See the "G" Page -- GINGERS -- Yellow Butterfly Ginger

 

Nasturtium Tropeolum majus or Tropaeolum nanum
This is one of my all time favorite flowering plants and its success in my garden has eluded me for years. Does it need water or not, fertile soil or not, sun or not..... I am too frustrated for words by this engaging plant and totally unable to make it grow.
Benefits:
1. Nasturtium flowers, leaves and seeds are all edible and all impart a peppery flavor to the foods in which they are used.
2. The flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.
3. Nasturtiums are high in vitamin C and have been used medicinally as well.
From: S. America

Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in 2010.
Planting and Care: In my last foray onto the internet in search of yet another way to get this plant growing I found the latest information. Plant them in full sun in an area of the garden that holds moisture in the soil. I'm going to give that a try.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2004/2010
 
Natural Pesticides and More
See the "L" Page -- LINKS and REFERENCES FOR TROPICAL GARDENING
 
**Neem Tree Melia azadirachta L.
This is a lovely tree with deep green soft leaves as you can see in the photograph to the left. It seems a very pliant tree with soft branches growing hither and yon which makes it ideal here in the Caribbean where we routinely have ferocious winds.
Benefits: We use the leaves as an organic insecticide in our vegetable patches. We crush the leaves and set them to soak for three days and then use the liquid as a spray. Insects do not like it as all of them fly up and off the plants when we spray and the plants always look better the next day. We have been told that farm animals on the island will not eat the neem’s leaves; not even the goats and it is almost unimaginable that there is something they won’t eat.
Flowers: Late spring -- April or May
From: The neem is native to India, but is now very common in Montserrat and probably also in the rest of the Caribbean.
Photographed: In our shady terrace garden at our home in Montserrat.
Text & Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2009
 
Neem Tree Products
See The "P" Page -- PESTICIDES FOR ORGANIC GARDENING IN THE TROPICS AND ELSEWHERE - Neem Tree Products
 
Nepal Trumpet Flower Please See the "E" Page - EASTER LILY VINE
 

Never-Never Plant Stromanthe sp.
 These are striking foliage plants that actually also flower making them doubly attractive. All told they'll grow to be less than 2 feet tall.
From: Latin America and perhaps Brazil
Photographed: At the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in 2010.
Planting and Care: These are shade plants that do well in warm, moist or humid climates with a fair amount of rainfall or watering. Along with those requirements, give them a moderately rich composted soil and they'll be very content.
Text & Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010
 

New Guinea Impatiens
I think this is a great improvement on the old standby impatiens plants. The leaves are colorful and the same small sized blossoms come in more brilliant colors as well. If you have a shade garden, I would very much recommend a few of these plants.
Photographed: At the Hotel San Buenaventura on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Text & Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010

To see the less dramatic member of the family See the "I" Page -- IMPATIENS
 
** Night Blooming Cereas Cereus epiphyllum oxypetalum
We had one of these growing in a large pot on our terrace in Taxco, Mexico, and have now got a couple of plants growing in Montserrat. I have read they can spread their branches to sixty feet and that doesn't seem extraordinary when you see how fast they'll grow in a 12" pot. The cereus looks much like a plant that should be growing in the sea with its long flat succulent leaves. It blooms once a year usually in late spring, at night, with a dizzying scent. The flowers fade by morning, but it is well worth the wait. In Mexico, we always brought the plant in to the living room on the night it was blooming and we enjoyed the flowering while sitting comfortably on the couch. Now that they are outside in the garden here in Montserrat, we'll have to venture out there around midnight to see the show. Venturing out there is not so appealing when we think of the many 3" tarantulas that roam the gardens after dark.
Photographed: In our terrace garden at our apartment in Oaxaca, Mexico, and at the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Planting and Care: This is a tropical rainforest plant that thrives in semi-shade with regular rainfall or watering. In strong sunlight it will burn and look very sad though it will probably still produce a few blooms.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2010
 
As you can easily see, these are two different varieties, but they all seem to grow the same and give the same or very similar exquisite flowers.
 

Night Blooming Jasmine Cestrum nocturnam
 This type of jasmine may not be glorious during the day as the flowers look a little bedraggled, but at night it is luxurious, maybe one of the best smelling plants in the world and this is when the flowers open and are at their best.
From: Tropical America
Photographed: At a friend's home in Olveston, Montserrat.
Planting and Care: These delightful shrubs rely on full sun, lots of water and warms temperatures to be at their best. Once really established they can handle a bit of cool weather, but this really is a tropical plant at heart.
 Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2010

 
Noni, Great Morinda, Beach Mulberry, Indian Mulberry Morinda citrifolia L.
These are beautiful green bushy plants that to a novice tropical gardener like me seem very desirable. Our neighbor Jack Riley and his wife Kathryn, repatriate Montserratians who lived and raised their family in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States, returned here to Montserrat for their retirement. Jack is an avid gardener and has promised to grow a noni for me from the several thriving bushes that they have on their property.
Benefits: The plant is attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds. And, if you find yourself on a deserted tropical island where there are fruit on a noni, have one. They don't taste good, but beggars can't be choosers so it is said. I've also heard that they have medicinal benefits which would be apt since they are otherwise not eaten.
From: Southeastern Asia or maybe the Caribbean or maybe Hawaii.
Planting and Care: Plant your noni in the sun or in a semi shady area where it will benefit from local rains, even though it will handle a drought if it has no choice.
Text Copyrighted ©KO 2010
 
**Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear Cactus, Edible Tree Cactus, Mission Cactus Opuntia or Opuntia ficus-indica
This is the oval shaped spiny thin leaved branching cactus found in Montserrat, but also so common in Mexico. The leaves are scraped clean of their spines, cooked and eaten most deliciously in omelets.
Benefits: The paddle shaped leaves of the nopal are known to have a beneficial effect in controlling diabetes in all of the small outlying villages we have visited in Mexico. They may also have a very important effect on cholesterol -- lowering the bad while leaving the good alone!
Fruits: Its fruits growing from red and yellow flowers are called tunas in Mexico; I think the English version is prickly pear. Handle these fruits carefully as they do have nasty spines.
Photographed: In our border gardens at our home in Montserrat.
Recipe:
Crush prickly pear fruits and push them through a sieve to remove the seeds. Blend with tequila for a very Mexican margarita. We had this drink for the first time in Oaxaca, Mexico, at a tequila festival. We liked it then and we still do!
Note: The "opuntia" seems to be a huge class of paddle shaped cactus plants. They are quite beautiful and very different from one another in growth, susceptibility to disease, hardiness and more. Still I haven't been able to find good information on specific plants. They always seem lumped together as opuntia. If you have more information, please get in touch.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2008
 

The prickly pear cactus in the photo to the left very closely resembles the one above, but its paddles are fat and more icy green in color. Here in Montserrat they are very subject to a wasting disease that doesn't seem to affect our other cactus.
Photographed: In our border gardens at our home in Montserrat.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2008

 
 

The cactus below on the left grew into the large cactus to the right in a few short years. It is unusual because it doesn't have spines and I'm an expert at getting them lodged in my fingers! Someone on the island told us that the paddles of this cactus were used as a local version of a rough face cloth, something to scrub off the dirt at the end of the day. The paddles are rough and I can believe that they might well have been used that way in days gone by.
Photographed: In our border gardens at our home in Montserrat.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2008

 
Nutmeg Tree Myristica fragrans Houtt.
In a sunny, warm, humid place the nutmeg tree will grow to 70 or 80 feet. Its leaves are similar to those on a coffee tree or gardenia–deep green and shiny. Five to six months after flowering it bears a 2" fruit containing the nutmeg seed. The seed is covered with a scarlet aril which when dried and ground becomes mace. One hundred nutmegs will produce only 3 ounces of dried mace. It has become an important export crop for the island of Grenada which sends about 2000 tons of nutmeg to the US each year.
Benefits: It is said to have medicinal uses as well as giving us its terrific spice. Imagine eggnog without it! We are hoping to find one to plant in our Montserrat garden.
From: Opinions vary on its origin; some say it is native to the East Indies while others believe that nutmeg arrived in the Caribbean in the early 19th century.
Text Copyrighted ©KO 2008
 

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Click below to see our garden plants alphabetically listed by common name.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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