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**Zinnia Zinnia
Sp.
This is one of the best annual flowering plants I can imagine. Along with giving
us a choice of plant and flower size, it has a wide range of abundant and long
lasting bright colored flowers and petal shapes. The only downside is it's
tendency to suffer from spider mites and powdery mildew.
From: Mexico
Photographed: In our garden at our home in Montserrat
and at the Hotel Atitlan on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala..
Planting and Growth: Plant seeds outdoors in a vegetable
garden row and then transplant to your most sunny flower beds. Zinnias
need a moderate amount of watering or routine rainfall.
Text and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO
2008/2010

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 **Zoysia
grass
This
is the most wonderful lawn grass I've ever met! It is thick, lush and
green all
year and treated right it forms a soft cushiony carpet of a lawn. Here
in Montserrat in the West Indies, zoysia is wonderful as most of what
passes for lawn grass is considered some form of weed elsewhere. Amazingly,
in the eight years we have owned our home here in Montserrat we have
had the grass cut no more than four times. That's good for noise pollution,
gasoline conservation and lawn mower purchases and repairs.
From: Southeast
Asia, China and Japan
Photographed: In our garden at our home in Montserrat.
Planting and Care: Zoysia is a warm climate grass, not
recommended for environments that have a cold winter as it turns an unattractive
brown in that situation. Here in the Caribbean, zoysia is a delight as
it is a deep carpet of green the year round, even when we experience
months of dry weather. It is accepting of all types of soils and wide
ranging pH levels, though it does prefer well drained soil. And it is
resistant to disease, wear and tear, salt spray, invasive weeds, and
heat and drought. Still, people either love or hate this grass. My personal
opinion is that people don't like zoysia because it doesn't require all
of their time, chemicals, poisons, fertilizers and noisy lawn machinery
on a weekly basis. What on earth is a retired fellow supposed to do on
the weekend if he doesn't have a difficult lawn?
Text
and Photographs Copyrighted ©KO 2008 |
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Zucchini Cucurbita
pepo
This is the long green summer squash that seems to have more varieties and
common names than most other squashes. It is wonderful in all of its incarnations.
In New England, one healthy plant will produce enough squash for a family of
five or so. And, if you aren't vigilant about harvesting the squash when it's
young, you can end up with huge (more than two foot long squash) in a matter
of a few days. In Washington, D.C., I always had picture perfect plants and
never ever had a squash. Here in the Caribbean, I hadn't even been able to
keep a plant alive, but when I planted seeds I bought in Corfu, Greece, when
we were there traveling I had some very minimal success. The squash they grow
locally there looks a lot tougher than what is normally grown in the States.
It is a sight to see as it is often sold in supermarkets with the flower still
attached so you can enjoy the flower and the squash itself which has a slightly
stronger flavor than its cousins overseas. If you look very carefully at the
photograph you may see the one lone squash the plant produced.
Photographed: In our upper garden at our home in Montserrat.
If you look very closely you can see the one squash we got from the
plant before it died.
PLEASE
HELP: If you have any advice or suggestions
about how to grow this squash in the Caribbean I will
be very grateful to hear from you and will include
your information on this site and will credit it to
you.
Text
and Photograph Copyrighted ©KO 2007/2010 |
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