Horticulturally speaking, Mexico is a country of great intrigue because its varying altitudes give it a wide climatic range.
Varied Plant Lives
This results in extremely varied plant life, including both tropical and temperate kinds that come from all over the world.
When I was in Mexico City during February, a metropolis that boasts an elevation of 7,415 ft, I was intrigued by the pepper trees, which were then weighted heavily with colorful clusters of pinkish berries.
Also fascinating were the many kinds of palms, though I like them best when planted along an avenue, for then their stately dignity is displayed at its fullest.
Royal Palm and Talipot Palm: The Queen and The King
The royal palm, so aptly called “The Queen”, and the talipot palm, known as “The King”, are striking – when used together.
Along the Acapulco coast, tempered by the breezes from the ocean, they curve and sway, fanning the winds with their great fronds.
Bougainvilleas in Patios and Courtyards
In courtyards or patios, their sleek trunks clear the heights to reach the light above, where their enormous leaf forms stand out in intricate designs against a blue, or moonlit, sky.
About their trunks yellow jasmine, allamandas, or even roses often clamber.
Spanish Arches
The Spanish arches of these enclosures form excellent backgrounds for vines, and on them in great profusion are bougainvilleas in flamboyant oranges, reds, and purples.
The many potted plants act as reminders that we might use them more freely in our gardens.
Container Potted Plants
In containers of many kinds are;
- Soft blue plumbago
- Begonias
- Ivy-leaved geraniums
- Periwinkles
- Coleus
- Crotons
- Fancy-leaved caladiums
At Fortin de las Flores, I saw oleanders, hibiscus, dwarf poincianas, and poinsettias.
Flame Vines
Among them crept the flame vines, uniting them with the lower growing dahlias, gaillardias, calendulas, hemerocallis, sultanas, cannas, poppies, and ageratum, which I grow in my garden.
The change in plant life from Mexico City to Acapulco was from pine forests to the lower plains agave, or century plant.
Mexican Cactus: Pulque, The Native Alcoholic Drink
The great cactus that prevail denotes a spirit that is truly Mexican. This is a plant that has many uses. The unfermented juices have a rich vitamin content, but more popular is “pulque”, the native alcoholic drink.
Maguey and Corn in Mexico
Maguey, the crop that is grown in the fields, requires seven years to reach maturity before it is harvested. Corn, which plays so great a part in the history and life of Mexico, is planted between the rows.
Near Pueblo were orchards of peach, apricot, and apples, as well as English walnut and almond groves.
Castor Oil Bean Plants: Exotic Leaf Patterns
Castor oil bean plants grew into trees, with their exotic leaf patterns silhouetted against the sky. When I was there, farmers were harvesting large fields of garlic, which is used to add high flavor to many chopped foods.
In the branches of trees along the roadsides were great masses of bromeliads and orchids, looking much the way mistletoe does in our southern states. Spanish moss also hung gracefully from the branches of trees.
The tropical garden surrounding the hotel at Tehuacan was lush with banana and citrus trees, loquats, and jacarandas.
Climbing Roses and Golden Chalice Vines
Climbing roses and golden chalice vines softened the buildings, while daturas, in shrub form, were smothered with large, white, lily-like flowers.
Bamboo and pandanus also grew lushly, and in the fields all around, sugar cane, gloriously tasseled, weaved back and forth in the slightest breeze.
Queen Anne’s Lace and Borage
We found Queen Anne’s lace and borage in one section of the hotel garden. Here, too, the tree trunks were covered with a grey coat of lichens, and the coffee trees.
laden with berries were surrounded by banana plants to give them the shade needed to produce quality coffee. The topiary specimens which adorned many private gardens seemed so out of character after seeing maguey.
Great Indian Laurels
Great Indian laurels, with their spreading, long-armed branches, gave welcome shade from the heat of the sun.
In full bloom were the mango trees, with their unusual flower pattern, and the African tulip trees, with their large, cup-shaped flowers of deep orange, heavily lacking branches.
Unusual Rice Paddies
The rice paddies here were unusual. Their flowing, free-form patterns, with built-up earth dams dividing the sections and retaining in each the necessary water supply, were in the manner of contour farming.
Roadways were bright with morning glories, heavily draped the shrubs and trees, and wild clematis, with fluffy seed heads, also blanketed the plants on which it grew.
Jacaranda Trees in the City of Taxco
The city of Taxco and jacaranda trees will always be synonymous since the great hillside on which this city clings was purple with the bloom of the jacaranda.
Small private gardens dotted the hillside enroute to the plaza, where the cathedral and the famous silver shops are located. This is a proud city where all buildings must conform to the original style of architecture.
Lovely Gardens in Chapultepec Castle
Picturesque Acapulco, situated on a deep blue bay, is renowned for its sunsets. Returning to Mexico City we visited Chapultepec Castle, with its lovely gardens, which in their day were the joy of Carlotta and Maximilian.
We saw the palace of Justice, with the famous murals of Mexican history by Diego Rivera, and the flowerbedecked boats of Xochimilco.
At Merida in Yucatan, a city, 25 ft below sea level, with windmills whirring constantly to supply the city with water and power, we found excellently maintained gardens and avenues of beautiful trees in bloom.
The 82-mile drive to Chichen Itza took us over roads, edged with well-tilled land and miles of stone walls in front of the thatched-roofed houses of the workers.
Tropical Gardens in Nlayaland Hotel
The Mayaland Hotel, an oasis in the otherwise dry territory of the great Mayan ruins and pyramids, has lush tropical gardens with palms, bananas, hibiscus, great ferns, and colorful acalyphas.
Tropical vines entwined every arch in the Spanish balconies of the hotel, and begonias, with flower, stems 2 ft high, were used along the foundation.
Unique Asparagus Fern
A hedge of asparagus fern was likewise unique. Ground covers of philodendron and tradescantias, as well as pink congea and purple Petrea, both tropical vines that are much seen in Ceylon, were at home here.
At the base of the ruins at Chichen Itza, I plucked specimens of familiar plants, dwarfed by the lack of rain and the intense heat.
These included ageratum, amaranth, tiny milkweed, and a miniature Sanvitalia (creeping zinnia).
Henequen in Yucatan
Here in Yucatan, henequen or sisal hemp, as it is better known, is the most important crop grown.
After it is crushed by machines, the fiber is retrieved, dried, and sent to all parts of the world for making rope.
Inseparable Yucatan
Just as a maguey in Mexico seemed inseparable from the land and its people, so sisal seems to do the same in Yucatan.
Through the open doors of the adobe homes, we caught glimpses of hammocks made from sisal, which are hung in any number to meet the needs of a family, large or small.
Sisal: Wealth and Strength of the Land
Sisal, the wealth and strength of the land, is woven for the comfort of a people, who have the good fortune to abide in the beautiful hind called Yucatan.
During late snow, the frames are opened so the seed will benefit from the snow, and if it does not snow enough, I get a Pail of ice cubes from the refrigerator and place them over the rows of seeds.
44659 by Inez Turner Burkett