Some Leave, Others Arrive

The tropical climate continues to baffle and intrigue me. My rainy season canopy of gigantic tecca leaves is rapidly thinning. Collecting fallen leaves is a daily chore, not tedious, but pleasantly mind-numbing. This bunch below are pretty average; the front right leaf is more than three feet long!

So my shady retreat is evaporating, but not entirely. The avocado tree at the side of the house does not shed its leaves. The heavenly fruit should begin to appear in February or March.  I have added a special cutting to a spot just in front of the porch. Sacuanjoche is its name, and it produces the lovely national flower of Nicaragua, known elsewhere as plumeria. The cutting had three leaves when I planted it, which all turned old and fell away. But more leaves appeared, as you see here. (Brynn is happily gnawing on her daily hueso rojo, scrap beef bones.)
















Coleus cuttings donated by Byron, the gardener, have thrived and show no signs of slowing down. Here are a couple of examples I added to complement two laurel trees I planted as twigs and are growing well.

There are a dozen plátano trees on the property (plantains). A few are quite large, but until Jonathan cut away some gigantic leaves, I did not realize they were fruiting. I do not love plátanos, except as tostitos, smashed slices fried and topped with cheese and hot sauce. They look almost identical to bananas, but are not sweet, but starchy. Maria José is welcome to help herself.

Only slightly prurient, right? 

As the dry season settles in this month, I'll begin monitoring the "water days," two or three days per week when the local municipal water system functions. On water days, I can feel free to soak all my growing plants and garden without depleting the supply in my tank that provides H²O to the house.

I plan to replant the garden shortly to see if the veggies do better without the flooding torrents that plague them from April through October. Fingers crossed!