Thursday, March 06, 2014

The Saga of the Hacked Bouganvillea

 I didn't promise you a rose garden but I did promise to post the before and after photos of what has been transpiring in my secret little patio garden outside of the bedroom.

Of course the first photo, above, is the "before" photo taken several months ago.  The second photo, below, is the "after" photo after some upstart teenager with a machete hacked as much as humanly possible from the glorious blooming bougainvillea while I was away from the house.

That's okay, now.  I'm over it, sort of.  Today I was at the vivero (plant nursery) and bought enough fig ivy to cover the brick wall within a year.  In addition, I'll be feeding and watering the fuscia colored tree until it looks like the before photo.

Persistence and patience are the key words to living your life in Mexico.  I have plenty of both - most of the time, anyway.

14 comments:

Retired Teacher said...

I enlarged your "after" photo, and it doesn't look as bad as I expected. But I'm sure that before long, as the ivy covers the wall, and the bougainvillea comes back, it will be gorgeous once again.

Anonymous said...

Just like you, the bougainvillea will come back stronger, and tougher than ever.

Just feed and water it. The timing is actually rather fortunate, given that it's early spring. Imagine if they had built the wall in October or November. Then they would have endangered your bougainvillea much more.

Saludos,

Kim G
Boston, MA
Where everything is under at least 8" of snow (Still!!!!), and we are rejoicing at the prospect of 40° weather. How pathetic!

Babs said...

Ha Bill and Kim - Indeed. I hope I live long enough to see it happen! Ha.
It has taken 14 years for this ivy to cover this much! It has been so darn slow.......
Kim, you are so correct! Having this happen at the beginning of the growing season is a big advantage!
I don't know how ya'll can stand that cold weather and snow!

Anonymous said...

The short answer, is that we can't stand the cold weather and snow. Everyone I know is literally at the end of their rope. In fact, if it doesn't warm up soon, the entire northern part of the USA will soon be as crazy as Congress.

So be warned!

Babs said...

OH MY GOSH, Kim, then I'm darn glad I'm in Mexico.......because those yeahoos in Congress are beyond disgusting, despicable and crazy. Not ALL of them but the ones who hog the spotlight......And, that is my political comment for the year.

Retired Teacher said...

Here in Ohio the temp is supposed to reach 50 tomorrow! I'll have to break out the shorts. ha ha!
However it is supposed to snow again next week.

Babs said...

Bill, I so hope, if your flowers can see the sky, that they don't get confused by the warm air and try to bloom and then get blasted by more bad weather.........What a horrible winter this has been!

Calypso said...

Difficult to grasp the idea of snow when the lows are above 70 F and the highs in the low 80's with gentle ocean breezes...I'll stop now ;-)

Sharon said...

So sorry about your garden. Mine is a sacred space and if one of my bushes got an unplanned-for-haircut, it would have an impact on my sense of the sanctuary.

Like Kim, I'm wondering if we will ever see anything here in MA, but snow. :(

Soak up some sun for us, please.

Sharon
boston

Babs said...

Calypso, I'm with you all the way....give me the ocean and soft warm breezes.
Here in SMA, we have high 40's at night for sleeping and then low 80's during the day. And, of course, sunshine every day....
I wish I could figure out how to get down to your part of the world for next year........hopefully.

Babs said...

Sharon, hang in there and plan NOT to be there next year! I'm planning on NOT being in San Miguel for Dec and Jan next year, our two cold months.
I'm busy working on returning the lower patio to a sanctuary...but it will be a while.

Steve Cotton said...

I rather like the bare wall look. You can imagine you live in East Berlin in 1961. You can wile away your days on the patio listening to the free children on the other side of wall -- and dreaming of scaling its heights to be welcomed to the bosom of liberty. Or you could just read a good book and wait for your ivy to grow.

Shannon said...

Your bougainvillea will likely be bigger and better than before, after being cut back, but I can understand how frustrating that must have been.

Babs said...

Steve, I think I'll either sit on the roof terrace, which is more enjoyable and cooler while I sip my drink and read my book along with watching the butterflies. EVENTUALLY that ivy will grow. The bougainvillea will grow much faster.

Shannon, I think more then anything it is the senselessness of chopping it down that bothers me. Thanks for commenting. WE need to get together.