A Flowery Tribute
Passiflora edulis. Native to Brazil but widely cultivated throughout the tropics.
When one gets close to ninety-five years of age, things can start to go wrong.
My mother, Georgette Hewson, landed in the hospital January 1st, for the first time in fifty-five years, just a few weeks before her birthday. She does not live on the Mediterranean coast on a diet of olives, fish, pomegranates and nuts, but rather has been a resident of Massachusetts for most of her life, where she enjoys a tenderloin steak most Saturday nights and some form of sweet dessert daily. Until her trip to Santa Fe, NM, for Christmas, she was preparing all her own tasty and healthy meals, but with ample butter when necessary.
Drymonia macrantha. Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.
My mother decided early last year it was probably time to sell her car after she had a minor accident, her fault, but she didn’t like losing her wheels and independence even one bit, and groused about it well into the fall of 2015. She only started using a cane about the same time, and has never had an injury due to a fall. She wanted her cane painted with bright, colorful flowers, an assignment I accomplished for her. Her love of flowers is well known, and her avocation ever since I can remember has been perennial plantings to produce flowers spring through fall.
So what has been my Mom’s secret to successful aging? A combination of factors motivate her: vanity about her clothing and appearance which made her very stylish; physical activity daily as she moved around her building, garden, library, and favorite stores; friends with whom to garden, share a cocktail and chat, and interest in news, sports, and celebrities’ lives. She follows Red Sox baseball, the Boston Patriots, and certain pro golfers set her heart practically racing. All these factors have contributed to her well-being and astonishing mental acuity.
Amaryllidaceae: Euchrosia bicolor. Native to Ecuador and Peru; growing in Finca Cantaros.. Thanks to David Janus, Wilson Botanical Garden, for ID.
Mom could not rely on a daily basis on my sister and me, since we both moved far from home after college and could only visit once or twice annually, though more often in recent years. We stayed close by phone—though my sister was always better about this tender duty than I.
That physical remove from her daughters required Mom to generate an iron will to master her environment after my Dad died in 1987. For twenty-nine years she has been on her own, but always with a number of friends, neighbors, and relatives not too far away, to give and receive essential support. She often acted as chauffeur until last year to help friends get to medical and hair appointments. Sadly, though, several close friends and family members have died in just the last few months and years.
Georgette, or GiGi to her grandchildren, in Massachusetts, October, 2015
Commelina erecta in the Commelinaceae Family. Seven species in Costa Rica. Seen by lake at Finca Cantaros.
Big changes now: Georgette is now a resident of Santa Fe, living with my sister Sue and brother-in-law, Joe. I spent time with them there after Mom became ill, and we made the decision together as a family that it is time for her to relax and release a tad bit her tenacious grip on independence. Her room looks out to the desert, with the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the distance, but for most months of the year there is, close to the house, a colorful garden, filled with flowers and desert birds. It is a wonderful place to rest.
NOTE TO MOM:
The tropical flowers in the photographs here are likely new to you, Mom, and I hope they bring you bouquets of good cheer as you continue to recuperate from your medical challenges. These flowers come with love and tremendous admiration for your optimism and motivation to get back to enjoying your beautiful life.
Bromeliad at Finca Cantaros
Firecracker vine: Pyrostegia venusta. Originally from Brazil and Paraguay but now widely grown throughout the tropics.
Ephemeral Blooms in December
Crown of Tabebuia chrysantha (Corteza) blooming December 16, 2015 in Linda Vista de San Vito
An arresting visual sign that summer is approaching in the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica is the sudden massive flowering of Tabebuia chrysantha, a robust but slow growing hardwood tree in the Bignoniaceae family.
First day of Corteza bloom, Linda Vista de San Vito, December 16, 2015
In our county of Coto Brus, this tree–commonly known as Corteza–drops all its leaves over a few weeks’ time in late November. Then suddenly in mid-December, just when the months of winter rains begin slacking off, the Corteza trees burst into stunning yellow bloom, all within a period of about a week, depending on their elevation.
From roads on hillsides of our topographically diverse region, one can look out over the valleys and remaining forest patches or larger protected areas and see from a distance—only in December, of course–the few Corteza trees that remain. Fortunately, a few individual property owners who value the tree have left some handsome specimens remaining near main roads and standing in pastures for all to see. Passing a tree that the day before was bare, but now is a “big bang” of golden sunlit flowers, is a joyous sight. The glorious flowers signal summer vacation for children and trips to the beach for their parents.
Corteza tree in bloom on Osa Peninsula. This lowland Tabebuia guayacan flowered in April, 2015
On each leafless tree, the individual flowers open all on the same day, and persist on the tree for only two to four days before they fall and litter the ground with a golden carpet. The flowers carry no nectar, but they still attract a variety of pollen-hunting visitors in numbers: bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, and probably bats, which tend to visit other Bignoniaceae vines and trees. Research has shown that bees are the heavy lifters—the main pollinators–of the three species of Tababuia in Costa Rica.
Tabebuia crysantha is found in wet forests ranging from Mexico to Peru and Venezuela.
The wood of the Corteza tree is among the heaviest and hardest in the Neotropics. It is prized for its durability for everything from fence posts and tool handles to furniture and floors. Until it became rare, truck owners used it as their first choice for body work. Hence, due to their usefulness, large old trees were cut decades ago, and not enough new trees have been successfully planted. Seeds have a relatively low germination rate, making the trees expensive and difficult to propagate, and they are too slow growing for cash-strapped people wanting fast results from their forestry plans. I learned that the wood is so rare it is not available for sale at any local lumberyards in Coto Brus.
First day of flowering Corteza tree, December 16, 2015 in Linda Vista de San Vito
My own efforts to grow Corteza trees at Finca Cántaros have met with limited success for reasons not clear, but this year our few surviving specimens, now thirty to forty feet high, had their best blooms yet. Planted in what was former pasture, along with about one hundred other tree species in 1994-95, they are just twenty-two years old.
Their best years of bringing smiles to local faces are ahead of them.
Baltimore Oriole on Tabebuia crysantha, Linda Vista de San Vito, by Harry Hull III
Red-legged Honeycreeper on Tabebuia crysantha, Linda Vista de San Vito, by Harry Hull III
References:
Magical Trees, Costa Rica by Juan Jose, Sergio and Giancarlo Pucci, pp. 82-87. Fundacion Arboles Magicos, (Magical Trees Foundation) Costa Rica, 2010.
Costa Rica Natural History, Edited by Dan Janzen. “Tabebuia ochracea spp. neochrysantha (Guayacan, Cortez, Cores, Corteza Amarilla)” by A.H. Gentry, pp. 335-336. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1983.
Timber Trees of Costa Rica, Ecology and Silviculture, by Quirico Himenez M., Freddy Rojas R., Victor Rojas Ch. and Lucia Rodriguez S. (A bi-lingual book), pp. 286-291. INBio, Editorial Technologica de Costa Rica, 2002.
Trees of Panama and Costa Rica, by Richard Condit, Rolando Perez and Nefertaris Daguerre, pp. 92-93. Princeton University Press, 2011.
Just Peace
Thank you, followers of Foto Diarist, for your thoughtful and kind comments over my first twenty posts. May your holidays be merry and bright, and may we all retain our sense of proportion, humor and serenity as we contemplate what 2016 might bring.
What we hope it will not bring are more terrible acts of violence. While there are many questions about how to respond, and there is too much anxiety-producing rhetoric, I refocus and step away from worry by turning to the great outdoors, where I find much to celebrate. It is more than a distraction to take a walk in the woods. It is time devoted to reconnecting as human beings to the basic things that keep us alive: vegetation, clean air, soil, and creatures that contribute innumerable services benefitting the ecosystem. Our senses tune quickly to the good feeling of exercise, the quality of light, the plants’ habits, the bird calls, and the rich aromas of flowering trees and decomposing leaves under a changing sky.
As the owner of a nature reserve that is open to the public, I can tell you that the difference in demeanors of the visitors arriving and the visitors departing after a few hours is quite pronounced. As people emerge from their cars, they often look stressed, and not everyone in the group, especially young people, look convinced that a visit to a park is such a great idea. After they spend time in gardens, orchards, and forests, meander lakeside, and enjoy a meal together with a splendid view, all the people, upon exiting, are talking and laughing–literally closer together physically–and eager to share the good news with me about what they saw and how much they enjoyed themselves. Spending time in a natural setting is clearly inexpensive therapy in a stressful world.
I believe respect for nature is the answer to many of the problems that we face today. However, even getting people to focus on our connections to the natural world is a huge challenge. No matter where we live, or how concerned we are about the health of the planet, we should at least be gladdened and relieved that a consensus outcome of the Paris climate talks is respect for forests: aggressive implementation of protections for the world’s beleaguered remaining forests is but one of the major commitments made by all the participating countries.
For those of us fortunate enough to have ready access to wilderness or even a fine urban park, we can give thanks, especially at this time of the year, for that proximity that so many don’t enjoy. How felicitous, on a quiet walk, alone or with our loved ones, to find just peace. Fear about the future can be mitigated by feelings of connection to each other and to our earth.
As the year comes to a close, the traditional colors of the holidays have inspired me to present twelve image gifts, one for each month, in green and red.
Summer Tanager, Finca Cantaros, Linda Vista de San Vito, Costa Rica
Native passionflower, Passiflora vitifolia, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Peace Lily, Spathiphyllum sp., with green orchid bee, Eufriesea sp., Finca Cantaros, Linda Vista de San Vito, Costa Rica
Bromeliad, Vriesea sp., Las Tablas, La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, Costa Rica
Juvenile Iguana Iguana, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Green Honeycreeper, female, Finca Cantaros, Linda Vista de San Vito, Costa Rica
Clearwing Butterfly, Greta oto, on wild Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Sabalito de Coto Brus
Psychotria elata, “Hot Lips”, in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Finca Cantaros
Columnea consanguinea, Family Gesneriaceae, Wilson Botanical Garden, San Vito de Coto Brus
Native plant, Centropogon granulosus, Family Campanulaceae, Finca Cantaros, Linda Vista de San Vito
Abutilon pictum, in the Malvaceae (Mallow) Family, Finca Cantaros, Linda Vista de San Vito
Snowy-bellied Hummingbird
Amizilia edward, Finca Sofia, Los Angeles de San Vito, Coto Brus, Costa Rica
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