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Published
Friday, June 25, 2021
 By Victoria Torley Here you are, transplanted from somewhere to Costa Rica. You did it yourself; you picked the country and the spot and had a comfortable home built by a reputable contractor. The electricity works, the water is there when you need it, and the roof doesn’t leak. Now you stand and look out your sliding glass door and say to yourself: What was I thinking! There’s nothing out there but weeds! So very true. A lot of our new construction is on cleared land. Blame the conquistadors and the early settlers for that. Imagine yourself a conquistador, in heavy armor, trying to drag himself through the jungle while fighting off hostile natives. Bad food, worse water, bugs, and disease. What do you do? You write home and praise this new land so farmers will follow you, clear the forest, plant grass, and raise cattle and vegetables so you can at least have good food. Forget environmentalism – you are a conquistador, for heaven’s sake. Fast forward over four hundred and some years to the new resident of Costa Rica staring out at what was once heavily forested land but is now vacant pasture cleared by cattlemen a long time ago. Yuck. But you are one of the new breed of ‘settlers’ or ‘residents’, or what have you. You will make a difference. After all, you did not come to Costa Rica so you would have to mow a lawn! You are going to plant in an environmentally conscious way. You are going to put in native plants. First, some trees but not too close to the house. Tropical trees can get very large very fast. After reading through some books and doing internet research, you decide on the Diphysa American or Guachipelín tree for its flowers and the Cojoba arborea, commonly called the lorito or ardillo, because it is known to be a fast-growing tree and you would like some shade and fast. Finally, you decide to put in the Guanacaste tree because . . . well, because it’s the national tree of your new country. You put the Guanacaste tree as far from the house as possible, knowing that it will someday be over one hundred feet tall. Now you look at the driveway. It could use some greenery so you choose a native palm, the Chamaedorea costaricana, or pacaya with its orange fruiting branches and black fruits. All that plotted, you decide to cheat a bit and put in some non-native trees – orange, mango, grapefruit. After all, you deserve some fresh juice now and then. Tip for the Week
 I know how we all just love leaf-cutter ants and I have recommended Trompa for clearing the nests. Today, I found a blog post that recommends using ‘Basadin’ (evidently a misspelling of ‘Basudin’) spray on the leaves of ant-attractive leaves of saplings. As much as I dislike finding a denuded tree, please do NOT use Basudin. It is highly toxic to birds, fish and waterfowl, not to mention helpful insects. Stick to Trompa which is confined to the ant nests. ---------------------- Editor's note: More information on this article or about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com ----------------------  Real Estate For Sale
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