Published on Saturday, July 20, 2024

By Victoria Torley

My hair has gotten a bit shaggy over the last few months, so I decided to head into town for a haircut from a lovely lady whose shop is behind the local restaurant where her husband works.

He came out to tell me that this was her morning off – darn it. As I was leaving through their small garden, I asked him about a shrub. “Café,” he said. Then he pointed to the ground around the shrub and added, “Baby coffee.”

Well, I couldn’t help but ask if I could have some of the babies. Grinning, he pulled some out and handed them over.

“Only you,” said Metric Man with a chuckle, “could go in for a haircut – not get one - and come out with coffee plants.”

Since I am forbidden to work in the garden, I decided to get out my Dremel. What does a Dremel have to do with it?

We get a lot of visitors, usually, people who want to see the orchid gardens, and walking sticks are a great help on uneven ground. This is especially true when that ground is wet (which happens occasionally) so my right-hand man, Armando, keeps an eye out for appropriate branches to use as walking sticks. Well,  I thought I would get out the Dremel and cut vine-like tracks into them, paint the tracks and then paint leaves and flowers on them.

Looking back, I can’t think of why this would be possible. In first grade, I was the kid who couldn’t color inside the lines of a coloring book (I still can’t).

Gardening is a great way to get fit and maintain your weight (maybe even lose a pound or two). This sprang to mind this morning when I went into my dresser for a pair of shorts to wear around the house. Usually, I grab a pair of designated gardening shorts. You know the ones I mean – the ones with grass and mud stains that won’t come out.

The ones with spots of paint from the time you painted the garden fence, but not today. Today we may have people stop by, so my shorts have to – at least – look clean.

And there they were, my comfy old blue shorts. I stopped and thought back… Yes, I remember buying them. It was sometime around 1992 or ‘93 and I was gardening up near West Point, NY. They were my good shorts for hanging out or going shopping. They are a bit faded but unspotted. And they still fit! Twenty-six years old, and they still fit. Must be all that hard work in the garden, so get out there and get going!

Gardening is healthy!

Plant of the week. The Resurrection flowers (Lycoris squamigera) are in bloom. We have several flowers with this name, usually flowers that, like this one, put out a flower before they put out leaves (the exception is the Resurrection orchid).

These flowers make a wonderful display when planted in a large grouping, but be careful, because they disappear completely – leaves and all - later in the season. Plant in full sun and mark them so you don’t forget where they are.

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Find more amazing stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the Costa Rica Garden website. Regarding questions on this article, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com.
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