Ok, I have having a little fun with the title, but when Jo Ann and I go to a plant sale, we usually go crazy. So over the past weekend we headed into San Miguel de Allende to visit the annual plant sale which is known as Candelaria. Usually held within the beautiful confines of Parque Juarez, this year it is being held in the parking lot on Cardo. Well, first impressions were that it looked like a typical flea market that we would visit when we lived in SoCal. However upon closer investigation we found some beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees.
One of issues that I have with Candelaria is that it really does not promote or market local or native plants. It is really focused on selling plants that have lots of color that will not necessarily do well here in the high desert environment of Mexico. But this is the result of capitalism, doing what will sell, not necessarily what is good for the local environment. The following is a good sample of what you can find at the various vendors.
One of the concerns that I have heard a lot from many locals who are very knowledgeable in plants and trees, is that the vendors stress the plants with fertilizers and other performance enhancing substances to have them in full bloom with fruits, just for the show. Thus in a lot of cases people will be very disappointed that the beautiful plants that they had purchased soon thereafter die or look significantly wilted. It is thus imperative that when you are purchasing plants here to really look at the root ball and the stock, and not look at the color of the flower or the fruit.
I am always amazed by the entrepreneurship of the Mexicans. I had been wondering how they were going to get power to the vendors for the dusk and evening hours, well as you can see, they solved that problem also.
We did find a couple of vendors who had great products and the plants and trees looked like they had been well cared for. So what did we buy, well we got two limon trees, one fig tree (I love figs), eight roses and a bunch (I really mean a whole lot) of herbs for Jo Ann's new herb garden. We also purchased several other plants that will be used to supplement our new landscaping.
Saturday and Sunday we spent planting the new herb garden and some of the trees. Well it was a great weekend to plant if you are the plant, but not so great if you are the gardener. We had drizzle and light rain all weekend, so out come the wellies. We would then end up the day with a cup of hot tea to warm up before settling into a delicious dinner. It was a great weekend!
If you would like to see more of my photos from Candelaria (and there will be more as I am sure we will venture in again for more plants before it ends, please visit my flickr collection here.
No comments:
Post a Comment