Lately, it seems that I've been concentrating in featuring plants, structures and projects in the lower garden. What about the garden in the upper area of the farm, particularly the back side?
Although the upper garden plants have been sort of "neglected" they are doing just fine. For some reason they are more independent than their relatives in the lower garden. When it comes to nourishment, they are able to fend for themselves without much human help. This summer alone they have not received as much watering as one might expect they needed and yet they are thriving.
For the past several months we temporarily hired additional help to clean the garden area. As much as the plants are thriving well, so too are the weeds. In fact, the viny weeds have found good structural support from the taller plants almost to the point of taking over, threatening to choke them. So the task of the extra helpers were to clear the grass and weeds around and under the plants, remove dead leaves and trunks and other gardening stuff.
Much of the upper garden is the realm of the grazing animals particularly our small herd of sheep, a few cows and water buffalos. In the small areas where they are not allowed to roam are where the plants are growing.
In the places where the plants dominate, you will find different types of Heliconia, different palms (Foxtail, Manila, Fan, Traveler, Triangle, etc.), Norfolk Island Pines, Indian Masts ("Indian tree"), Plumerias, Ti plants, Alocasias, Cycads (Sago palm), ornamental bananas (Blood, Yellow, etc.), different ornamental gingers (Red, Red Torch, Shampoo, Beehive, etc.), Calatheas (Cigar, Rattlesnake), and somehow a lot of Crotons. Not to mention are some other plants, the names of some I do not know.
These are the plants that are currently there. The 'greening' of the garden isn't done yet. We will continue to add more plants whenever we could. As much as I'd like the garden to look like a jungle of tropical plants now, I'd have to be super patient since the plants with the capacity to grow tall are still relatively small.
If there is one particular thing that I am proud to say about these plants is that they look strong and healthy despite the fact that they are free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides.