Re: Echeverias in Mexican Gardens
- Subject: Re: Echeverias in Mexican Gardens
- From: d* f*
- Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 11:24:59 -0800 (PST)
Pam,
I am certainly no expert on Echeverias or Mexico, but
have an interest in both, and was travelling in the
Mexican states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz and the
Federal District last January, and can't say that I
saw any Echeverias used in public gardens, (or
private), except one. In the town of Oaxaca, there is
a new public botanic garden being built at the most
prominent church in town adjacent the main plaza, and
the entry plaza in front had been planted completely
in Echeverias, in a post modern geometric pattern that
was in complete contrast to the more typical
plantings. If I remember correctly, the design was by
a local artist, and also used some of the local
bromeliad species as part of the pattern plantings.
The director of the botanic garden might be a good
person to talk to, I can't seem to locate his name or
email at the moment, but know that I have it around
somewhere. The plantings were doing rather poorly,
and had been planted in full sun in hard compacted
decomposed granite which was swept daily of leaves.
The idea may have been a good one, but the conditions
weren't really suitable to best feature the plants;
baked in the dry season and probably flooded in the
wet. I more often saw Echeverias growing as epiphytes
in trees along with Tillandsias on that same trip,
where they looked great, even during the middle of the
dry season. You might also try posting this to the
yahoogroup on echeverias.
Isn't the legend of the turtle an ancient Mayan legend
for what is supporting the earth, or am I confusing
that with the Greeks? I didn't see many echeverias
planted in private gardens while travelling in
southern Mexico, but that is not to say they aren't
still used, as most of my trip was out in the wilds
looking to photogragh Tillandsias and other species in
habitat.
--- p.k.peirce@att.net wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> Echeverias are one of those plants of higher
> elevations
> in tropical regions that thrive in California'a
> coastal,
> cool mediterranean climate. I have been researching
> their use in gardens, and have come across, in Eric
> Walther's big book on the genus, descriptions of
> their
> use in Mexican gardens. He says that they are (or
> were
> in the 1950's or earlier) common in public gardens,
> often planted in the shape of a turtle. I have not
> travelled much in Mexico, and wondered if any
> members
> have seen Echeverias used in gardens there, public
> or
> private, informally or formally arranged (maybe in
> the
> shape of a turtle). Walther hypothesized that the
> turtle
> shapes had some traditional symbolic meaning, but he
>
> didn't say on what he was basing that guess.
>
> In addition to past observations, if anyone is
> travelling there this year, I would love to hear new
>
> observations on this subject.
>
> I have been trying to find a Mexican horticulturist
> or
> botanist to ask this and a couple of other Echeveria
>
> questions, but so far, no luck. If anyone has a
> contact
> there, I would love to talk to them as well.
>
> Pam Peirce
>
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