Half jokingly I stated that I wish I had some Google Goggles with me every time I go out to take photos so I know what I am photographing, especially when taking pictures of flora and fauna. Well, a few people in Facebook took over the task of determining the identity of the flower above … Read more
These colorful and strange-looking flowers are the gift of a climber plant known locally as Tumbergias (tunbergia misurense is the scientific name). Tumbergias are quite popular in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala. Tumbergias are also very popular with bees and bumblebees and the why is very obvious once you seen the amount of nectar … Read more
The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra) is very important in Guatemala. For one, the Ceiba tree is Guatemala’s national tree. There are Ceiba trees all over Guatemala. The Maya believed that Ceiba trees were portals to Xibalbá (The Underworld). Xibalba is described in the Popol Vuh as a court below the surface of the Earth associated … Read more
The price of flowers goes up exponentially around certain dates like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, just to name a few. A dozen roses is selling for Q60/$7.50 right now, while the normal price at the market goes from Q20/$2.50 to Q35/$4.50 for a dozen roses, depending on the quality and whether one is a … Read more
If you ever decide to hike the volcanoes around La Anttigua Guatemala, don’t ever forget to pay attention to the colors you find on your way up. The flora up there is unique and enchanting. I don’t know the name of these purple flowers, can anybody help? text and photo by Arturo Godoy.
Photographing green is an obsession for me. There is something about the way green looks when it’s captured by camera. I will always invariably shoot all things green. I captured this “palm umbrella” while I was at Panza Verde for Yoga class early Monday morning. I think the blurred white cupola and the rich, blue … Read more
Throughout the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto.com you can find many of the plants and flowers available in and around the Antigua Guatemala gardens. In fact, I even created the Guateflora category to host some of the findings. This week we will feed the Guateflora and Wallpaper categories with flowers commonly found in the jardín antigüeño, the … Read more
These mammoth green leaves are known as Quequeshque or Orejas de Elefante, Elephant Ears, in Guatemala because of its gigantic size. The quequeshque leaves size, of course, is not apparently obvious if they are presented like in the image above, without a point of reference. So, if you want to have an idea of the … Read more
Interesting enough, last year when I published the Guateflora series, I overlooked the jacaranda trees, which are omnipresent in and around Antigua Guatemala. Although, I did show you the Jacarandas at Antigua’s Central Park almost two years ago, on February 22nd, 2007. Well, perhaps it is the fact that gorgeous pale violet colors of the … Read more
First wallpaper download for 2009 from La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo (LAGDP). You can browse the wallpaper category to get the other 23 Guatemalan wallpapers for your computer available from LAGDP. Just two weeks ago I shared with you a photo red and yellow pascuas (poinsettias) and I mentioned that poinsettias were native to Guatemala … Read more
A simple shot to commemorate the sunshine, the purple, the ever-present spring and to revive the Guateflora series. This photo was taken at my favorite green house: Vivero La Escalonia. I wish everyone an easy starting week! P.S. I forgot to mention that we went over 700 entries six days ago; Today’s photo is the … Read more
Poison Ivy is without a doubt the most famous ivy in the family; especially after Drew Barrymore gave it human traits. I am not sure if we have poison ivy in Guatemala since I am not familiar with the plant. But, we have our own poisonous plant: Chichicaste. The scientific name is Chichicaste grandis and it belongs to the Loasaceae family, but here we just call it chichicaste. The chichicaste plant is used often in hedgerows and if you have followed this blog for a while, you will know that this is not the first time the chichicaste has entered the viewfinder. I know of two kinds of chichicaste, the regular kind and chichicaste de caballo (horse’s chichicaste), which has a leaf about three times the size of normal chichicaste.
The hoja de falsa uva (false grape) or Parthenocisus inserta as it is known scientifically is a trepadora (climbing) plant. In the trepadoras category the most often used are the hiedra (ivy), uña de gato (cat’s claw), falsa uva (false grape), collar de la reina (queen’s collar), and of course the ever-present bugambilea (bougainvillea). The trepadoras (climbing) category in the Guateflora book has 34 different plants, so I have homework to do. 😉
Hiedras (Ivies/Hederas helix & H. canariensis) are very popular as well as all kinds of trepadoras (climbing) or cubresuelos (ground-creeping) siempreverdes (evergreen) plants in La Antigua Guatemala. Hiedras and trepadoras are found in many antigüeño homes covering the gardens’ walls.
Believe it or not, the land around La Antigua Guatemala was a very ‘fertile’ arid zone before the introduction of the coffee bush as a crop in 1875. I know fertile and arid sound like two mutually exclusive words, but they were not in Guatemala before 18th century where the Nopal and Maguey cactuses were grown in plantations. I’ve even seen photographs of the nopal plantations around La Antigua Guatemala in the CIRMA Fototeca (The Photo Archives at The Center for Mesoamerican Research).