Guateflora: Hiedras (Hedera/Ivies)

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. The picture above is not very good, but this is the only one I had in my photo archives at the moment to show you ivy plant (I promise I will take more sample shots of climbing and ground-creeping plants). This hiedra shot was taken as a continuation of the Burger King’s fountain shot; which by the way has all kinds Guateflora plants growing on the walls of the búcaro fountain. Right above the Burger King’s fountain the ivy plant begins to cover the wall and it goes all the way to the second floor wall.

To compensate you for this horrible picture, I am sharing a link sent to me by my dear friend and commentator of LAGDP, Manolo, to a slide show of Vivero La Escalonia (La . Manolo took this photos back in August when he visited La Antigua Guatemala. Enjoy!

The Guateflora category takes its name on a wonderful compilation book by the name of Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens). The books compiles more than 400 photos of the plants most often used in Guatemalan gardens along with technical description about the plants’ categories, and how to grow them. Many of the photographs in the book were taken from gardens in private homes, hotels, restaurants, parks, green houses, mini-malls or on the streets around La Antigua Guatemala; this fact is what prompted me to try to take shots of the ornamental plants as I encounter them in my comings-and-goings.

Post cards request update: Four new post cards were found in my post office box on Monday. We received one from Downtown Minneapolis sent on October 1; another from Historic Romeo, Michigan sent on October 3; one more from Owego, New York mailed on October 2; and the last one from Grand Junction, Colorado. The four post cards arrived in GuateCity “La Nueva” on October 9 and it took almost a week to get to “La Antigua”. It is incredible that is takes almost the same time to travel the thousands of miles to get to Guatemala City as it takes to travel the 30 miles that separates La Antigua Guatemala from the capital; no wonder my bills are always late. By the way, my girlfriend and I are enjoying your post cards very much, especially the many different stamps. Please keep them coming! If you don’t know what I am talking about, please do read the entry Postscript.

Claudia says:

October 18, 2007 at 1:00 pm

ok – I’ve sent you mine today Rudy – . . . . coming from Long Island New York . . .

Pamela says:

October 18, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Well, I love the patterns this makes on the wall. Sooo, you have Hedera Helix Canariensis there do you? This Canarian form of ivy, you’ll normally find in the laurel forests here, one of the last little bits of which can be found either side of me in the Teno Mountains. Oh and my mother’s name is Ivy, she’s a florist. 🙂

Javier says:

October 18, 2007 at 5:13 pm

You keep on surprising me with your photos, love this patterns

Vie Lipowski says:

October 18, 2007 at 8:24 pm

It’s amazing to see how the plant makes the patterns.

Manolo says:

October 18, 2007 at 10:33 pm

I would never think about comparing my amateur pictures with your beautiful photographs. I feel honoured. On the other hand I see no issue with your hiedras nor with the picture. The contrast of green and red is great… this is one more excellent example of your “red period” that started at the end of September and still picked its head into October. Moreover, as you may have seen I love patterns and the one presented here is fabulous.

Rudy says:

October 19, 2007 at 9:18 am

Claudia, thanks for sending your post card. I will let you know when I receive it.

Pamela, boy oh boy, you have your canariensis radar on at all times. You don’t come by anymore, but the moment I mention the Islas Canarias, you show up like magic, even when I do it in cryptic Latin manner. Welcome back. By the way, I hope your mom’s first name is not Poison. 😉

Javier, thanks for the comment, but honestly I don’t think much of this photo.

Vie Lipowski, it looks like nature still has the power to amazes us, even with simple patters made by plants. Thanks for the visit and comment.

Manolo, my photos are not any better than yours and you and I belong to the same category of novatos. Thanks for the link(s).

Everyone, I am to apologize for being sort of absent lately. But I have my reasons. At the end of the first week of October I had my main computer go bad and since my secondary computer is barely good enough for email, browsing and blogging, I had to buy an emergency replacement. Needless to say the computers we use in the graphic arts industry are top notch and very, very expensive to acquire. On top of that, in Guatemala this type of computers are 30% more expensive. It will takes my wife and I a year to recover financially from this incident. Furthermore, it took me over a week to configure the new machine with all the software and tools necessary to produce top-notch graphic design and magazines. Like I said, I had my reasons.

Guateflora: Hiedras (Hedera/Ivies)

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