Poinsettias are autochthonous to Guatemala and Mesoamerica so they can be grown in gardens either by design or as wild intruders as well as in the fields as wild plants. In Guatemala poinsettias are known as Flor de Pascua, or simply as…
Last year when I shared with you the torquoise Strongylodon vines I mentioned that there was an even more rare color for …
What better way to show you the colors of the Eternal Spring of Antigua Guatemala than with the vibrant hues of the …
Today I share with you a panoramic vista of the Parque Central of Antigua Guatemala taken from the rooftop of the Palacio …
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Gato for cat. You would not believe the things I come across during the …
As I have shared with you before, flores de Pascua or pascuas, are the most popular Christmas floral displays. Poinsettias are also …
Chichitas amarillas, yellow nipples or nipple fruit, or Chichitas de Esquipulas are two popular name for this organic Guatemalan decoration found around …
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Pascuas for poinsettias. Scientific name: Euphorbia pulcherrima or Poinsetia. As I have mentioned …
You can never go wrong with the vibrant and exotic orchids of Guatemala. By the way, in case you didn’t know, Guatemala …
I just realize many of the flowers blooming now are either purple or lilac. That’s interesting, don’t you think?
You will not believe how many flowers are blooming right now in Antigua Guatemala. I wish you were here to enjoy all …
Pink hydrangeas are not as common as lilac and light blue hydrangeas in Antigua Guatemala. Well, at least I haven’t seen it …
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Hortensias for Hydrangea. Participate in the raffle for a chance to win a …
Imagine a place where the all-year temperate weather is pegged around 22ºC/72ºF the majority of the time and the flowers are blooming. …
As you can tell if you have been following the daily updates of Antigua Daily Photo for the last 14 years, I …
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Albahaca for basil. Believe it or not, basil is actually quite popular in the …
Here’s a close-up look at vibrant fuchsia bracts of the bougainvillea climber plant; definitely the most popular flower plant found in the …
We continue our close-up look at the flowers found in the gardens of Antigua Guatemala with camarón amarillo, as we know the …
Here’s a close-up look of another popular flower found in the gardens of Antigua Guatemala: Salvia leucantha commonly known in Guatemala as …
We continue our close-up look at the most common flowers found in the gardens of Antigua Guatemala with Hortensias the common name …
This week we will take a closer look at some of the most popular flowers found in the gardens of Antigua Guatemala. …
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Bugambilea for Bougainvillea. Even though La Antigua Guatemala is known as “the city of …
Even though we are under quarantine and lockdown national mandates, we still get a chance to enjoy the sunshine and flowers found …
The Strongylodon jade vines are commonly known as emerald vine or turquoise jade vine; although in Antigua Guatemala the popular name is …
As I have shared with you before, these vibrant yellow or maroon spotted with yellow strange-looking flowers are the gift of a …
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Orquídea for orchid. Did you know that Guatemala has more than 1,000 species of …
This particular flower (which most people in the US call hydranga) has an additional lesson for me. You can find them in …
Two small updates from Antigua Guatemala. I can’t believe that I hadn’t shared with you the flowers known here as camarones blancos, …
Strongylodon Jade flowers are vines similar to the colorful and strange-looking flowers of a climber plant known locally as Tumbergias (tunbergia misurense …
Is it the remains of rain or the dew from sunrise, what do you think? If you any of you guys are …
I never get tired of reminding you guys about the vibrant rich and saturated colours one finds in Antigua Guatemala year round, …
The izote tree, yucca guatemalensis, is the Mesoamerican cousin of the yucca tree or Joshua tree and one of my favorite plants …
To get us into the mood of the Christmas season that can be felt everywhere in Guatemala now, here’s the first free …
Don’t miss the orchid exhibition organised by the Asociación Guatemalteca de Orquideología at the Museo de Arte Colonial, 5a calle No. 5, …
Half jokingly I stated that I wish I had some Google Goggles with me every time I go out to take photos …
Gallitos, air plants, are found everywhere in Guatemala, especially so around Antigua Guatemala because the large tree population surrounding our enchanting and …
Climber plants are very popular to cover walls around La Antigua Guatemala as shown in Guateflora: hiedras. As you can see in …
These colorful and strange-looking flowers are the gift of a climber plant known locally as Tumbergias (tunbergia misurense is the scientific name). …
The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra) is very important in Guatemala. For one, the Ceiba tree is Guatemala’s national tree. There are Ceiba …
There are several jacaranda trees in Parque Central which make a gorgeous display of purple or violet during February and March when …
The price of flowers goes up exponentially around certain dates like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, just to name a few. A …
If you ever decide to hike the volcanoes around La Anttigua Guatemala, don’t ever forget to pay attention to the colors you …
Calla lilies are quite common and inexpensive in Guatemala; often you can buy a dozen for about Q10/$1.25. Think of it, I …
Today, I continue learning about the Guatemalan coffees. In the past I have mention how I thought coffee plantations were beneficial for …
In this photograph I try to captured the different ages or stages of the coffee berries. Since we are showing the different …
These are the hands the rock the coffee berries off the branches swiftly, almost effortlessly it seemed. There’s something about these hands …
Believe it or not, in La Antigua Guatemala we have flowers in our gardens year around. We also are lucky to have …
Repollitos are little cabbages and that’s what Jenn Klee used to call hortensias when she was a little kid. I can see …
Sometimes you live so fast that before you know it, life is over. Life is not a race that you want to …
It seems like this corner is good for the sale of exotic flowers, such as heliconias. Last time I reported on the sale …
Visitors can easily spot the Maya people dressed in rainbow colors weaving their way throughout the renowned colonial architecture of La Antigua …
La Antigua Guatemala is known as the Ciudad de las perpetuas rosas, the city of the perpetual roses. Well, surely you can …
Geranio is the Guatemalan name for Geranium, which is also known in Spanish as Pelargonio. Geranios or Pelargonios can be found with …
Oh life, you blink and it’s gone. A while back I read in the New York Times Sunday edition of the Prensa …
Pentas are among the most beautiful and prolific flowers in jardín antigüeño. In the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala you can be …
Julias are flowers that blossom all year long. Julias scientific name is Salvias spendens and normally can be found dress in salmon, …
Throughout the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto.com you can find many of the plants and flowers available in and around the Antigua Guatemala gardens. …
These mammoth green leaves are known as Quequeshque or Orejas de Elefante, Elephant Ears, in Guatemala because of its gigantic size. The …
I don’t know how it happened, but I had lost this vista of the Jacaranda trees in bloom at La Antigua Guatemala’s …
It seems like even Jacaranda trees want to be seen wearing the ever-present violet and purple color found over doorways, windows and …
Interesting enough, last year when I published the Guateflora series, I overlooked the jacaranda trees, which are omnipresent in and around Antigua …
I present to you the first güisquil, also known as chayote or perulero, from our back yard orchard. Güisquiles are such an …
There you go again thinking I am going to give you the recipe for Guatemalanness… wrong. But, I can do share what …
A simple shot to commemorate the sunshine, the purple, the ever-present spring and to revive the Guateflora series. This photo was taken …
Come on, just because you’re dead it doesn’t mean you can not have access to good coffee. This coffee field is right …
So what makes La Antigua Guatemala the best coffee in the world? To get the best cup of coffee of the world, one must start with the right altitude; somewhere above 1,500 meters above the sea level; add lots of fertile volcanic soil; mix in plenty of rain (about six months); stable temperate weather (about 75˚ F / 25˚ C); once you have the above, make sure you plant the best possible Arabica coffee.
Yesterday’s photo was a close-up of the coffee bush in the lower left corner of today’s photo. If you click on the image above you can the coffee bushes (the small trees) being harvested under the shadows of the Gravilea trees in San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. Around La Antigua Guatemala you can find coffee bushes everywhere, including as part of the hedges of La Compañía de Jesús ruins.
The other day we heard many voices on the other side of the fence; voices of children and women just talking and laughing. We approached the windows on the second floor to see what was all the commotion; then we saw men, women and children harvesting the coffee. At this moment, you can see the turning point of coffee from green to golden yellow and finally cherry red.
This kind of tree with its orange flowers is very popular around La Antigua Guatemala. According to the Guateflora book its name is Llama del bosque (flame of the forest) which brings me to an interesting fact between the English and Spanish languages. Forest in Spanish is bosque, but deforestation is deforestación. In English the root for the word bosque is still available as bosk for a thicket of bushes. Can you come up with other samples?
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. 😉
Falsa manía or Maní forrajero (false peanut) as it is known in Guatemala the Arachis pintoi is a cubresuelos (ground-creeping) plant used often in the garden of La Antigua Guatemala. José, our gardener, told me that you can also use it a trepadora (climbing) plant if you guide it. I really like this evergreen plant which flowers all-year-round a tiny yellow flower. According to the Guateflora book, it can grow anywhere and handles well people walking over it.
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).
You know you are in a Guatemalan home the moment you see the Colas de Quetzal (nephorlepsis spp.) or Quetzal’s tails (ferns) hanging in the corridors. The Colas de Quetzal bracken has to be one of the favorite ornamental plants used in the Guatemalan home. Some of these ferns or brackens are native to Guatemala, but they are considered cosmopolitan because they can grow anywhere. Colas de Quetzal can grown in hanging baskets, pots or in the ground, but they need some shadow to maintain the evergreen colors. The above photo of Colas de Quetzal was taken at Vivero La Escalonia (5a av. sur final), a very popular nursery in La Antigua Guatemala. Vivero La Escalonia is a great place to have breakfast or lunch.
We continue our Guateflora series with the omnipresent coffee bush or tree, which has manage to leave the coffee plantation to become a hedge. The coffee bush is one the most often seen plants around La Antigua Guatemala, but not often I’ve seen it used as hedge. The above photograph was taken at the Compañía de Jesús building, with the ruins in the background.
Gerberas (gerbera jamesonii) are a very popular flowers in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala. Gerberas are found in yellow, white, red (like the picture above), orange, purple and pink. Gerberas grow in temperate-cold climate and give their beautiful flowers throughout the year. This particular shot was taken at Vivero La Escalonia in the south part of La Antigua. (source for technical information: Guate Flora)
I don’t know why I have a fascination with the Izote tree, a member of the yucca tree family, also known as the Yoshua tree. Maybe its many arms and hands. Anyhow, I like it and its used often in the hedgerows around Antigua Guatemala. Its white flowers are edible and they are considered a delicacy. The izote tree flower is also the national flower for the neighboring country of El Salvador. You can see the white flowers right above the center of the photograph; you may need to see the larger version to actually see it. So far I have posted several photos of the palo de izote tree, but this one is my favorite.
