Flowers of the Yucatan

I like flowers and plants. My Granda won gardening prizes way back when and it's probably through him that I like the idea of gardening (even though I don't have a garden). So, whenever I'm off on my trips I keep my eyes open for interesting plants or even just pretty flowers that can be found anywhere.

Jungles tend not to be very flowery. They're more often than not gloomy and moist due to the overhead canopy in the tropics - I found this very strange on my first real jungle trip (in Borneo years ago) since I'd been raised on 'Tarzan' and 'Road To...' films that always had lots of exotic flowers to add atmosphere. In the case of the Yucatan, the jungle was full of half dead looking trees that selfishly soak up all the moisture from the ground. Flowers are either small or only inhabit the edges of the jungles and forests. But there are always flowers somewhere.

The hotel had lots of flowering plants scattered around the grounds, the colourful leaves of crotons and true busy lizzies, bromeliads and what looked like varieties of mysembrianthiums that only open their flowers in the full sun. And lots of varieties of palms.

There was an orchid and bromeliad nursery at XCaret that was a welcome relief from the harsh, hot sun on a stiffling afternoon. I always associate orchids with the Far East but, of course, there are varieties all over the world (we even have our own native varieties here at home). I like orchids - they make me think of Buddhist temples in Thailand where the altars are garlanded in strings of orchids. And water lillies always remind me of Lord Buddha whose first footsteps were on lilly flowers to prevent his purity from being contaminated by touching the ground of Mara. And gorgeous bourgainvillea dripping in shades of red and purple. I'm not sure where some of these plants originated - are they local to Mexico or imported? I need to find out.

This blog entry is just to show off lots of nice flowers. I hope you enjoy.