My Guatemalan Beach Garden

[Really full garden]

These photos are about two years old now and were taken by my architect so they are really just general landscape views and do not focus on specific plants

Inside my palapa -made from Sabal guatemalensis

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums....MG]

My front yard before the lawn

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Inside my palapa - Made from Sabal guatemalensis leaves on a frame of mangrove wood

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This is the entrance to the house-the side not facing the Pacific

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The view from my bedroom

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Coconuts and cycas circinalis and philodenron imbe

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Assorted crotons

[GREENHAND]

Man scott your place sure is awsome, looks like a great place to live. also that pool is killer, nice palms to.

[Tad]

sweet digs, I love the puking dog fountain!!

[Really full garden]

The puking dog is a copy of a very famous Colima dog sculpture. I also have a puking Mayan frog.

                                                                                                             Scott

[Tad]

sweet!!

[waykoolplantz]

I love the roof...both inside & out

Very different from Balinese construction...maybe more robust

[Palm Guy]

Wow...i'm envious of your lot! Great pictures.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Beautiful place you have there Scott!  I love the architecture and plants.  I was supposed to be up your way for Christmas (was planning on going to Antigua) but I decided to stay in Costa Rica and do some traveling around here instead.  Do you know much about Antigua?  Is it worth the trip?

[Really full garden]

Jeff, Antigua is a beautiful town.It has been rebuilt and destoyed by earthquakes for almost 500 years.The climate is eternally spring like.Now that I have mastered the elusive posting pictures problem I had, you will all get to see much more of this incredible country.

                                                                                                           Scott

[Jeff in St Pete]

Scott, please do post more pics of Guatemala!  I want to travel all over Central America and I'm trying to figure out where to go in each country.  Pictures always help.  So far I have only been to Belize, Costa Rica and Panama.  I still want to visit Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

[Jeff Searle]

Scott,

     Yea, you definitely have some nice views from your house looking out. The pool also is great. More palms?

Jeff

[paulgila]

(waykoolplantz @ Dec. 06 2007,17:21)

QUOTE

I love the roof...both inside & out

Very different from Balinese construction...maybe more robust

what is the roof made of?looks like they have a different technique than s.e.asia.

scott thats truly a dream-house.you are a lucky man.

[deezpalms]

What a gorgeous place Scott although it seems to lack something............ more palms!!  

[bgl]

Scott,

That's a great, and very unique design! Is there a town nearby where you live, or is this way out in the countryside? (I don't know much about Guatemalan geography, so feel free to fill me in on the details! )

Bo-Göran

[Al in Kona]

Beautiful unique house Scott.  The placement of palms and other ornamental plants is very well done.  While you may have room for more palms, you don't want to lose that nice ocean view or give the garden a cluttered look.  Is that Mussaenda flowering (pink flowers) in the front left of your house?  What city or region are you located?  

Many years ago we drove all the way from San Diego, California down thru Mexico and entered Guatemala from Tapachula.  Then we continued all the way to Panama City.  We took our time (6 weeks in all) and had a most wonderful experience.  As small and close together as they are, each Central American country is quite different one from another.

[Chuck B]

Real nice Scott,really nice.Are those Thrinax palms T.radiata,maybe they're indigenous to that area?I like the carpentaria too!Thanks for those shots.

[amazondk]

Scott,

That is a great place you have there.  I really like the roof thatching.  I assume that it is the type used traditionally in Guatemala.  Do you have any information on how it is done?

dk

[Gileno Machado]

Hi Scott:

Your posts and pictures are always very interesting for me. Those Thrinax (?) in the second photo look great...don't they burn the leaftips with saltspray (maresia)? What about the Wodyetia? The landscape of your garden looks beautiful...keep the camera busy, please...

[Really full garden]

Jeff and Dave - There are many more palms.This is just about 25% of my property and is the most photogenic.I am proud to say that I have grown everything from seed,cuttings etc.All the large palms were moved to the beach from my house 25km inland.I have a forest of Bismarckias,sealing wax palms,licuala spinosa.Dypsis onhiliensis,lutescens,pembana,decaryi,Syagrus amara,sancona,coronata

zombia,arecas sp.ptychosperma sp and many more I cant remember.

Chuck - the Thrinax is found in the northern province called Peten.It is not native to my area.

Bo - my house is very isolated.I am about forty km. south of Puerto San Jose or about three hour drive from Guatemala City(depending on traffic).All of my neighbors arrive in their helicopters.It only takes 15min by air.

Don and Paul - the thatching material varies depending on region.In the highlands grasses were used.In the Atlantic area other palm species are used.Mine is made from Sabal guatemalensis(mexicana)and lashed onto mangrove wood (harvested with a permit) or eucalyptus wood.These roofs can last 15yrs with yearly touch ups.I worked for Disney for a time and was fortunate to know many very creative people. My design is actually African.I will post some palapa pictures around my neighborhood.

Al - Guatemala reminds me very much of Hawaii.We have every climate and can grow everything.The markets are filled with every fruit and vegetable imaginable.We have dozens of varieties of avocados.You can buy rambutans,mangosteens,blueberries and peaches all grown in Guatemala at the same time of year.

                                                                                   Scott

[Really full garden]

Gileno -thank you.I too enjoy seeing your posts.As you know a beach garden is not easy.My garden has been a large(and expensive) experiment.I have had dissapointments (Roystoneas) and surprises.Caryota mitis is not considered salt tolerant but I have a giant clump that thrives.Wodyetias cannot take full beach exposure.Mine are further back.I have one fruiting now!I am experimenting with about sixty species and plant them with various exposures.I hope to share what I learn.

                                                                                                            Scott

[palmmermaid]

Scott,

Great place!  And what a view!  You've done a really great job.  I am swooning at your mention of a forest of lipstick palms!  

You are right about each country being so different.  I lived in Costa Rica for a year and visited every country except Belize while living down there.  At the time you coudln't get to Belize (it was called British Honduras at the time) except by air or boat.  The only place I didn't like was Panama.  Everywhere else was wonderful.  There is a park in El Salvador with a huge swimming area that is hot on one side and cold on the other.  Wonderful place.

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Kitty, it is sad that Guatemala always seems to get such bad press.Costa Rica is nice but does not compare to Guatemala.We have such a diversity in climate and cultures.More than twenty languages are spoken by different Mayan peoples.The ruins in El Mirador and Tikil are without rival.

                                                                                                                                     Scott

[deezpalms]

Scott can you please post some photos of your palm forests and collection?

[fiji jim]

Scott,

Great to see that you have mastered posting pictures.

Great pad and an interesting construction.

Keep posting.

Also your information about the airborne salt tolerance of some palms is very interesting as i have found the same with C.mitis here and believe that is because of good rainfall balancing out the salt intake as most of the onshore winds here are tradewinds that are accompanied with light rains.

Now I want to see Guatemala.

Jim

[freakypalmguy]

Awesome place Scott. Very cool. More pics please

[MattyB]

Whoah, Scott, that's a beautiful house.  A mansion really.  The images just take me away to another world. Thanks so much. Your landscaping is impecable.

[JakeK]

Scott, first of all I like the house, but to have a view like that from the house is awesome. You've got it made! Any plans for more palms?

[Really full garden]

Thank you all for the input.These photos are of the most developed part of my property.Most of what we consider rare palms are small and are planted further back in less than photo perfect areas.But I promise I will post more. I have hundreds of palms in pots just waiting to get to a size where my dogs wont trample them.

Jim ,we get no rain ,not a drop from Oct - April.My palms depend on hand watering and their roots eventually reach the water table at about 3m deep.

                                                                                           Scott

[Utopia Palms]

Hi Scott

First may I say you have your own first class resort there and the work that has gone in to it all shows! Very well done! And your palms look very happy and well looked after.

Q; with the roof (It looks great) was the thatching treated? in the pacific they normally light an open fire under the roof so that the smoke coats the leaves which keeps the bores and other intersects that normally eat the leaves, this gives them twice the life span of untreated material, they then get up to ten year plus life span from the roof depending on cyclones and other bad weather. Also they soak there main timber beams in salt water if they are from the coast, for up to 3 weeks this also stops any insects from damaging the timber, but if they are from more inland they use a fire and heat the timber over the open fire this also works very well and some of the timber lasts for over 40 years. I would love to see some more photos of your other property and of the local houses and thatching, thank you for the great photos.

Clayton.

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Clayton, making these thatched roofs(we call them ranchos) is an art.They do not treat the leaves in any way.They are used while still partially green and are lashed onto mangrove wood(traditonal),but this can no longer be used without a special permit.Eucalyptus is now commonly used.The wood is treated chemically for insect prevention and then marine varnish is applied.Sabal mexicana leaves are very thick and as long as they are able to dry between rains they can last 10 yrs or more.These ranchos need to be built in full sun with no overhanging trees. The finished product is much like a fine oriental rug.It should be beautiful on both sides.

On my beach there are many roof styles.Everybody wants something different.I hope to post pictures on this topic in the near future.

                                                                                   Scott