Sights of Spring in GTMO

View walking into plant nursery -- that is just a plastic flamingo in the tree!

Volunteers run the base "plant nursery" which is open every first and third Saturday. Base residents are allowed one plant (free) every month, so I've made a visit there frequently to take advantage of this opportunity.

There are probably about ten of these "plant pens" filled with baby palms, diffenbachia, candleberry, miniature pineapple, and other local species.


This month I selected a Cuban buttercup. Shown flowering in this photo, it should grow into a large shrub with lots of yellow flowers when it's transplanted. In March I was able to get a cutting of Cuban oregano which you can see in the corner of the planter in the photo -- the fragrance of Cuban oregano apparently is a deterrent to the banana rats which love to come into yards and eat vegetation so it's a popular herb to grow.



Mangos are ripening but it's a trick to get them out of the trees! We've heard stories about the Jamaican workers canvassing neighborhoods for mangos, coming at night with ladders, and stripping the trees bare of fruit. So far, this hasn't occurred in our neighborhood -- we just seem to have our share of fruit bats that swoop around at night, looking for something juicy to eat.


Some mangos just fall to the ground, but the most coveted ones are usually at the top of the tree. Vince wants to fashion a mango-grabber, but for now he's using a long stick in an effort to prod the fruit off of the branches. One was ripe enough to eat immediately, and it was wonderful! (Our neighbor, Jerry, is growing some Anaheim peppers, and he gave us several of them, along with a recipe for mango salsa which we wll be making in the next day or two.)



Vince found some plantains that had been knocked out of their tree, so we've been letting these ripen a bit. In researching more about plantains, apparently they may be eaten when green (tasting like potatoes), when yellow (tasting more like sweet potatoes), and black (when they are at their sweetest). They are truly a versatile fruit!


I decided to experiment with plantains at their yellow stage, so I sliced and sauteed them in a blend of olive oil and butter. They were delicious and did taste like an amazing combination of banana and sweet potato.


Plants and trees have been in a stage of dormancy over the winter months, even though the weather has continued to be warm. But in the last several weeks, new leaves have appeared, and flowering trees have blossomed. This bougainvillea growing among cactus is exceptionally vivid.

Spring is fleeting -- the days are slowly getting much hotter, although it can still get down to 68 degrees at night. Once the sun is up, though, the heat becomes intense and thick -- can't wait to see what it's like in June!