gardening in central valley, costa rica

I'm moving to Puriscal where the altitude is 3200. What type of gardening ideas can you share with me?

Hello sbruce, what a surprise, somebody near my house. I live in Atenas. Atenas is at 700 meters above sea level. Puriscal is at little bit higher. Actually in your place you can grow a large variety of plants. examples Ixoras, Bouganvilleas, croton, Hydrangea, etc. Please let us know what kind of plants do you prefer to have in your garden, so I will be letting you know from my experience here in Costa Rica what you can grow there.

Thanks Bignonia,
I love hostas, ferns, clematis, Japanese maples, but I know I'll love learning about new plants. Do you know of any gardening books appropriate for our area?A fellow gardener-- what a find!

A guide to Tropical Plants of Costa Rica by Willow Zuchowski
also Tropical ornamentals a Guide by W. Arthur Whistler (He works in Hawaii, but a lot of those plants are used here in our gardens.). You can buy those books in Libreria Lehman, Universal in San Jose downton Central Avenue. In those book stores you can find more books about gardening in Costa Rica.

You can grow Hostas also ferns. About Clematis and Japanase maples I am not sure. Here there are such diversity of vines to be use in pergolas. For example :like Mandevilla, Petraea, Pyrostegia, Solanum seaforthianum, Solandra maxima, Quisqualis indica etc. Also Rhododendrums.
Here in Atenas I have in the porch several hanging baskets with ferns. You have to water them regularly. I have to go to feed my 9 dogs. Hasta luego,
Bignonia

And a dog lover!! I'll have my husband look for the books when he gets to San Jose in 2 weeks. He'll be talking and gathering info to start building our house. I'm staying in Texas with the dogs! It will be so HARD leaving behind my gardens,but I'm constantly moving my plants from one area to another. A new beginning. How long have you been gardening in Atenas? sbruce

I am Costarican. I used to live near the internationl airport Juan Santamaria. I am biologist (botanist). I moved to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Kwajalein Island) for almost 5 years. Then my husband, daughter and I moved to Atenas. We have been here for almost 9 years. AHH I forgot to tell you, we adopted a female dog in Hawaii. So our Chichi also moved with us from Kwajalein. She died several years ago, she was killed by a car.

So plants are a passion for me! You will be very busy in Puriscal, there are so many different plants that you can grow there. We already started our organic crops of lettuce, onion, chives, beet, culantro, celery. You will be very busy here!!
I have to go, see you in the web

I'm above Lake Arenal at 650 meters. You'll be able to grow anything you want up there.
Go hunt yourself some heliconias , banana and plantain to get you started. Yuca grows from sticks too as do guititi, madera negro, guachepelin,indio desnudo,poro and many, many other trees..Those are the "Tico names" but it's all they use around here for the most part.
The only things you "might" find difficult are Papaya and Pineapple. Depends on your individual microclimate.

Bignonia. I'd love for you to come up to my botanical gardens and help me out ID'ing some ferns, native shrubs and things I'm having trouble finding in the books.
I have a lava view cabin you can stay in too.
Doug
Oasis of the Toucans.

Costa Rica... such memories!!! I visited there many years ago. My first memory was embedded when the plane touched down in Nicaragua. The foliage was SO GREEN!! Unfortunately, it was dotted with cardboard boxes which served as home for some. That was very sad. While in Costa Rica, I took a tour to the volcano Irazu. I felt like I was on another planet up there! I loved it. Back then food and trinkets were very inexpensive. I'm sure it's not that way now.

ToucanOasis you are in a lovely area. You can grow mostly any tropical ornamental that you want. To start, you can send me pictures to my email, so I can help to identify them. Phone number 2446-3344. Also we have at home a B&B.

Eclecticuno, yes Costa Rica has changed, prices are higher. You went to see Irazu Volcanoe, but I will highly recommend to visit Arenal Volcanoe where ToucanOasis lives. You can see an active Vocanoe. Even eruptions and lava running down the hill, you can visit hot springs and the more important thing is being in contact with the high biodiversity.of plants and animals that live in that region.

Eclectic. You can still get a casado....beans, rice, salad, carne en salsa and a fresco for 1800 colones. $3 or so and a large pizza with the works costs about $8 .A lomito....beef fillet, backstrap. You know, fillet mignon for $3.80 a lb.at the butcher here.

Bignonia. I give you a shout in the morning after I break out the camera.
Thanks !


This message was edited Jul 17, 2009 8:08 AM

Hi guys! I am thrilled that you have all found each other, and are getting in touch...that is one of the best things about DG. BUT!....please, for safety's sake to not put your phone numbers on open forums. That kind of info is best left to d-mails. If you don't know how to go about that, we can help. This forum is open to anyone, so I would suggest that you guys go back and edit your posts to remove the phone numbers. Not trying to scare anyone, just being prudent.

Yokwe,
Shari