Agave, avocado, cacao, chile, cotton, elephant foot, dahlias, milkweed, poinsettias, vanilla and zinnias are among 120 native Mexican plants spotlighted in a display garden just opened to the public under the auspices of the Museo Trompo Magico in the northern fringes of Zapopan.
“You don’t think some of these plants are from Mexico, but they are,” says Lydia Chapa, former president of the Guadalajara Garden Club, which has been working with the museum for 18 months in constructing the display, “Plantas de México para el Mundo,” (Mexican Plants for the World) within the Jardín Ecológico (ecology garden) located next to the parking lot.
In fact, Mexico is ranked fifth in a list of countries considered highly biodiverse – after Brazil, Colombia, China and Indonesia, the display points out.
Planned to be semi-permanent, the exhibit “Plantas de México” consists of an area that includes 80 growing trees, bushes, flowers and vegetables, an area in which aromatic Mexican herbs such as rue and mint are thriving, an area with signs depicting and explaining 40 Mexican plants that could not be grown in local conditions, and even a large area planted with milkweed that was especially designed to be a way station for migrating monarch butterflies, a couple of which were flitting around as visitors observed them on opening day.“One problem we have right now is with rabbits,” Chapa notes. “This time of year, there is no greenery in the fields, so we had to fence what we planted. The Mayans had the same problem and they planted food especially for the rabbits.” She pointed out the expansive barranca (canyon) behind the garden, which will eventually be a botanical garden.
Chapa was joined on the day of the display’s opening by a number of fellow members of the garden club, founded 60 years ago.
“The founding president of the Guadalajara Garden Club was Beulah Smith in 1952,” Chapa points out as she eagerly leads a visitor to see a “green roof” that museum biologists have constructed in the ecology garden. The green roof is an ingenious system of low containers made of recycled castoffs such as chopped rubber that insulates the building below from heat and cold and protects the house from humidity while providing excellent growing conditions.
Not all 35 members of the garden club turned out for the display’s opening, but those that did looked like flowers themselves, decked out in colorful clothes and beautiful parasols to fend off the sun.
“Some of our members are older women,” says one gardener, “so the museum botanists and agronomists did a lot of the heavy work in the sun.” She adds that the group has one male member, a professor. The garden club meets monthly at various houses or clubs and has workshops and talks focusing on design or horticulture.
“Plants of Mexico for the World,” in Jardín Ecológico next to Museo Trompo Magico, Zapopan, www.trompomagico.com.mx. Open Tuesdays to Fridays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Mondays. Free entry. (33) 3030-0030. Information on Guadalajara Garden Club or green roofs: (33) 3641-6282, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..