The Rangoon Creeper

The Rangoon Creeper is by far the most exotic plant I have in my garden, the name alone is more appropriate for a horror movie than a plant. The creeper or “jasmin manzano” (apple jasmine) as is know in my native Cuba, brings back memories of my childhood and my grandmother’s garden in the country.

The flowers change three different colors in one day, when they open in the morning they are white, by mid afternoon they turned pink, and at sundown they are bright red. In the early evening the flowers omit an aroma of fresh picked apples that is intoxicating throughout the garden.

The creeper has a negative side; it is very aggressive especially during the summer months. Every couple of weeks I have to give it a trim, otherwise it would climb on top of every neighboring plant and take over the garden. The seeds are also a problem, they are about half an inch in length and when they drop to the ground they all grow into new plants,
The Rangoon Creeper as the name suggest comes from the Indian sub continent and I am sure they were brought to the Caribbean like so many other plants by the Europeans in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds.

No matter how labor intensive this plant is, it will always have a place in my garden, it keeps me connected to the past and the woman that is responsible for my gardening genes.

Working around the garden this morning.

I performed the biweekly trim to the creeper; I also cleaned all the water fountains and the birdbaths. (not my favor gardening shore)

I also prepared my herb corner for the fall planting (I know it’s a bit early, but is good to dream of cooler days)

The herbs in the picture, are the only survivors from this past winter garden, they are a sorry sight. As you can see I like to keep all my herbs in containers, they seem to do better and I have the flexibility to moving them around.

Tomorrow I am heading to the Mango Festival at Fairchild Tropical Garden, I’m sure I will be drinking lots of mango smoothies to keep cool.