Mexico: HUMMINGBIRD HILL RANCH - B&B: Bamboo & Bananas

Bananas and Bamboo took off like fire on the Hummingbird Hill Ranch.

The ram and I developed the plan and stuck to it. Well, I certainly did! I suspect that the ram stuck to his part of the agreement only because of the electric fence so cleverly separating our territories. 
In any case - I had been exiled to the upper parts of the ranch dominated by The Bamboo Forest and Banana Grove. 







To be honest: I had no complaints about that for both of them are not only photogenic but, from the human point of view, they are also extremely important species of the plant kingdom.

But let me tell about the Bamboo forest  first.

Carlos and Tisha planted the young bamboo seedlings about five years ago. 
They planted them in a large circle and the tiny stems grew with a vigor rapidly creating walls of a green tower several meters tall. All one had to do now, was to squeeze in between the now thick stems and, like in a fairy tale, disappear into an entirely different world. 
Like Alice in Wonderland!

Dark, silent world awaited, somehow different from everything I knew before.

Up above, the sky darkened and it began to rain.

Some rain drops made it down all the way onto the bamboo tower floor. Only some. 
Most lodged themselves onto the leaves above, leaving me, and my camera, dry. It felt like being unborn as yet!

As if some unknown energy radiated from the plants into the tubular space in which I stood.


All of a sudden an idea popped into my head and, camera in my hands, in that invigorating space I started to slowly dance. 


I understand your skepticism but I was there! 
That's how the bamboo made me feel. No drugs!

By the time I finished my SD card had been filled with hundreds of images and designs. 









Only some worked at the end, but the entire exercise was like a deep, relaxing meditation.
The rain stopped. It was time to leave.

Banana grove was different. Banana plants stood in rows, like good soldiers ready for inspection. Some were blooming and producing fruit at the same time. When did they plant them? Three - four years ago? Only?

Banana plants always look a bit unkempt and these made no exception. There were drying and dead bits and pieces hanging off the trunks. Leaves, green, yellow or brown were swaying in various directions and the ground underneath was littered with leathery sheaths of banana blossoms.

Banana bud and fruit.

It is no easy task to explain the structure of the banana blossom and fruit formation. 

Basically, the purple bud consists of layers of colorful leathery bracts that can unfold upwards; one by one.
Underneath are the flowers - some female, some male. 

As if descending a ladder the bracts creep downwards, opening as they go. In their wake appear layers of fertilized flowers that rapidly develop into green fruit. 
The banana.

There are many kinds of bananas - some good for eating, some great for cooking or frying. And many sites in the vast world of the web explain that the banana flowers are full of vitamins and nutrients beneficial to human health.

When all is done, the thick bracts fall off and they quickly rot on the humid ground below providing fertilizer for their own and their fellow plants alike. Ingenious!

As if all that were not enough the faithful banana offers also its leaves: for many purposes, a serving or cooking dish, a shelter, an umbrella - just check it out for yourself.

Amazing how much can one learn thanks to a horny ram! I packed and left to join the friends. Ram was nowhere to be seen. Only Rocky and Rambo, father and son, were still faithfully waiting for me at the gate of the electric fence.

Stories from the ranch