The Garden of Charity and Carmen (I)

By: Dr. Martin Luis López Doctor of Geographical Sciences, biogeographic and Specialist Landscape protection and conservation.

Another place of interest in the garden Viñales is popularly known first as the Garden of Charity, and today the name of two sisters, Charity and Carmen. Its origin is curious: a familiar idea, the fruit of love of family members of the general nature, including plants. It all started early last century, when a marriage is made up of descendants of Africans and Chinese, reflecting typical of the different roots of our population, began to plant trees, brought from near a, the mountains others, as well as plants from ornamental gardens that no longer exist or forests that once covered most of their own area or hummocks. Gradually he conveyed the love and passion for nature to their modern descendants.

Today arouses admiration to see this work, created with few resources but with a record of daily work for many years. This was the beginning of the current garden, which today continues to grow slowly. Its owners, Charity and Carmen, two octogenarians today and loved by the community, keep a piece of history not only of the garden, but also of Viñales and lifestyle of those times. The pace of life here is like a family and lived in the middle of last century.

It is located on the outskirts of Viñales, in the direction of the community of San Vicente and the hotel of the same name. It's easy to get there. Take the main road passes by the park and the Catholic Church and three blocks down, on reaching the fuel dispensing station known in Cuba as Cupet, the road splits in two. Take the left, where it is common to find many people waiting to take a vehicle.

The garden is recognized by the presence of tall trees. A few meters you will reach a two-page paperback door hung with seasonal fruit, taste of what is inside. It is common to visitors of all ages inside.

More often visit the garden any time of day, but it can also be done at night. In both cases the journey is fascinating, but the experience is different.

If you visit during the day is common in the door, next to fruit hanging on it, small and harmless lizards in green or brown, (Anolis fulcatus and A. sagraei, etc.), feeding on them. When you go inside the house is reached along a small inlet surrounded by Sellaginella sp., Showy plants with ferns and relatives whose color can be green or blue depending on the angle from which to observe.

Some friends or relatives serve as a guide during the tour. Welcoming stand two aged cedar (Cedrela odorata) over 20 meters high and covered with beautiful representatives of the family Araceae (Scindapsus aureus), large and small glossy leaves, green and white, commonly known in Cuba as taro garden. Next to one of these cedars is a magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), a species that was introduced from the southern U.S. to decorate the gardens of the hotel San Vicente, near Viñales, in which place there are still some copies. Its flowers are large, white, showy and fragrant, especially at night. Today, only few of these specimens are located in Viñales, with very limited distribution in Cuba. In the high mountains of central and east of the country is an endemic species of this family (Magnolia cubensis), but smaller flowers.

Vegetation covers the house almost all of it curiously decorated and tiled roof which is flanked by tamarind trees, oranges, tangerines and showy shrubs and climbers of flowers, ranging from purple and red of the Bougainville (Bougainvillea spectabilis and B . glabra), until the blue stony (Petrea humilis), the yellow Alamandas (Alamanda cathartica and A. neriifolia), red or white of hibiscus (Hibiscus rosasinensis), and pink or white of franchipanis ( Plumeria sp. different), all of which grows in apparent disorder. For some it is also known as the famous writer Dora Alonso, as "the garden crazy?.

They are also the entry and spread throughout the garden ferns of interest, mainly for their beauty or their property. Among the former are members of the genus Cyathea, known as tree ferns. Trees can be seen on two members of the genus Polypodium, Polypodium aureum and P. polypodioides. Both are used, according to local tradition, to combat liver disease. Regarding the latter, is not usually seen on trees, especially in the summer, limp and apparently dead, to put it in a basin of water after a downpour, regains its freshness in a few minutes completely changed the physiognomy of the forest in the garden.

Next to the entrance is one of the most important plants in Cuba and known throughout the world. It is the only of our plants declared a National Natural Monument since 1980. It belongs to a family with very few species represented in the world, each of which is a rarity worldwide. This species lived with the dinosaurs, huge reptiles now extinct Jurassic, reaching us in spite of the great cataclysms of the Caribbean. It looks like a palm and it is not. It reproduces by cones. His name is Microcycas calocoma, popularly known as Palma Cork. The name does not reflect their true appearance, as neither is small (micro) and is a much less a Cycas palm. Quite a curiosity.

Everything described belongs to the front area, where they are most ornamental plants, which can be planted in small beds, on the ground or in pots hanging on the walls of the house. The color comes from the multicolored flowers and leaves of the crotons (Codiaeum variegatum), groundwater (Plectranthus scutellarioides) and Chinese madams of various colors (Impatiens wallerana), among many other plants.

It is also the area of ​​the garden where the trees have been placed numerous ornaments, especially toys. In addition, most fragrant plants are near the entrance, drawing the attention of passersby, which is accentuated in the evening and early hours of the night. Once inside and visited the first part, the temptation to go inside and into the forest is irresistible. The rest of the garden will be described in the next article, in which some of the known species of orchids that populate this place and individual trees of this curious place. We invite you to visit the garden. You will not regret.