We are in the tropics, but being at 5000 feet elevation means it’s rarely extremely hot. It isn’t known to freeze here. No wonder people say the Lake Chapala area, where we are, has one of the best climates in the world. We have bananas in several places on our 1000 square meter (1/4 acre) lot. Here’s our main banana patch:

Many plants that we knew as house plants in Colorado just grow out of doors here. Here you can see spider plants and philodendron. We also have a lot of coleus and geranium.

It’s not easy to get a good shot of the huge lychee tree that provides welcome shade for the front porch. It’s making new fruit now. Hmm, just thought that part of why I love it here so much is that we spend hours every day on the front porch — eating, talking with friends, reading, working on our laptops now that we have a wireless home network — and I have many happy memories of porches from my childhood in Maryland.

We have two kinds of bamboo along the side of our property. I’m no fan of ankle-threatening cobblestones, and heartily concurred when Kelly recently took out a lot of the stones to give this bamboo more room to expand. The little green shoots are quickly taking advantage of the situation.

This entry is for you, Chinle! You were practically in the yard with me as I took the photos!