I’m just back from a week in Puerto Rico (Vieques is fantastic!) and wanted to share a few emails and comments that came in last week.

In response to a recent post on dividing heuchera for a new garden, Brooke Beebe, director of the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, offered a few suggestions on plants that do well in dry shade:

“Wild ginger (Asarum canadense)- our native ginger – grows well for me under the shade and roots of (I hate to say, but these huge trees were there when I moved in) Norway maples.
Please, anyone who reads this, NEVER plant Norway maple or its cultivars. It is extremely invasive and you will spend your spring ripping up countless seedlings.

“I’ve also had luck with American goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) although it is supposed to like a moister spot.”

And Brooke had a native plant alternative (she’s good at that) in response to a post on ageratum:

“There is an eastern native perennial called Mistflower (Eupatorium coelestinum) that looks very much like ageratum – it grows to about 2’ and is great for cutting. It likes a moist shady place, but does well in my mostly sunny garden. It is said to spread rapidly if it likes its spot, which would also make it a good groundcover if that’s what you want.”

In response to a post on ‘Ogon’ spirea, Mary Murphy wrote to let me know she’s also a fan:

“I enjoyed the photos of your Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon.’ I originally planted ‘Ogon’ for the beautiful, willowy foliage and chartreuse color, and also had no idea that it would have such spectacular Fall color. My first ‘Ogon’ has been in my garden for 3 years and is about 4 feet tall and wide. This season, I’ve added 4 others to my backyard and I am eagerly looking forward to the lovely white blooms in early Spring, followed with the gorgeous foliage. More people should be made aware of this easy and deer-resistant shrub.”

And I got a note from Ed Impara gently chiding me for using “dirt” when I should be using “soil”:

“When I was a student of horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, if we said ‘dirt’ we were told, ‘Dirt is what you sweep up from the kitchen floor; soil is what plants grow in.’ This was kind of a running joke and I still remember it to this day.”

Thanks Ed! I’ll try to be better on that one.

Now, back to Vieques. What a treat it was to step out of the dull gray days of late fall in the Hudson Valley and into a tropical paradise.

Hybiscus grow like shrubs there:

A closer look:

I had this mystery plant just outside my room.

Anybody know what kind of fruit this is?

Here’s a closeup of the flower and the fruit as it just begins to grow. Hummingbirds (I saw three kinds I had never seen before in the Northeast) were all over this flower.

Exotic cacti on the island.

Many beaches have these vines with flowers that look just like morning glories:

And palm trees, lots of palm trees.

But hey nobody’s going to Vieques to see the plants. It’s all about the beaches — some of the best I’ve seen anywhere.

And most of them are nearly empty this time of year, before the high season gets going. Even then, I understand you can find lots of private space at the beach.

If you look hard, you can see a couple of chairs in the far distance.

You need a car with four-wheel drive to get to most of the beaches.

Signs point the way. (“playa” means “beach”)

Yours truly, just before heading home.

With all this wintry mix coming our way, that smile is fading fast.