The Establishment of a Botanical Garden for Medicinal Plants in Tihosuco
Phase 2 ñ Obtaining plant material and establishing the garden, with
identification labels 
Work on the garden began in June 1999. At this time the rains had come and plants grew prolifically. The first (and continuous) job was to clear weeds, which had quickly covered the ground. A few plants were left, which were commonly used by herbalists, officially establishing the first medicinal plants in the garden (such as Xk'anal, Hamelia patens Jacq., in the Rubiaceae family, the tallest red flowered plants seen in the picture to the right).
The
villagers decided that new soil was needed to supplement the old soil in
the garden. As some of the medicinal plants would originate from the wild,
they needed the benefit of the surrounding woodland soil to become established
and thrive, a common practice for new wild plants imported into local gardens.
(This was no doubt due to the mycorrhizal and other soil-plant interactions).
A truck was organised in June to drive with a group of volunteers along
the Valladolid-Filipo Carillo Puerto highway. Along this road was a spot
which had previously been partly cleared by fire, allowing easy access to
the soil.Hands and shovels set to filling the truck. The soil was then brought
back and unloaded just inside the museum grounds. Over the next few weeks
the soil was barrowed and spread over the garden in a 5-10 cm thick layer.
The original idea for obtaining the plants for establishing in the garden was to propagate them from seeds and vegetative parts gathered from local gardens and the surrounding area. Their best form of reproduction was determined by Juan Tun from the University of Merida. Some seeds and vegetative parts were gathered during interviews in April and early May. The seeds were sown in polystyrene modular trays obtained from the university. Seventeen different types of seed were sown, but only eight germinated, with varying degrees of success. (Even a couple of these turned out to be weeds!). However, the plants which survived aroused a certain amount of interest (and amusement) from the informants, and they facilitated the next stage of developing the garden.
A day was organised on 29th June 1999 for planting the garden. In addition to the informants, other interested villagers and pupils from the local schools were invited along to help. A representative from the Museo de la Cultura Maya in Chetumal, the main state museum of which the Tihosuco museum is a part, was also invited to attend.
The problem with informal planting in the garden was that many new plants were established which were not seen within the interviews conducted earlier. Each visit to Tihosuco brought more samples back to Merida for identifying, and required more questioning for developing the book of information which continued to grow (see next section 'Phase 3').
However, this situation was partly unavoidable due to the seasonality of some plants. The original interviews had been conducted in the dry season. At this time many plants were either unavailable (such as annuals) or dormant (in the case of some perennials). A wealth of new plants appeared with the coming of the rains in May. However it wasn't until late summer that some plants had grown enough to enable their identification. Some plants needed to produce flowers before their true identity could be determined. This continual work resulted in 275 plants being mentioned in the book, many more than previously anticipated.
Meetings were held at least once a month for talking about the progress of the garden, and for determining what still needed to be done. The meetings usually involved a tour of the garden, when new plants established there could be discussed.
A plan was made of the garden, which changed many times during my time there. Some plants died and were replaced by others. Repeats were reduced within the garden itself, and the extras were planted elsewhere within the museum grounds. Also some plants went missing (it was unavoidable that children would stop playing where they were used to within the garden area).
The medicinal plants were not restricted to solely within the garden, but were planted throughout the area of the museum grounds, to allow them to clamber up trees and to be shaded from direct sunlight (important for some ferns and orchids) and to increase the planting area. Also, an initiative of Carlos' to construct stone lined raised beds extended the official area of the garden.
Botanical labels were made for about 65 of the plants by a company in Merida. Funding was limited for this project, although it is hoped that more funding will be raised to allow the 200 plus plants to each have their own individual label. They were made from black/white plastic, cut to 10 * 15 cm in size. The label states the common vernacular name of the plant, its scientific name, the family it belongs to and its main uses.
By the 19th November 1999, which was the last day that I went to Tihosuco, the garden still had work to be done on it. The labels, although made, had yet to be mounted on stands and placed within the garden. A few spaces still had to be filled in the garden, and some of the raised stone beds still needed to be filled with soil. But to the visitor, the garden looked near to finished, highlighted with wooden frames by the trailing plants to allow them to grow upwards and flower in full showy glory.
