Adventures in Landscaping

While the Heron House itself is now finished, the landscape around it is very much a work in progress. Luckily, plants and trees grow fast here, so it won’t take long before things start to fill in and soften the edges.

So far, we’ve planted cacao, bananas, plantains, coconuts, limes, and oranges. There’s still a garden to put in, and the waterfront area needs more attention, but we’re getting there. Landscaping here isn’t about instant results—it’s about working with what the land already wants to do.

For the shoreline, we turned to what was already thriving along the lake. We harvested plants growing naturally out of the rocks—no soil, constant wave action, and somehow doing just fine. Locally, they’re called mata de piedra, or “stone plants.” Botanically, they’re Anthurium schlechtendalii, sometimes known as Pheasant’s Tail.

These plants have a long history of use in traditional medicine for things like inflammation and pain, but the leaves can be toxic if not prepared properly, so we’ll stick to admiring them rather than consuming them. Used the way nature intended, they’re perfect for what we need: adding beauty to the shoreline and helping stabilize the rock wall against the constant movement of the lake.

It’s slow,  soggy work—but there is something satisfying about shaping a landscape using plants that already belong here, ones that have been holding their ground against wind and waves long before we arrived.