I understand that Bonaire has not had a proper rainy season for over 2 years now, longer than I have been here.  It certainly was very dry and dusty when I arrived in September 2014 and we had some reasonable rain in November of that year, luckily after the containers had been unpacked and the belongings moved under cover.  But it dried up fairly quickly in the following months.

The previous winter (rainy season) had been very dry and it had been a long dry summer.  This year, the rains have failed more than last year.  We have had only one real day of rain since Christmas Day!  That may sound like bliss to those of you in Western Europe who frequently comment on the deluges including the recent Storm Katie.  But here things are suffering, plants and trees not doing well and it must be tough on the donkeys!  Sadly it will get tougher until the autumn rains come.

Here a lot of the vegetation is very hardened to the dry conditions.  Some of the trees will actually flower first and then put out leaves.  The idea being that they will try to reproduce, possibly at their own cost, before they try to survive and grow.  So one rain shower at the right time of the year and suddenly some trees will blossom for a few days and go back to being bare again.  I wonder how many time they can do that without jeopardising their survival?

Plants in gardens are a lot more fortunate as the owners will provide a limited amount of irrigation – water is expensive here.  Living alone means I do not produce much sewage for my septic tank which in turn provides grey water which I feed to the plants.  So I am using the mains for 5 days a week, 30 minutes at a time, distributed via hosepipes and thin feeders to drip nozzles at each plant.  This small amount of water. distributed across 1,000 sq. metres of garden has amazing results.

The challenge will be to extend the irrigation to the other 1,000 sq. metres of my plot, without spending incredible amounts on clean irrigation water. I have a separate septic tank system for that plot but as the apartment is not in full usage, it only generates occasional waterings. I have made a start using a sprinkler for occasional short watering but I need to harness everything, including the overspill from cleaning the pool filter (or my flooding the pool!).

So, if I am to save my garden, perhaps you should think about visiting me and having frequent showers and flushes of the loo!  I will be fitting Pay as You Go meters on the toilet and shower doors to help supplement my water bills (I will contact Ryan Air to see if they still have some left after they were refused permission to install them on their planes – reputedly!)

The pictures below are of most of the flowering trees and shrubs currently blooming my garden.  Some of the smaller plants have been overlooked/not included.

From top left, we have the Bougainvillea, the Frangipani, Oleander, Geiger Tree, Cossie (Acacia Tortuosa) and the Chinkswood or Watakeli (Bourreria succulenta).

or Acacia

Chinkswood.