Guatemalan Garden

Sally Kirby Hartman, ‘20 • April 12, 2022

I recently spent eight glorious days living in a garden in Guatemala – land of eternal spring.

This garden paradise near San Marcos la Laguna surrounds the home of author Joyce Maynard, who taught the memoir writing workshop I attended.

I was among 10 women writers living at Joyce’s home and spending our days in her garden improving our writing. Being a professional writer and admiring Joyce’s work for decades, I vowed to attend one of the workshops she has hosted for 20 years at Casa de Joyce.

Scattered around the lake’s shoreline are 11 towns accessible only by boat. Residents share a Mayan heritage, but each town has its own language with Spanish as a second language. “Atitlan” means either "the place where the rainbow gets its colors" or "between the waters" in one Mayan language.

Casa de Joyce’s garden in the Sierra Madres starts with reeds and roses at the lakefront and rises up along at least 100 winding stone steps. They meander through countless varieties of flowers, shrubs, vines and trees. There are two seasons here – wet and dry. It was dry season with daytime highs in the 70s when I visited in March.

Gardeners, Miguel and Mateo, kept busy watering, pruning and training vines into hearts and other shapes. Rainy season runs from May to October and brings daily deluges and what Joyce describes as an incredible greening of the garden.

Growing in the garden’s volcanic soil are giant versions of familiar house plants -- ficus, philodendrons and crotons. Interspersed in this riot of color are exotic plants like the blue jade vine. Much of Casa de Joyce’s garden is shady. But in a sunny spot near the lake, kale, herbs, oranges and other crops flourish and made their appearance at our meals.

Enjoy the photos below!