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Some Americans here probably still call it “Torch Ginger,” the common English name, but I’ve always preferred the Costa Rican Spanish name of El Bastón del Emperador. And since I started walking with a Trekking Pole, most Costa Ricans call it my “Bastón!” 🙂
I noticed the other day, within sight of my terrace, 3 different stages of the ginger flower: bud, baby flower and mature flower. So here the are in that order . . .
On many days it seemed that these were the only butterflies that could manage in the wind, and many had broken or damaged wings. See more of this most frequent Swallowtail for my garden in the gallery: Polydamas Swallowtail. It now looks like it will be mid to late May before the winds slow down enough to allow for more butterflies.
¡Pura Vida!
The wind is slowing down a little and that helps to see more birds and butterflies like this White Angled-Sulphur (my gallery link) photographed day-before-yesterday in my garden. This is a typical folded wings sideview showing a little greenish hue, while the top view is bright white with bright yellow patches under the two dark spots. See that in my above linked gallery, which I was unable to capture this time.
or “El Mejor Clima del Mundo,” is the slogan of the town of Atenas, where the temperature stays in the Fahrenheit 70’s or Centigrade 20’s year around! It is usually windy just January to March, blowing in both regular dust and sometimes volcano ashes, which are black, making them obvious. Dry season is December to April or May and Rainy Season May to November, with April and November called “shoulder months,” meaning that it could be either dry or rainy and this April, also windy, which is not normal.
When I walked out of my bank across the street from Central Park on Tuesday, there were no other people by the city sign (unusual), so I did the touristy thing and made a selfie in front of the sign, which I haven’t done since it was first installed. The ATENAS letters have colorful drawings of places and activities in Atenas, while carved in stone beneath the name is the weather slogan: EL MEJOR CLIMA DEL MUNDO, which is also on the back of all Atenas buses.
We were suppose to have a big rain last night and I hope it will be the early beginning of the rainy season, which is my favorite time of year here with most days having only a couple of hours of rain in the afternoon or evening, and everything is greener and more beautiful! Plus that is when I see & photograph more wildlife including butterflies! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Amateur video in español . . .
Amateurish, but it does show a lot of Atenas including the county villages . . .
¡Buenos dias! Good Morning! I hope you missed my blog post yesterday! 🙂 It was not more computer problems or too much AI, but I simply did not make a post yesterday and will not every day any longer. Some people wonder what old people do with their time while I wonder why I seem to never have enough time! 🙂 Just daily life seems to fill every moment, not to mention the many appointments and daily tasks I must complete, a lot related to my health and basic things that just simply have to be done! 🙂
Lately I have also been strained to see enough birds and butterflies in the continued high winds to have enough photos for a daily blog along with the busy schedules and sometimes just being tired. Plus I don’t want to force a poor photo into a blog post which has been done. So I will continue to share nature photos when I have some that I really want to share, which just may not be every day. Though when I travel there will always be photos to share every day for a while! 🙂 Now today’s share . . .
In 2017, in this same month of April, my next-door neighbor and artist friend, Anthony, left to go back to the states, hoping to get an art teaching job (never happened). I bought his small flower pot with a small Desert Rose in it. Unfortunately I made no photos of it until this one in 2020 (3 years later) when it was still small as seen here between the larger Crown of Thorns and Bougainvillea, both of which have since died and the Desert Rose has more than tripled in size! 🙂
Today most visitors I have at my house are amazed at the growth, beauty, healthiness and longevity of this Desert Rose plant that has always been on the east side of my casita in direct morning sun until maybe 1+ pm. My head gardener has never seen such before! And he stares at it on his every-other-week visit. They are hard to find in any plant nursery here. The photo below was made yesterday. And it keeps blooming every day, 365 days a year for nine years now! 🙂
Note that in the above two photos you can see a sort of bulbous base to the plant. That is to hold water for when no rain as this plant is native to dry North Africa and the Middle East. And also in the 3rd photo or feature photo, there are almost always buds next to each flower ready to replace it when that flower wilts or dies. Google’s AI summarizes this plant as follows:
“The Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) is a succulent originating from arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Madagascar. It thrives in full sun (6+ hours) and requires extremely well-draining soil, such as succulent or cactus mixes. It is best grown in pots in warm, sunny, and dry conditions, with minimal water in winter.”
In some ways, it is a good model for retirement life! And I hope I continue to “bloom” in whatever way possible for the rest of my life here in beautiful, tropical Costa Rica! 🙂
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anais Nin
More flower photos: My Home Gardens GALLERY
¡Pura Vida!
And how you can grow a Desert Rose . . .
¡Pura Vida!
We haven’t always had the “South American” part of this one’s English name, but just like with birds, names of butterflies are always changing and that challenges the hobbyist to keep up with the names! 🙂 See the others I have photographed in my Cloudless Sulphur Gallery with some from many locations on both slopes of Costa Rica, but as with everything, the more recent ones are from my garden. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This is one of the few hummingbirds not totally chased off by the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, though he is only an occasional visitor to my Porterweed Flowers.
See more of this species in my gallery: Blue-vented Hummingbird.
And two more totally different shots . . .
Continue reading “Blue-vented Hummingbird”
¡Pura Vida!
It was still windy when I captured this very determined butterfly feeding on the flowers. Maybe the worse part of the January to March constant winds blowing here is no butterflies! And somewhat also my allergies to the constant dust blowing in! 🙂 But the Polydamas Swallowtail (my gallery link) seems to be one of those few tough (or strong) butterflies who can fly in the winds and is maybe the most seen butterfly during this time period. I do also see some Banded Peacocks and tiny brown Skippers in my garden, but only occasionally, plus way up in the trees are some Yellows that seem to stay high, with almost no other butterflies. But that will start changing in April & May as the winds stop and my peak of butterflies in my garden is May to September! And yes, that is the rainy season. Just one shot of this Polydamas.
¡Pura Vida!
I’m rather late with my monthly flowers report, but that is because of all the photos from the 3 day trips with my Canadian friends. Below this one email photo is a gallery of a dozen shots. Click one to see it larger. Enjoy my tropical paradise!
The last of the three day trips that I participated in with my Canadian Friends was to the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve better known here for its Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel where we had breakfast after a couple of hours of birding. And the clouds never lifted or burned off the entire time we were there. Click the first page of that gallery below to access it or if you prefer an address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/Birding-at-Villa-Blanca-Cloud-Forest-Reserve
¡Pura Vida!