 |
| A neighbors up the hill has yellow & orange flowers blooming together. Click for larger image. |
Yellow Bells Begin Blooming
 |
| Dry season begins and these trees in my yard begin to bloom and if like last year will continue through March or April. |
 |
| I zoom in for the flowers because . . . |
 |
| They are on the opposite side of trees from my terrace where the afternoon sun shines, but maybe later they will bloom on this side too! Summer has begun! |
“Where flowers bloom so does hope.”– Lady Bird Johnson, Public Roads: Where Flowers Bloom
Busy days ahead!
Tonight I go to Su Espacio’s “Arts Festival” which is more of a dance recital. I’m the photographer.
Tomorrow, Thursday, I go to San Jose early to be fingerprinted for my residency application, which is no guarantee that I will get it soon, but at least it is in the process!
Friday I may have to help shop for any angel tree kids we have not received gifts for.
Saturday is the Angel Tree party in the morning and I get a rent car in the afternoon for my Sunday to Wednesday birding near Volcan Turrialba.
Then just a couple of more Spanish lessons for this year before I get a break from conjugations and verbs! I’m considering a trip to Nicaragua over Christmas but if I don’t do that, I will make the border visa run on December 30.
Simple Pleasure 4: “Mi Patio”
Mi Patio is simply Spanish for “My Yard.” It is more than just my flower garden. Only 4 shots:
 |
| I do selective pruning to keep my garden art bird visible. It is so full now that a major pruning will be needed by Dec. or Jan. |
 |
| Coming in from the driveway. |
 |
| Front yard from my terrace. |
 |
| Terrace view of the Guarumo (Cecropia) Tree which has really grown! |
My yard is truly a constant “simple pleasure” that I enjoy all the time I’m at home. Living in the country or in a forest, next to a national park was always a temptation to be in true wildness all the time, but it would require a 4WD vehicle in most cases, be further from healthcare when needed, and shopping which I could handle the easiest, and further from people, especially those who speak English which I also would like in some ways when my Spanish is better, BUT . . . I think this is the best of both worlds and I am in a small country town. I just need this particular simple pleasure of a garden yard to have nature around me. And a very comfortable house! 🙂
 |
| And there is always cut flowers for inside! 🙂 |
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.~Luther Burbank
Simple Pleasures 2: Walking Around Atenas
 |
| Walking in Atenas means new flowers almost daily – all kinds! A type of morning glory that just started blooming on one route. |
The temptation to get a car, motorcycle or bicycle comes and goes and hit me hard when we discovered a bone spur on my heel, but walking is still safer, more pleasant, and I see so much more!
The Maturing Garden
 |
| The garden is a full jungle now, needing pruning every month. This means the Tuti Fruti Verbenas border get most of their blooms cut off and thus not as many flowers on them now. While the Heliconias and Gingers are getting very large. Gingers constantly bloom, Heliconias are in down period. |
 |
| The Maraca or Shampoo Ginger has 5 new stems growing fast, but lost the 1 flower. |
 |
| The Triquetraque or Mexican Trumpet Vine is finally blooming but not covering the wall yet. Hoping for more. |
 |
| The extra large Heliconia plant lost its big flowers and now has 1 new one growing with more expected soon. |
 |
| This Costa Rica Petunia blooms profusely every morning with blooms dropping off in the afternoon. Interesting! |
 |
| One of the many Red Ginger blooms |
 |
| The favorite flower of the hummingbirds and butterflies for which I haven’t been give a name yet. Same one below, different color. |
 |
| Fewer butterflies now after the June-July swarm. |
 |
| The Blue Plumbago continues to bloom mucho as the background hedge. It now gets trimmed only on the front side, so only losing some flowers. |
 |
| One of the small Heliconias |
 |
| My gardener calls it Once Junio planta, 11th of June Plant, a nice extra gift plant he brought for my front yard. Has yellow berries too! |
 |
| The ground-cover I got sprigs of from the apartments has spread well around my small palms in the front yard. Nice bright blooms in morning which simply close in the afternoon. No name for it yet. |
 |
| The Pilea ground-cover in my main garden has complete coverage now. I think it is much better than mulch and the lizards like it. Hope not snakes! |
 |
| Another Heliconia opening up. They too bloom year around. |
And to see what garden looked like on the first day planted, just click the link for May 1 post!
And see a free preview of my little book in Spanish about the garden Mi Pura Vida Naturaleza Jardín
“God made a beauteous garden
With lovely flowers strown,
But one straight, narrow pathway
That was not overgrown.
And to this beauteous garden
He brought mankind to live,
And said “To you, my children,
These lovely flowers I give.
Prune ye my vines and fig trees,
With care my flowers tend,
But keep the pathway open
Your home is at the end.”
“God’s Garden”
― Robert Frost
Textures of the Rain Forest
 |
| While along the Yorkin River in a Bribri indigenous people village I captured several shots of the forest & its textures. East of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica |
All photos made by Charlie Doggett at the Casa de las Mujeres Yorkin
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
Frank Lloyd Wright
“I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony.”
― Gustave Flaubert, November
― Gustave Flaubert, November
More Garden Additions
Yesterday (Saturday) I took a taxi to La Garita to visit Vivero Central, my favorite plant nursery (largest in the country). Just walking through the place motivates you to work on your garden!
 |
| Kevin Hunter at Vivero Central in March, making a photo of course! |
My new garden art is on a tree stump with a hole in a root near bottom that just needed a plant
coming out of it! Pequeño (small) of course! This is what I came up with:
 |
| Garrobo en español, like a small stateside philodendron or caladium. Kind of snuggled into a crack of the tree base, like it would in the jungle! I was afraid a vine might get out of control or take over the garden. |
 |
| You just barely notice it at base of tree stump, but I like the use of that hole for a plant and think it makes the garden more interesting. Its an ongoing, creative process that is fun! And notice how my ground-cover has spread! It is pilea depressa or helxine soleirolii – wonderful! Next photo is up close of it: |
 |
| pilea depressa or helxine soleirolii ground-cover in my main garden |
 |
| I also got this small planter for my patio/balcony with a red flower that blooms year-around! Plus it attracts colibri (hummingbirds)! Didn’t get the name of it. You also see the crotons around one of my front yard palms and barely the ground cover I added there. Next photo of it: |
 |
| I haven’t even tried to get the name of this flowering ground-cover – love it! Got a few cuttings from the apartment manager and it now covers the ground around three different trees in my front yard. The crotons were already there. |
 |
| The aloe vera was getting too big for the narrow bed it was in, so it got a new home of its own in this pot at the end of walk by palma roja (red palm) and you can see I added some free coleus around the palm. Not sure that’s a good match, we’ll see. May move it. Had to plant it somewhere. This pot might later go on the balcony/patio, my medicine cabinet for burns! 🙂 And it had two babies, so I have plenty of aloe around. |
I also added two ferns in two bare spots which is another texture this tropical garden needed. And I got a new ceramic pot for my dining room plant which was in a plastic pot. Accomplished at lot!
And if you have wondered about the concrete wall behind my new garden, well, my house is built into the side of a hill. It is a retainer wall above which is the landlord’s driveway on one side (below photo) and a neighbor on the other side (above photo). I have planted Triquetraque or Mexican Flame Vine at top of the wall which will soon cascade down with beautiful orange flowers and cover the ugly concrete. I’m trying to be patient while it grows! 🙂 Photo below (22-July-2015 growth):
 |
| Triquitraque or Mexican Flame Vine will someday cover my back wall. The advantage of being the first one in a new house is I get to help design it! |
One of my “regular” taxistas (taxi drivers) is Nelson. He is learning English and helps me with my Spanish and I help him with his English. This is his second time to take me to La Garita and he is patient waiting on me shopping. In fact he walks around with me and seems to enjoy it. I pay him above the going rate for this trip to make it fair for an hour and half+ of his time. And I now have a favorite helper at Vivero Central named Francisco (who gave me the coleus). He is so good at helping me and does pretty fair English and puts up with my Spanish, so more good local friends/helpers. And a tip will assure good service next time. Its my second time with Francisco and he has already remembered me! La Garita is halfway between Atenas and Alajuela and is the plant nursery “capital” of Costa Rica, 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) east of Atenas through the mountains and over the Rio Grande.
It is always exciting to open the door and go out
into the garden for the first time on any day.
– Marion Cran
Pura Vida Gardens
After checking in my jungle hotel Thursday, I drove 6 km up the dirt road to a beautiful garden:
 |
| Gardens carved out of the rainforest, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and threatening rain, near my hotel on a dirt road buena vista |
 |
| Miles of paved or maintained trails with every tropical plant imaginable! sendero del jardín |
 |
| You know you are still in the jungle! Technically it is the last remaining “Transitional Rainforest” in the Americas, transitioning from the dry forests of Guanacaste and the montane forests near Atenas to the lowland rainforests. selva de transición |
 |
| What I hope my “Maraca Plant” will look like in a year or two! Also called “Shampoo Ginger” or in Spanish plantas jengibre But local Ticos call it the Maraca Plant which is the name I’m using. |
 |
| And hoping I get several blooms like this next year! flores jengibre |
 |
| Many unknown to me flowers like this and too many to show here! Desconocido para mí |
 |
| A Water Hyacinth like we had in The Gambia Eichhornia crassipes |
 |
| One of the many Heliconias like I have in my yard My blooms are dying out now and will return in the dry season I’ve been told. Heliconia L. es un género que agrupa más de 100 especies de plantas tropicales |
 |
| On the edge of Carara National Park just like my hotel grounds. Tomorrow’s post! Parque Nacional Carara |
 |
| And a view of Manantial de Agua Viva Waterfalls, one of tallest in Costa Rica. I was going to hike to bottom, but decided safer to not do it solo! Maybe later! |
The Pura Vida Gardens website with short video clip: http://www.puravidagarden.com/
Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.
~Rumi
Sidewalk Flowers in Atenas
 |
| This Bougainvillea is in Roca Verde where I begin my walks. Most other photos are in Atenas Central. Except for church yard, all flowers are in front yards of local homes, small and large. All homes have flowers! And this is just a small sample of what I see every day! |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Atenas, Costa Rica |
Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly
 |
| Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Polydamas Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
|
 |
| Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly, Atenas, Costa Rica |
My garden is so much fun! And beautiful! When I run out of new things to photograph in it I guess I’ll start traveling more. 🙂 And by the way, I’ve been photographing butterflies here since 2009. Check out some of the others in my Butterflies of Costa Rica photo gallery. And if you enjoy other interesting insects, I have a Insects of Costa Rica gallery also. And you wondered, “What in the world do you do every day way down there in Costa Rica? 🙂
And my new butterfly book arrived today at Aerocasillas from Amazon.com.
“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.”
― Robert A. Heinlein