charliedoggett.net
Both my gardens and ones I visit
The last time I tried to count my Maraca Flowers (Shampoo Ginger) I counted around 52 of them! These are the ones behind my house in a very full garden area compared to another Maraca plant out front more in the open which flowers earlier than these and they are more red while these are mostly yellow. Having tropical gardens is a fun past time! 🙂
See also My Garden GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
One of my favorite tiny butterfly designs is on this Rounded Metalmark, Caliphelis perditalis. And it is rare to see any butterfly on a Plumbago flower because they are sticky and could trap some small butterflies like this one. But notice the intricate design on his wings! Another “Nature as Art!” 🙂 See my Rounded Metalmark GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
This only my second time to see this species of butterfly, Red-studded Skipper, Noctuana stator (linked to my Gallery) with the other sighting being at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica – that’s on the Caribbean side where I will be in September. 🙂 This time I saw it here in Atenas on one of my walks to town in that Zinnia Garden at 8th & 3rd where I’ve seen a lot of butterflies.
This one has been common in my garden in the past but not this year reminding me that I need some different flowers. This quick cell phone shot was made on a walk to town along Avenida 8 in that Zinna bed so popular with butterflies. I must add zinnas if I can find them! Not a common flower here and I’ve never seen them in any Vivero.
And that GALLERY: Tanna Longtail
¡Pura Vida!
Back on July 21 when I took Linda & Carlos Cobos to the Butterfly Conservatory, I was busy relating to them and did not photograph as many butterflies as usual there, but I did get 12 species! And best of all, one of those was a new species for me and my collection! it was the Consul fabius or Tiger-striped Leafwing. That common name is because when his wings are open, instead of folded as here, the top of his wings are black and orange striped like a lot of “tiger” butterflies but with different shaped wings that when closed look like a dead leaf for protection from predators! Only this one never opened his wings for me and we had to keep moving through the greenhouses. Maybe people look like predators to him! 🙂 But, regardless, I got my first photos of a Tiger-striped Leafwing! It is always fun to see something for the first time! 🙂
See all of my Costa Rica Butterflies GALLERIES!
246+ species!
¡Pura Vida!
I can’t find this in any of my tropical plants books or online, so I think is a foreign introduced plant and will try to get my gardner’s ID next time he is here. Most of of the time it is a dark green plant with white or cream bordered long leaves. Then occasionally it sprouts these long thin stems with tiny little yellow buds that finally open into a tiny white flower with a tinge of blue or purple and yellow stamens. These 5 photos are in order to tell the story of 1-green plant, 2-sprouting long stems with tiny flower and photos 3-5 gradually zooming in on the flowers.
. . . which is not an exact match to any of the online baby iguanas or baby basilisks, thus I’m not positive it is the correct ID. During a morning garden walk he was crawling through the ground cover plants, partly hidden. I’m always frustrated when I can’t make an exact identification, but that is the way nature is! 🙂 Here’s two shots and you decide . . .
This Heliconia Leaf seems to me to be gracefully bowing its head as the first signs of deterioration begin it’s final days with only a little touch of brown now and the folding of the once tall and straight green leaf. Nature as Art continues to inspire me as I find my own life slowing down and less capable than before. May I conclude my life as gracefully as this Heliconia Leaf! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See another Heliconia Leaf in a further stage of death that I used on the cover of a recent photo book titled Designed by Nature which you can preview for free online. Nature is truly graceful!
Several wrens have been checking out my severely pruned Triquitraque Vines or Flame Vines that I asked the gardeners to cut back and they cut way back! 🙂 Plus all the ground cover around them! Oh well – it will grow back and the vines are already sprouting new growth. But I think it is the open soil and not the sprouts that attract these Rufous-naped Wrens, probably looking for worm or insect food! 🙂 It has always been one of my common or regular birds year around and, though decreased recently, they seem to be returning in greater numbers now. Here’s 4 shots of these birds in their dapper plaid sport jacket! 🙂
When this first pot below was overflowing with Bougainvillea, I liked it contrasting against the white wall alongside the driveway, but now with Petunias, I decided that I like the “look” better beneath this greenery on my terrace and the taxistas like not having it along the driveway! 🙂
The other pot I had along the driveway was the Desert Rose and it hasn’t been blooming, so I’m trying a shadier spot along my garden walk, hoping it will bloom better there. Past logic was that with a name like “desert” it would like a lot of sun, and it actually did very well there for a few years, but is not blooming now. If shadier doesn’t work, I’ll try a larger pot next and maybe put it back in the sun. 🙂
And though not new, my BREAKFAST VIEWS are important to me!
And after breakfast I read the paper in these rocking chairs facing both hills and garden. All part of my joy of being “Retired in Costa Rica!”
That’s my garden terrace — always creating new views!
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Retired in Costa Rica!