New Pot Plants

When they start looking “scraggy” I like to have a fresh start! And I recently did that with these two pots, one outside and one inside.

The inside one has had several little palms from the beginning that never lasted more than a year, if that long – evidently needing more sun. So I replaced the palm with a Monstera deliciosa, also known as the Swiss Cheese plant, which is in the philodendron family and can better handle the lack of sun, as already shown in one of the shady areas of my outside garden. A nice tropical change from the palms that kept dying!   🙂

I don’t remember the name of the green plant we removed from my outside frog pot, but it evidently needed more water than that little pot could hold and kept turning brown. So it has been replaced with a type of fan palm that is supposedly easy to grow. But with a smaller pot, I still need to be more frequent with the water!   🙂   And the green plant removed is now doing well in one of my outside gardens!

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Monstera deliciosa or Swiss Cheese plant
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Fan palm in frog pot.

 

“A dried plant is nothing but a sign to plant a new one”
― Priyansh Shah

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

 

See also My Home Gardens Photo Gallery and for the inside if my house:

My Rent House in Roca Verde  Photo Gallery.

Esmeralda Longtail Skipper

This little blue-tinged skipper butterfly died in my house the other day and as frequently happens, was another new species for me. I’ve seen a lot of Skippers, as you can see in my Butterfly Gallery of over 100 species now, but never this one before. He can be seen from Mexico to Peru one website says, though I can’t find much detailed information on the species. I identified him through my trusty guide book:  A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, second edition. 

“The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel.”
— Claude Bernard

¡Pura Vida!

Gazing?

When I watch an animal gazing like this I cannot help but wonder, “At what does he gaze?” Us humans tend to think he is looking for food, and maybe he is – but could he not also be gazing at some beauty unseen by me? A Rufous-naped Wren in my Guarumo Tree during my breakfast.

Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul.

~Michelangelo
My BIRDS Galleries
or All of my GAZINGS in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!

Golden Shrimp

Not at a seafood restaurant but in my garden! It’s English name is “Golden Shrimp Plant” and it is a beautiful heavy-bloomer year-around, at least here where we have year-around Spring! The last additions to my garden included one of these plants and I love it.  Read about it on Wikipedia or since it is used in gardens in the states during warm weather, read more on this Master Gardener website.

 

“Hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold.”
― John Muir

 

More flower photos in my Flora & Forest Gallery.

World Day for Cultural Diversity
Thursday May 21, 2020

¡Pura Vida!

Green Orchid Bee

He’s revisiting my garden and thus I’m posting some new photos of a favorite bee here. See my Bees Gallery for some better photos made earlier or posted on earlier blog posts linked below. And if interested in reading about this Central American bee, there’s a good history on Wikipedia.  (People in Florida are trying to introduce them there.)

 

¡Pura Vida!

Unidentified Flying Bug

He was showing an interest in one of my dried up flowers in the garden the other day and I have not found a name for him yet – just another interesting creation of God!

“Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? And what creature of all that the Lord has taken the pains to make is not essential to the completeness of that unit — the cosmos?”
― John Muir, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf

¡Pura Vida!

See my “Other Insects” Gallery for more fun bugs.

Yellow-Green Vireo

This is one of several birds I saw at breakfast this morning including a Lineated Woodpecker, Blue-gray Tanager, Clay-colored Thrush, White-winged Dove and some unidentified flyers. But this is the only one I got a photo of and my second time to see this species here. One of my guide books says they come as breeding visitors Feb to Oct. It is a sparrow-sized bird very much like the Red-eyed Vireo which is less common here.

I saw the other one March 28 on Calle Nueva with not as good a photo, but you can see it in my Yellow-Green Vireo gallery. Or read about them on eBird with a map showing where they are found. Happy birding!

 

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Yellow-green Vireo, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

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Yellow-green Vireo, Atenas, Costa Rica

 

“Not humans, but birds often witness the most beautiful mornings in this world!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

¡Pura Vida!

P.S.

And oh yes, if I haven’t said yet, “Rainy Season” or “winter” (my favorite time of year) is well under way here with rain or showers every afternoon. I love it! Cooler, fresher air and so much greener! My garden loves it too!    🙂

Today is The Day!

The day for all of us to count birds where we are to help science better determine the stability of our fragile planet. Today, 9 May 2020 is GLOBAL BIG DAY of counting birds.

Find out how at:

https://ebird.org/news/global-big-day-9-may-2020

¡Pura Vida!

 

And after you have counted bird, check out my collection of BIRDS photographed from around the world!

And here’s an interesting NPR article shared by Larry, especially for those who are noticing their birds more – read or listen to at:

Do Those Birds Sound Louder To You? An Ornithologist Says You’re Just Hearing Things

 

What to do with gift bananas?

My gardeners made a special trip over today with three new plants to freshen up three pots, two outside and one inside. I may show them later, but after completing the job they gifted me with a bunch of bananas (probably from one of the yards they service) and I had just bought some yesterday! So – extra bananas!

I keep them in the frig because earlier I had bats eating my bananas in a fruit bowl on the counter, so they will keep – but I still need to eat them more frequently this week. Thus I had a banana split after my spaghetti dinner tonight! Small dips of different kinds of ice cream: Fig, Rum-Raisin, and Chocolate Mint with chocolate syrup and two cherries on top! Betcha you never had that combination! Pretty good!   🙂

Yeah, in Central American Banana Republics we eat a lot of those!   🙂

¡Pura Vida!

 

Read The Washington Post stories that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize   Especially the one explaining climate change!