charliedoggett.net
Both my gardens and ones I visit
This Dark Calephelis, Calephelis velutina (linked to my gallery) seems to be fairly rare, with this being my third sighting and not very many have been submitted to iNaturalist CR or butterfliesandmoths.org. This one was in my garden while the last one was in the neighborhood on Calle Nueva. And my first sighting was in Cartago Province at Guayabo National Monument. Here’s two different views of this Metalmark Family butterfly species from Monday in my garden . . .
¡Pura Vida!
My life has been cram-packed with “remarkable moments” and experiences, both good and bad. One of the many reasons for moving to Costa Rica was to slow down with nature and sort of let my final years of life just “fade away.” A quote in a blog that I read said . . .
“Busyness and fear constrict us in youth; fresh air and nature free us in old age.” ~Anne Lamott
And so I yearn for days with nothing planned or no where I have to go. A leisurely breakfast and coffee with the online newspaper is a perfect morning, followed by a walk in the garden. Even with all the wind right now, meaning few or no birds or butterflies, there are always plants and flowers or buds like I shared yesterday or a gaze at the surrounding hills, a cow across the street, or another amazing palm frond contrasting with the evergreens as it just fades away. And so today I rejoice in the unremarkable! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
And these 6 little buds on the end of one stem of my Desert Rose plant will make 6 beautiful flowers, all clustered together. This plant just keeps blooming, year around. It looks like it probably needs a bigger pot, but I’m afraid to mess with it! 🙂
See my garden gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
The tall plants I had that were blocking the sun, not only stopped some other plants from flowering but seemed to kill my Elephant Ear plant (for a lack of sun) and I loved those! Well when the gardeners were removing the tall plants, one started to remove and dispose of the tubulars (dead trunk of Elephant Ear plant) left from the only Elephant Ear plant I had and another gardener told him “No, new plants will grow from those dead tubular remains.” Well, he was right! And quickly they have started growing from the remains of my old plant. Here’s two shots of the new Elephant Ears growing out of the remains of the old one. 🙂 Nature is amazing!
¡Pura Vida!
You might enjoy looking at My Garden GALLERY!
Trying to eat from a hummingbird feeder in my garden. And pretty badly damaged on one wing. The Blomfild’s Beauty, Smyrna blomfildia (my gallery link) is a fairly common butterfly that I usually see a couple of times a year. Just one shot . . .
¡Pura Vida!
A couple of years ago my gardeners planted this Cigar Calathea, Calathea lutea (linked to Wikipedia). It has many other cigar names which I guess is because of the cigar-shaped flower, but the leaves are not used for cigars! Rather, they are used for the presentation of food in some restaurants or to wrap food to go. It was surrounded by other tall plants like the Ti Plant, but I had those removed because they blocked the sun and flowers below would not bloom without sun! Here’s a series of photos made this week, with a couple earlier showing un-shredded leaves.
When watering the other day this Tropical Buckeye, Junonia zonalis (linked to my gallery) was hanging out on and around the water hose. So I had to go get the camera! 🙂 The Buckeye has always been one of my tropical favorites since the first one I saw in the Florida Everglades many years ago. There are 3 or 4 varieties of the Buckeye, but all are similar and this is the one we have here in Costa Rica. Here’s 3 totally different views of this “Hose Buckeye” . . .
. . . for me! Not rare or that unusual, but the first one I’ve seen. Photos of 235 individuals in Costa Rica are posted on iNaturalist. And a lot from all over on butterfliesandmoths. Saw him today at midday on my Cecropia Tree. Not seeing as many butterflies or birds with the continued high winds. And it was a strong gust of wind that had him flying away too quickly to catch a shot of the top of wings which are dark brown with bright orange in the middle. Orion (Cecropian) – Historis odius are his English common names & scientific name. The common name here in Spanish is Mariposa lumbrera (Light Butterfly). And even in the wind, there are many nature discoveries to be found! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Not real common, though I’ve seen at least 3 other times in my garden, the Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cupido comyntas (linked to my gallery) has before been almost totally blue on top with less brown than this one, but with research, I’m confident that this set of photos is properly identified, even though Ceraunus Blue has more brown like this, it has a totally different set of black dots. Plus one article says that females are more brown, so maybe this is a female! 🙂 And all photos are of the same individual. Plus, interestingly, every time I’ve seen this species, it has been in grasses and never yet on a flower. 🙂 Here’s 3 photos . . .
The Parrot’s Beak – Heliconia psittacorum is one of several subspecies of this one family of the many Heliconias! It is small and adds a delicate touch to any garden. Plus it is purely tropical and I like it! 🙂
For more flower photos see my Flora & Forest galleries.
¡Pura Vida!