Category: Garden

Both my gardens and ones I visit

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Exotic Flowers Hiding in My Garden

In the back corner of my garden beyond the big Heliconias and
behind these Red Gingers are some tall green, leafy plants, not flower-like.

If you get close, you see they kind of
look like tall, leafy stalks, similar to corn,
but that is not a corn cob in the back!
It is the flower!

If I stand on the hill above my garden and look down 1 of 4 is peaking out.

This is one full-grown Maraca or Shampoo Ginger Flower

Another Maraca or Shampoo Ginger

And a Baby Maraca or Shampoo Ginger

In my pre-move travels all over Central America I saw these unique tropical flower and always thought they were the most unique. Thanks to my gardeners and especially Alfredo, I now have a plant that has grown well and spread in my garden. I can now walk out my back door and see them, well, with a little searching!  🙂  They are somewhat rare and not available in all the Veveros (plant nurseries), but my good gardener Alfredo found one in his uncle’s yard for me! Be nice to your gardener and he will be nice to you!  🙂

I’m just starting my garden photo gallery but it has quite a few photos already!

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Old Man’s Joy: Having Gardeners!

A team of 6 young men come every two weeks to cut grass, edge beds,
weed, and trim shrubs, flowers or trees as needed. That’s Cristian above.
6 guys swooping over my yard in an hour. Neat! And at just $50!

 

They save my back and other potential aches and pains as well as time,
and they do it fast and very well. I am fortunate! And they are my friends!
This is Alfredo above.

 

My back garden is still the centerpiece, but the whole yard is a garden!
I love living here among the tropical plants with doors/windows always open!

I’m just starting my garden photo gallery but it has quite a few photos already!

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Dina Yellow Butterfly +

Dina Yellow butterfly
My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
On my “Once de Abril” flower

Dina Yellow butterfly
My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
On my “Once de Abril” flower
Unknown Insect, similar to a Green Orchid Bee except for red tail
Caught accidentally while photographing the above Dina Yellow
My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Here’s a Dina Yellow seen in my garden last year:
http://costaricadecisionprocess.blogspot.com/2015/05/leuce-yellow-butterfly.html

I know, I’m starting to repeat butterflies and even some birds, but hopefully the next few days will be fresh photos as I travel again. John Rasbury is here from TN and just bought a house here in Atenas to rent out as part of his income when he comes back later to retire somewhere in Costa Rica. The next four days we will be in Guanacaste (northwest corner of Costa Rica) where he will look at possible other rent houses in Tamarindo and Flamingo Beach. I’m tagging along and then we will be tourists and do a birding float trip in Palo Verde National Park on a river. Hoping for some new birds in a part of the country I have not been yet. 

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Simple Beauty

Heliconia Bud
The hint is almost as beautiful as
the exotic tropical flower that will follow
in my garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica.
Shot from my little garden bench by the door.
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Another Unidentified Butterfly/Moth

Unknown
In My Home Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Doesn’t quite match photos of crackers, black witch, duskywing or moths.

BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS IN COSTA RICA:

There are about 1,251 species of butterflies and at least 8,000 species of moths. Butterflies and moths are common year round but are more present during the rainy season. Ten percent of known butterfly species worldwide reside in Costa Rica.[13]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_of_Costa_Rica

And be sure to see my NEW Butterfly Photo Gallery on SmugMug with 46 species as of today.
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Maraca Plant Blooming

My “Maraca” plant as it is called in Costa Rica or “Shampoo Ginger” in Asia and the states in English has greatly grown with many multiple plants and now a first bloom for this year. Both photos are from the hill above my garden because the bloom is difficult to see from the walkway. I expect more blooms soon. This one was hidden by my ground-cover and spreading ferns until the gardeners cleaned them out (mixed feelings about that!).    Zingiber Spectablis

Maraca Plant zoomed in at 300 mm

Maraca Plant zoomed out at 75 mm

The following description is from:
https://livingfarmacy.wordpress.com/herb-identification/the-gingers/

Maracas

Shampoo Ginger, Zingiber zerumbet

Pharacology: carminative, digestive aid

In Hawaii the spicy-smelling fresh rhizomes was at one time pounded and used as medicine for indigestion and other ailments. To ease a stomach ache, the ground and strained rhizome material was mixed with water and drunk.  External: In traditional medicine, the rhizome was ground in a stone mortar with a stone pestle and mixed with a ripe Noni fruit to treat severe sprains. The pulp was placed in a cloth and loosely bound around the injured area.  For a toothache or a cavity, the cooked and softened rhizome was pressed into the hollow and left for as long as was needed. Perhaps the most common use of the plant is as a shampoo and conditioner for the hair. The clear slimy juice present in the mature flower heads is excellent for softening and bringing shininess to the hair. It can be left in the hair or rinsed out.  Hawaiian women often pick or cut the flowerheads of this plant in the forest, as they approach a pool or waterfall for a refreshing summer bath, leave the flowers atop a nearby rock, and then squeeze the sweet juices into their hair and over their bodies when the swim is completed .
And a better photo on Project Noah at http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/77046013