Flowering Season has Arrived!

In bloom now: Species of Tabebuia with their blazing canopy of big flowers -yellow and pink blooms - Cortez Amarillo and Roble de Sabana - lighting up the forests and roadways; also, lacy blue Jacarandas, fragrant white Luehea speciosa, Sweet-pea pinkish Madero negro, and other trees ready to pop, especially species in the Melastrome Family and one of my favorite trees, Tucuico (Ardisia revoluto). Also, a slew of herbaceous plants are now in flower - bright orange daisies punctuating a delightful understory of Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thrysiflora), among many others. Scores of butterflies flutter up around as you move through the pasture trails.

Now’s the time to go hiking or driving along country roads in Costa Rica for the flowering tree show, which continues through April. When the rains begin, other blooms emerge, so the show never really ends. The difference now is the far more dramatic displays put on by deciduous – leafless - tropical trees during the dry, summer months. Pictures abound on the web, so northerners, go check them out!
Notably absent once again this season: we have not seen any of the creamy white Quebracho flowers (Lysiloma sp.s). They haven’t bloomed for two seasons now. They did produce a bumper-crop of seeds back in 2005, so perhaps Lysiloma trees need seasons to rest between bumper-crops.

The horses are living in spa-heaven now, with pasture feed & seeds and NO FLIES. They drink fresh spring water and take mud baths. Life is good for them right now. We love to go out riding first thing in the morning while the air is still fresh. We can hear the Toucans and Trogons singing their certain - I feel rain in the air - sort of song. And always more butterflies fluttering up and around us as we trot through the pastures.

Down below, the charrals are beginning to take on a more orderly appearance, now that the herbaceous plants have started drying out. You can see the trees shooting up everywhere. We’re going on our third season of forest regeneration in these sections. I never tire of wandering the charral - they are places of continuous discovery...

…ring, ring, ring… Time for breakfast!
And then it’s run, run, run - time to keep all the plates spinning, so we can get finished with the house already!

Our neighbor, Gabriella, came over walking with me last week and her parting remark was: “You won’t be done with this by March 15th.”
“Oh, yes I will!” I said.
“No you won’t” she laughed back, and then turned and trotted up the driveway, long, blonde ponytail bouncing jauntily behind her.
Gabriela is this Swiss German beauty who reminds me of the grown-up Heidi image from one of my favorite childhood books. Remember the little Swiss girl who went to live with her grandfather in the mountains? There were a slew of those Heidi books – just like the Nancy Drew series – so we all know that Heidi grew up and went away to College, and received her grandfather’s smelly cheeses through the post!
And Gabriela sort of reminds me of that book-image of Heidi…
Except Gabriela doesn’t hike! She’s Swiss but doesn’t hike! She prefers golf, etc.
Well, all I can say after our morning hikes together is that she hikes the mountain better than most people who say they are hikers!
Always so understated, the Swiss. Gabriela’s married to an adorable grump- kind of like GRAK - who insists that he is only an amateur entomologist, even though he’s conserving the most impressive tropical butterfly collection outside of InBio I have ever seen! All collected at Finca Hamadryas over the years. He even has a butterfly named after Gabriella! If you read German, you can read all about Finca Hamadryas on their web page but best not to link up without getting permission first else notoriously private Paul is liable to set his Rottweilers on me!