Posted in Casita Colibrí, Food, Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, tagged cactus, Dragon fruit, flowers, garden, Hylocereus undatus, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Pitahaya, succulents on September 4, 2014| 12 Comments »
Remember the night my Pitahaya (aka, Dragon fruit) blossom was ready for her close-up? Three months later, here she is…
Though there is fruit, flowers continue to put on their bloomin’ after-dark show.
Their beauty never ceases to enchant.
From terrace to table…
My version of “farm fresh.”
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Flora, Gardens, Science & Nature, tagged carrion plant, garden, green bottle flies, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Stapelia gigantia, succulents on August 30, 2014| 4 Comments »
This has been a good year for my stinky Stapelia gigantea.
Feather-light blossoms open to reveal zebra-striped, hairy flowers. Apparently, to carrion eating insects, these tiny soft white hairs resemble mold growing on rotting meat — a disgusting thought!
And, to complete the putrid package, the flowers smell like rotten meat.
An odious odor only a green bottle fly could love.
Posted in Animals, Casita Colibrí, Gardens, tagged African Tulip trees, Árbol del tulipán, birds, Colibríes, Flame Trees, garden, hummingbird, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Spathodea on August 6, 2014| 3 Comments »
The African Tulip Trees (Árbol del tulipán) are in full leaf and bloom, adding an explosion of greens and red-orange to the view from Casita Colibrí…
… and providing the colibríes (hummingbirds), who give my apartment its name, a home, playground, and 4-star restaurant.
Posted in Environment, Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, tagged Azucenas, flowers, garden, lilies, Mexico, night blooming, Oaxaca, photographs, photos on July 2, 2014| 4 Comments »
The azucena is a variety of tuberose and its name is familiar in Oaxaca. A popular boutique hotel near Casita Colibrí and a well-known restaurant at the entrance to San Martín Tilcajete are both namesakes. This must be a special flower. It is! A few evenings ago, I went out onto the terrace to soak in the view, as lights came on in the city, and discovered azucenas blooming in an old planter box on the terrace wall. Another night bloomer joins my pitahaya and night-blooming cereus.
As Judy Sedbrook at Colorado State University, Cooperative Extension, explains, flowering plants on The Night Shift take over as the sun sets. They are often white or light-colored, to better reflect the moonlight, and exhibit a heady scent, both in an effort to attract their night flying moth and bat pollinators.
I love these sweet-smelling nighttime surprises!
Posted in Agriculture, Casita Colibrí, Gardens, Science & Nature, Travel & Tourism, tagged cactus, Dragon fruit, flowers, garden, Hylocereus undatus, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Pitahaya, succulents on June 4, 2014| 16 Comments »
Several mornings ago, after a day and night of rain, I went out on the terrace to check on the garden and found…
Yikes, one of my Pitahaya (Hylocereus undatus – aka, Dragon fruit) had bloomed overnight! Must be a relative of my other Night Blooming Cereus.
Two years ago, the original cuttings had been laying in the campo of a friend in San Martín Tilcajete. When Chris (Oaxaca-The Year After) asked if we could have some, the answer was, “¡Por supuesto!” Loving the wall of Pitahaya at Centro Académico y Cultural San Pablo, six months later, with the original five cuttings becoming fifteen, I could use them to begin to screen the chain link fence at the new Casita Colibrí. I kept pruning and sticking them in the planter boxes.
June 2, 2014, 8:40 AM
And now, they have begun blooming. Having missed the “night-blooming” of my first flower, I was determined not to miss the unfolding of the second blossom, seen above near the top of the pole, providing the weather cooperated. It did!
June 2, 2014, 7:20 PM
June 2, 2014, 8:40 PM
June 2, 2014, 11:00 PM
By the next day, it had closed, never to reopen again.
June 2, 2014, 2:54 PM
However, there will be fruit…
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Science & Nature, tagged butterflies, Electrostrymon, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, sedum, succulents on May 7, 2014| 2 Comments »
Yesterday, a new visitor arrived on the rooftop garden. Naturally, I wanted to know the name of this tiny guest who seemed to love my sedum. After searching page by page through my Smithsonian Handbooks: Butterflies and Moths unsuccessfully, I spent hours this morning combing the web. I think my new friend is from the family Lycaenidae (Gossamer-winged); subfamily Theclinae (Hairstreaks); tribe Eumaeini; and genus Electrostrymon. However, for the life of me, I can’t figure out which species — while the markings match, the colors don’t. Any lepidopterists out there who can help?
As for what he (I’m pretty certain it is male) was doing on the sedum — he was rubbing his wings together. For this, I did find an answer. According to the Learn About Butterflies website:
Hairstreaks usually have a pattern of lines or stripes on the underside wings. These, in combination with ocelli ( false eye markings ) and short tails ( false antennae ) act to divert attention away from the head, and towards the outer edge of the hindwings. By oscillating the wings, the tails are made to wiggle like antennae, further increasing the illusion that the butterfly is ‘back to front’. Attacking birds will always aim at the head of a butterfly, but are tricked into aiming at the tail. The butterfly is thus able to escape in the opposite direction unharmed. Another reason for wing-rubbing is that male Hairstreaks have patches of specialised wing scales – ‘androconia’, located on their upperside forewings. Sacs at the base of these scales contain pheromones. Rubbing the wings together helps to disseminate the pheromones, which attract females and induce them to mate.
Maybe there will be some springtime courting on the terrace….
Posted in Casita Colibrí, Gardens, Travel & Tourism, tagged African Tulip trees, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Tulipan on October 16, 2013| 6 Comments »
On the one hand, headline from today’s New York Times, Viewing U.S in Fear and Dismay. On the other hand, the view from my balcony.
One of the last African tulip tree blossoms of the season. Ahhh…
Posted in Gardens, Holidays, Parks & Plazas, Travel & Tourism, tagged Christmas, flowers, garden, gardeners, holiday decorations, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, plants, poinsettias, popular travel destinations, zócalo on November 27, 2012| 4 Comments »
Today, the truck arrived, the wheelbarrows were loaded, and the gardening crew began filling the flower beds of Oaxaca’s zócalo…
Navidad is coming to Oaxaca!
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Science & Nature, tagged Araneidae, Argiope, Casita Colibrí, dragonfly, garden, Mexico, nature, Oaxaca, orb weaver, orb weaver spiders, photographs, photos, spider on September 6, 2012| 5 Comments »
Monday morning, I went out onto the terrace to hang the wind chimes back up (too loud for sleeping), pick up spent African tulip tree blossoms (20 to 30), and say buenos días to Argiope (previously mentioned spider).
Hmmm… all was definitely not “as usual” in the spider’s web. Argiope, what in the world is going on?
Good grief, she had caught a dragonfly! It must have been quite a battle, as her web was a mess and now she was trying to wrap it up.
This was serious business for her and she worked at it most of the day. However I had to chuckle, as sayings from childhood rose up from the cobwebs in my brain — Your eyes bigger than your stomach. Have you bitten off more than you can chew? Pick on someone your own size!
Monday evening, she finally gave up and let it loose from her clutches. When I retired for the night, the dragonfly was hanging by a thread.
By the next morning, the remains of the dragonfly had fallen onto the patio and Argiope was sitting happily in her newly repaired web with a more appropriately sized breakfast.
Mother Nature is amazing!
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged Araneidae, Argiope, argiopes, Casita Colibrí, egg sack, garden, Mexico, nature, Oaxaca, orb weaver, orb weaver spiders, photographs, photos, spider on August 30, 2012| 5 Comments »
Warning: If you are an arachnophobe, read no further!
Remember Argiope, one of the orb weaver spiders who hung around Casita Colibrí’s garden from September of last year through January of this year? When last seen, she was laying eggs on my screen door. Alas (or perhaps, thank goodness), a workman who was coming in and out of my apartment must have brushed her and her eggs away, thus relieving me of answering the question, “Do I really want thousands of little spiders beginning to explore the world from my screen door?”
However, I suspect that wasn’t her first attempt at motherhood. One day this past June, I was surprised to find…
Argiope’s daughter? That is what I would like to think! And she is just as beautiful as her mother…
… both back (above) and front (below).
And, she is just as good as catching her lunch! I watched as she finished wrapping up the unfortunate fly above. I guess she needs all that nourishment…
Another generation of Argiopes in waiting! And, as I write, the hunting continues…
More to come? La vida may be loca, but on it goes!
Posted in Buildings, Churches, Gardens, Weather, tagged African Tulip trees, Casita Colibrí, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, Templo de San José on July 4, 2012| 4 Comments »
Late yesterday afternoon; outdoor room (aka: my terrace) with a view. Ahhhhh….
And, despite the clouds above, this morning I can report, no rain for 36 hours!
Posted in Buildings, Gardens, Museums, Nature & Science, People, Renovation, tagged Alejandro de Ávila B, Ethnobotanical, Francisco Toledo, garden, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, jeff spurrier, Mexico, Oaxaca, Santo Domingo de Guzmán on February 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Be it looking down from the windows above, strolling through the gardens on a tour, or peeking through openings in the wall on Reforma or Berriozabal on the way to someplace else, Oaxaca’s Ethnobotanical Garden is always a soothing and uplifting sight.
Check out this informative and enlightening article by Jeff Spurrier discussing the origins and vision of Oaxaca’s Ethnobotanical Garden — from the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Garden Design:
“I am not a gardener.” Francisco Toledo is sitting in the courtyard of the graphic art institute he founded in downtown Oaxaca City, Mexico, sipping on a glass of agua de jamaica. His fingers are paint-smudged, and he moves stiffly from a sore back. Toledo, 71, is one of Mexico’s best-known living artists; his paintings, sculptures, and textiles are in galleries and museums around the world. At home in Mexico, he is identified with a fierce and outspoken defense of the indigenous arts and culture of the southern state of Oaxaca. He also, as it turns out, helped to create one of the world’s most original public gardens.
“The professionals are the people who live in the country,” he says. “The campesinos and workers — I don’t have the patience.”
Nearly 20 years ago, the Mexican military moved out of a 16th-century Santo Domingo monastery complex it had used as a base for more than 120 years. Mexico’s president gave the exit order after being lobbied by Toledo and other leading artists and intellectuals belonging to Pro-Oax, an advocacy group urging the promotion and protection of art, culture, and the natural environment in Oaxaca. Soon, a great clamor began: The state government wanted the five-acre parcel in the heart of downtown Oaxaca City to create a hotel, convention center, and parking facility. A restoration team brought in by the National Institute of Anthropology and History wanted to establish a European garden in the 17th-century baroque style. Some of Toledo’s fellow artists wanted to use the grounds for workshops and exhibition space.
n 1993, when Toledo knew the army would be leaving, he asked Alejandro de Ávila B., who had family roots in Oaxaca and training in anthropology, biology, and linguistics, what he and other advocates would propose. De Ávila suggested making the space into a botanic garden — or, more precisely, an ethnobotanic garden, one that would “show the interaction of plants and people.”
I highly recommend reading the Full Article.
h/t Norma and Roberta
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged Araneidae, Argiope, Casita Colibrí, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, orb weaver, photographs, photos, spider on October 8, 2011| 4 Comments »
Remember Argiope from 2-1/2 weeks ago?
Turns out, she isn’t as sweet as she looks. Today, HE came, HE saw, and SHE conquered!
Leaving him a shell of his former self…
Within a half an hour, she had finished him off… leaving not a trace that he had ever existed.
And, she was alone again, naturally! Alone, that is, until their offspring hatch…
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Language, Nature & Science, tagged Casita Colibrí, film, garden, language, Mexico, movies, Neoscona oaxacensis, Oaxaca, orb weaver, photographs, photos, spider on September 27, 2011| 3 Comments »
Argiope’s neighbor (of Orb Weavers blog post fame) has returned! Two days ago I spotted the Neoscona oaxacensis (Ms Oaxaca, to her nearest and dearest) nestled among the leaves of a succulent in the pot next to her original home. However, no large round insect catching web was seen.
Apparently, last night Ms Oaxaca must have stayed up pretty late. This morning, when I came out to say, “buenos días,” I found her happily sitting in the middle of a brand new web.
According to SpidCat, the range of the Neoscona oaxacensis runs from the USA, down to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. They are not only beautiful and harmless, they keep the flying insect population down. So, if you’re lucky enough to have one in your garden, leave her be. If you don’t want to take my word for it, there was the study published in the California Avocado Society Yearbook (1980) that concluded,
…the significance of the orb weaving Neoscona in avocado orchards is probably not that they prevent dramatic population increases in the pest population or control the pests through the year. Instead, the presence of spiders, even in years of low pest populations, may dampen the increases in pest species during the later months of the season and serve as stabilizing agents to restrain the pest outbreaks during the interval between pest population increases and the numerical response of more specific parasites.
Anything that is good for avocados, is okay by me!
(ps) And now for something completely different… The answers to the Name that film quiz are:
Sorry, no prizes… just this bonus bizarre title translation my Spanish teacher contributed: Mrs. Doubtfire = Papá por siempre. Definitely a case of, lost in translation!!!
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged Araneidae, Argiope, Casita Colibrí, garden, Mexico, Oaxaca, orb weaver, photographs, photos, spider, Stalpelia gigantea on September 20, 2011| 8 Comments »
Clothing, tablecloths, and rugs aren’t the only things being woven in Oaxaca. The terrace has a new resident, an orb weaver spider (family Araneidae). I think, because of the stabilimentum (the white zigzags on the web), she is in the genus, Argiope.
She had a larger orb weaving neighbor in the pot next door…
Alas, after a couple of days, the neighbor disappeared and her carefully crafted web fell into disrepair. However, that left more food for Argiope.
Apparently, green bottle flies are a favorite, because this is one of several she caught in a single day. She’s chosen the perfect site for her home — in the garden’s previously blogged about, Stinky plant, attracting flies (aka, Stalpelia gigantea).
Mexican Peso Converter
View From Casita Colibrí 