Gardening

First Day in Costa Rica

Hi Garden Friends,

Many of you know I lead garden tours: about 8 to 10 a year (certainly keeps me hopping!). Here’s a little blog about the latest one.

 

Day 1

After a long flight, but without complications, my group arrived in San José, Costa Rica yesterday afternoon, March 20, 2014.

Our guide, Andrea, gave a little surprise: a city tour on foot. This wasn’t on the original program, but the airline changed their flight times and so we got to the City in early afternoon rather then late at night. On the tours, we saw the National Theatre, the post office, the legislature building, the National Park (a very nice city park!) and the National Museum, among others. And we got to feel the pulse of the city as we walked along the main street, which is reserved for pedestrians… and street hawkers!

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am always looking for plants and animals, and even in the city we saw some amazing stuff.

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I enclose two pictures: one of Tabebuia rosea, a native tree with pink trumpet flowers that are planted throughout the city. It blooms throughout much of the dry season and was very visible when we did the city tour.

 

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For the bird lovers among you, I saw grackles (how exciting :-)! ), domestic pigeons (by the hundreds), Inca doves and at least two different tyrant flycatchers (which I photographed, but will only try to identify later, with a good bird book to help me). The most remarkable bird, however, was the very noisy Finsch’s parakeet, small green parrot with a red mark on its head. These parrots are becoming increasingly common in San Jose: they are the only ones in the country to have really adapted to urban environments. We’ll see other parrots, I’m sure, but not in the city.

My goal is to post you some words and pictures every day… when I have access to the Internet, that is.

See you tomorrow then with details and photos of our adventures.

Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

1 comment on “First Day in Costa Rica

  1. Sergio Gonzales

    wow

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