Busy As A Bee

Its no wonder the phrase "busy as a bee" was coined. Whenever the flowers in my garden are in bloom, honey bees (Apis mellifera)  jet in, making a beeline for their favourites.

To get at the sweet nectar of these portulaca grandiflora blooms, they can curve, contort and assume all sorts of posture.





 

The pristine white flowers of Echinodorus palaefolius (mexican sword plant) provide numerous opportunities for them to imbibe.

Double-petaled Quisqualis indica (Rangoon creeper) exude a delicate fragrance to ensure their visitation.

The flowers of Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican Heather) are tiny, but they made up for it in numbers. 

They scramble over the filaments of Calliandra emarginata (Dwarf Red Powder Puff) to get at the nectar located at their bases.

This is a smart cookie as it go through the "back door" to have the goodies without having to return the favour of spreading the pollens.

Quisqualis indica and Lantana - Amazing Butterfly Attractants

It is very evident that Quisqualis indica (Rangoon creeper) and Lantana camara provide plenty of opportunities for viewing beautiful butterflies that flutter into the garden.

 
Double-petaled Quisqualis indica


  It exudes a lovely fragrant smell for a perfumed garden.

 
 A female Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Egg Fly)



The Lesser Gull Butterfly - Cepora Nadina

A butterfly 'painted lady' reposing on the foliage of Quisqualis indica.

A big shrub of  Lantana camara (sunset)






A butterfly 'painted lady' sipping nectar from the numerous florets. She is simply  spoilt for choice,

 
 

Zizula hylax pygmaea (Pygmy Grass Blue)

A male Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Egg Fly)

Clear Wing Moth on leaf of Lantana camara.


Other butterflies love the Lantanas too. This Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) was found perched on the underside of lantana leaf.

The Flamboyant Bougainvillea 'Mrs Eva'

It is a witheringly hot, searing season with rainless days for almost two months now.  Thankfully there's enough stored water in the huge roof-top tanks to drench the plants once in a while. However, my bougainvilleas are not complaining. In actual fact they flourish while we fumed through heavy perspiration and pray for the sky to open up.

The almost leafless Bougainvillea 'Mrs Eva' in full glory. The green leaves are those of the orange Bauhenia kockiana.

This is the whole plant at the height of flowering.

The young bracts are slowly forming. The white-pink-red terminal flowers of Quisqualis indica (Rangoon creeper) also claim some vertical space in this massive  floral display.

 
Another view at another time.
 

A carpenter bee clutcthing on to a faded bract.

 

It was rather late in the evening, thus this blurred image of a hummingbird moth with its proboscis dipped into nectar.

At dusk, dragonflies returned to repose on trimmed stems and branches.

A container-planted B. Mrs Eva with a periwinkle sprouting from its trunk. A random seed found its niche in its crevice and grew as a parasite. The red flowers of Carphalea kirondron and the yellow-orange Codiaeum variegatum (Variegated Croton) add layers of colours.

Night Boarders

We see our garden by day and picture in our mind how it looks but what happens after dark is entirely different. When the critters think that we are not watching, a different scenario sets in. 

Bougainvilla Elizabeth Angus. I have this Bougy E. Angus just outside my doorstep. One night, I ventured into the garden and had a pleasant surprise.

This fledgling settled on this bougy as its night time retreat.
It kept returning every night around 8.00pm for about a fortnight. 

It always chose the same leaf to perch on which is at eye level. With its head tucked into its chest, it was sweet slumber, oblivious to human activities.

A blue skimmer dragonfly (Orthetrum Caledonicum) retired for the night on the unfurled leaf of the epiprenum.

A very tiny Damselfly decided that this pair of frayed blue jeans left to dry in the kitchen was safe sanctuary.

A male Common Mormon (Papilio polytes) appeared blue instead of deep brown when shot at night.

This Mandevilla vine was deemed suitable for night time refuge. It hung precariously on the tip of the leaf.

Mandevilla sanderi 'Red Riding Hood'

 A mottled skipper tinged with orange on the forehead and underside settled on a hibiscus leaf for the night.

Another moth of unknown ID settled on this ...

... Galphimia gracilis or commonly called as 'Rain of Gold' (updated on 9.1.14)

This young bamboo stake provides a high point for this purplish-red dragonfly.

An unidentified critter on Philodendron 'Ceylon Gold'.  

 
A snake coiled up languorously for the night, on the broad leaf of the Alpinia purpurata (Red ginger torch).

A pair of bats make this canopy of Quisqualis indica (Rangoon creeper) their night abode too.

 
This hairy moth took refuge indoors, on the back of my front door. So, good-nite to all and sleep tight.