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.

Anthurium andraeanum - Life Imitatimg Fake

This is one of the most misunderstood flower. It has often been mistaken for a fake and a popular fake it is. The petal (spathe) is thick and waxy making it a popular cut flower. It is also very often maligned as those with imaginative or 'wayward' minds refer to its vague semblance of a part of the human anatomy.

This vermillion variety is large, loud and a real attention grabber.
 

A less fiery shade of red but just as lovely is presented here.


The dwarf variety is mass planted for visual impact.

Being low and compact they make ideal bedding plants.

Nodding heads of the dwarf variety make a good landscape design statment.

This is an anthurium with a slightly different form and hue. The variations extend to the spadix where in this instance is mostly white with a slight pink flush on its tip. The tiny flowers are carried on the spadix.

This is another dwarf variety with purplish red spathe and deep purple spadix, Anthurium previa.

 

This is a large variety with pure white spathe and spadix, the tip of which is dipped in sunshine; Anthurium carnival.

This anthurium of white spathe with pink spadix provides another permutation of variety.

A teeny weeny damsel fly seen clutching the edge of this anthurium.

This one started off as a white spathe but gradually acquired a greenish tinge as it matured. It provided a broad platform for this gastropod to glide happily on until it ...

reached the tip and then - oops! The equilibrium was lost and it was left swinging and suspended for a while. It was probably having great fun.

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”  - Lewis Carroll

A single stalk of anthurium provide contrast to a single frond of Norfolk Island Pine. These two cuttings last like eternity in my columnar vase of water.

Posted from Cork, Ireland (This is my last week of my one-month sojourn in Ireland).