Blue Morpho Butterflies - Costa Rica Trip

I was lucky to see some Blue Morpho Butterflies during my last trip to Costa Rica. They eat rotted fruit and  you can only see the blue when flying.

Giant Swallowtail Caterpiller

I was perfectly content to let the giant swallowtail butterfly caterpillars eat my orange trees, just so I could see them morph to butterflies, but this green Iguana had other ideas.

Lotus from Seed

Here was my first attempt at growing Lotus from seed in 2009. The first year went well, although I never got a flower. Hoping for a flower this 2nd year. I learned 3 things, nick the seed to help germination, if you live in the tropics, get a tropical lotus, they don't go dormant in the winter and don't cut the old leaves below the water line, it can drown the plant. I added floating duckweed to the surface, I think it looks nice and keeps the algae from forming.