Its underparts are a brighter metallic green than the upperparts, sometimes with a light blue sheen, and it has white thigh tufts.

Its tail is blue-black, with dull metallic green central feathers and pale gray tips on the outer ones.

[5] The garden emerald is found in southwestern Costa Rica, the Pacific coast of Panama, and the offshore Coiba and Pearl islands.

[5] The garden emerald forages for nectar by trap-lining, visiting a circuit of flowering trees, shrubs, and other plants.

[5] The garden emerald's breeding season has not been fully determined but in Panama appears to span at least from November to March.

[5] That species' song is believed to be "an endlessly repeated, characterless wiry tseee tseeree" and its call has been described as "a dry, scratchy chut or chit, sometimes run together into a soft, staccato chatter".