Mexican Bush Sage, Purple Coneflower, Impatiens, Giant Zinnia, and Tithonia Flowers

Mexican bush sage: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Happy autumn, floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The Mexican bush sage has started to bloom and I'm always thrilled to not only see the flowers but feel their super soft texture. They're almost as soft as pussy willows. I overwintered this plant in the house as it's not perennial in our planting zone.

Pretty white impatiens: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

The white impatiens I planted in early spring is still putting out lovely flowers in a semi-shady area.

Purple coneflower with red zinnias: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

This volunteer purple coneflower sprung up in the middle of my giant zinnia area but I let it stay. I'll probably move it later this fall or early next spring, but for now I'm enjoying the contrast.

Butterfly, red zinnia, pink zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

I only planted red giant zinnia seeds but also got pink and purple from the package. The bees and butterflies like them all so I do too.

Mexican sunflower aka tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Our biggest annuals this year are the tithonia (also called Mexican sunflower). They are huge and covered in pretty flowers.

That's all for this week's tour. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/butterflies-on-mexican-sunflowers-at.html
Monarchs on chrysanthemum: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Brookside Gardens butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html

Butterflies on Mexican Sunflowers at Brookside Gardens

Butterfly on tithonia: Copyright © Ben Wheeler, 2016, used with permission

Happy wild Wednesday! Since I haven't been able to get a nice picture of my own Mexican sunflowers (also called tithonia) yet this year I took some at the Brookside Gardens "Wings of Fancy" butterfly exhibit. Their tithonia had many beautiful butterflies flitting from flower to flower and even some resting on the foliage.

Pretty butterfly wings open: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

The first image is by my talented husband, who was kind enough to let me share it with you here. I thought his picture was the best but wanted you to see the flowers from different angles so am sharing some of mine too.

Butterfly feeding on tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

 If you click to see the larger image you should be able to clearly see the butterfly's eyes. Pretty neat.

Butterfly on Mexican sunflower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

I think this might be a Monarch butterfly but it seems darker than the ones I see in my yard so maybe it's a different, but similar, kind of butterfly.

Butterfly on "thrive" hat: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

The kind mom of the adorable little girl wearing this "thrive" hat let me take this photo of the butterfly on top. She was very excited to have a butterfly land on her head and stay there a while. Thank you to them both for sharing!

I had one land on my hand, which was amazing! It even stayed a while. But it was on the same hand I was holding my camera with so I didn't get a photo. It's always touching to have a butterfly choose to land on you so I felt blessed by that. Of course, just seeing so many butterflies floating around is a huge blessing. I've enjoyed every trip to the butterfly exhibit, whether one landed on me or not.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless my husband, the family that shared their butterfly hat experience, and YOU!

Related posts:
Monarchs on tithonia flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterflies-on-tithonia.html
Monarchs on chrysanthemums: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Brookside Gardens monarchs: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html

Monarch Butterflies on Tithonia

Monarch on fading tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

Happy wild Wednesday! It's autumn and the tithonias (also known as Mexican sunflowers) are starting to fade but the butterflies don't seem to mind.

Monarch on tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

I am so happy this pair of monarchs is visiting our tithonias. We grow them especially for the butterflies although the bees and hummingbirds like them too. This year we seem to have fewer butterflies than usual so their sightings are extra special.

Two monarch butterflies: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

Here you can see both monarch butterflies enjoying the tithonias.

Monarch in motion: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

I know it's blurry but I like how you can see the overall shape of the monarch butterfly's open wings.

Monarch and bee with tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

This one's a bit blurry too but I liked the butterfly's curly proboscis and the bee photo bomb made me smile. Usually when I come out with my camera these two monarch butterflies fly away so perhaps they're starting to get used to me and I can get some better photos next time. For now, I hope you enjoyed these butterfly images. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Bees and flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/busy-bees-on-beautiful-blooms-zinnia.html
Hummingbird photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/hummingbird-photos-by-anna-horner-for.html
Hummingbird nest: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/hummingbird-nest-photos-by-anna-horner.html