Love, Joy and Peas: Search results for monarch

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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Monarch Butterflies from Brookside Gardens

Happy wild Wednesday! This week I'm featuring beautiful monarch butterflies from Brookside Gardens' Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit. They have a nice butterfly garden in the exhibit with both local and exotic butterflies as well as gorgeous outside butterfly gardens with wild local butterflies.

It's always a blessing to be able to visit a butterfly garden but I think this is my favorite.

The monarchs seemed most active on this visit and it was neat to catch them on so many different kinds of flowers and plants.

I believe this monarch butterfly is resting on a giant elephant's ear leaf.

They clearly loved the lantanta flowers. The exhibit is staffed with many kind hearted volunteers so if you visit and want the name of a butterfly or plant, just ask and one of the volunteers probably knows or will find out for you.

Thank you for stopping by! May God bless you and all of His creatures!

Related posts:
Exotic butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/08/brookside-gardens-wings-of-fancy.html
Monarch butterflies on chrysanthemums: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Monarchs on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterflies-on-tithonia.html
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/search?q=monarch

Note: I wasn't asked or paid to write this post and all opinions are my own. I just like butterflies and Brookside Gardens.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Monarch Butterflies on Tithonia

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.

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.

Here you can see both monarch butterflies enjoying the tithonias.

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

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

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Monarch Butterfly on Pretty Chrysanthemum Flowers

Happy wild Wednesday! I love butterflies and the monarchs have always been special to me. It was fun watching this one on a patch of chrysanthemums in the National Arboretum's Asian gardens.

The butterfly only opened its wings fully a few times so I was thrilled to get this image.

It flew from flower to flower.

And even shared space with a colorful moth (near the far right side of the photo).

But didn't seem disturbed by the company of the moth or many bees also enjoying the chrysanthemums and sunshine.

I hope my photos made you smile. Happy autumn! May God bless you and the world's butterflies!

Related posts:
Monarch butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterflies-on-tithonia.html
Butterflies and dragonfly: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Butterfly garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wildlife-at-glendening-preserves.html
Butterfly art: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/butterfly-art-by-denise-arvaneh.html

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Butterflies on Mexican Sunflowers at Brookside Gardens

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Friday, September 23, 2016

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Friday, August 26, 2016

Butterflies on Bright Summer Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Many flowers are blooming and it seems like we have more butterflies than we've had in the past couple years, so that is an added blessing.

The butterflies love many of our flowers but the butterfly bushes (aka buddelia) often have several butterflies per plant, especially in the morning.

The dahlias get their share of butterflies too.

And the giant red zinnias definitely attract butterflies.

There often are butterflies, bees and even golden finches on the giant zinnias. The tithonia have started blooming too but the flowers are up so high I have yet to get a sharable photo. Hopefully next week. The tithonia are special in that they also attract hummingbirds.

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

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Monarch butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html
Bees on butterfly bushes: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/10/bees-and-butterflies-on-butterfly-bushes.html

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Cute Critters on Flowers

Happy wild Wednesday! Here are the critter on flower photos I promised last Friday. We've planted several specialty echinacea (also known as coneflower) varieties but this yellow is the only one besides the old fashioned purple that survived our last few frigid winters. I was really happy to see the cheery yellow flowers and the bees were too.

Of course, the old fashioned echinacea are still a big draw. Bees and butterflies usually flock to them. This year we've had a few moths but so far, only one butterfly that I've noticed. I did plant some milkweed for the monarchs a couple years ago but it didn't survive the winter. If we stay here through another spring then next year I hope to plant some more milkweed and some butterfly weed to help these beautiful creatures survive.

My husband pointed out this pretty green dragonfly resting on the green daylily leaves. He has a good eye for noticing seemingly hidden creatures.

This bug (a beetle of some kind?) surprised me. I was taking a photo of the dark purple butterfly bush flower and it popped right over from the back side.

Here's a macro (super close up) shot of that same green dragonfly from above. It's amazing the creatures you can find in your own back yard.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Monarch butterfly: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Dragonfly and butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Butterfly preserve critters: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wildlife-at-glendening-preserves.html

Friday, August 24, 2012

Flower Paintings for Floral Friday

Happy floral Friday! Today's post features flower paintings displayed by talented local artists at the Montgomery County Fair. I love the dogwood blooms in the above photo.

If I remember correctly, the photo above was one of the best in show winners for teen entrants. With the black eyed Susans, monarch butterflies, yellow-orange moth and vibrant green foliage it was even more striking in person.

This painting may not have won any fair ribbons but I'd award it a cheerfulness ribbon.

I loved how all the little dots came together for a bright and fun scene in the above painting.

This (presumably watercolor) poppy painting drew my eye and reminded me of the gorgeous poppy displays at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Happy weekend and may God bless you!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Pretty Butterflies and Fuzzy Bee for Wild Wednesday

Happy wild Wednesday! I hope these butterfly and bee photos from last summer in my Maryland garden brighten your day.

The giant zinnias were the star of the garden last summer. Bees, butterflies and small birds flocked to them and made me very happy.

The butterfly bushes also attracted a lot of insect wildlife.

It was great to be able to see butterflies almost every time I walked in the garden and I'm already looking forward to next summer's adventures in gardening and wildlife.

May God bless you this winter and always!

Related posts:
Butterflies & bees on purple coneflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/butterflies-and-bees-love-purple.html
Brian Dering's Aruba wildlife photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/wildlife-in-aruba-photos-by-guest.html
Wild raccoon photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wild-raccoon-in-national-arboretum.html

Friday, July 31, 2015

Dahlias, Day Lilies, Butterfly Weed, and Hot Peppers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" I took these photos right after a heavy rain. Raindrops on flower petals make them even more beautiful.

These pretty ruffled day lilies have a nice bright center that's like a floral smile.

To support the monarch butterfly population, we bought three butterfly weed plants this year and they're finally blooming. I have yet to see a butterfly on them but am hopeful.

Our sights of summer dahlia was the most expensive tuber we bought this year and the last to bloom. But it's flowers are beautiful and large so worth the wait.

I started three different types of hot pepper plants from seed for my husband in late winter but once we planted them in spring, rabbits kept eating them. So he decided to get some already large ones from the store. His store bought ones are producing nicely but my seed started ones are still at the flowering stage (note to self - next year put up some rabbit fencing around the pepper seedlings). I hope the ones I started from seed do produce some peppers eventually but he's pretty glad that he bought the larger plants and can pick peppers as needed.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you today and always!

Related posts:
Cat smelling a dahlia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/cat-enjoys-my-first-dinner-plate-dahlia.html
Dazzling dahlias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/delightful-dahlia-close-up-photos.html
Giant dahlias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/four-dahlias-and-dianthus-for-floral.html
2012's peppers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/bright-blooming-flowers-and-tiny.html