Love, Joy and Peas: monarch

Showing posts with label monarch. Show all posts

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

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 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, 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

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!