Cute Critters on Flowers

Bee on yellow echinacea: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

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.

Butterfly on purple coneflower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

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.

Dragonfly on daylily leaves: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

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

Bug on purple butterfly bush: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

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.

Dragonfly close up: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

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

Busy Bees on Beautiful Blooms: Zinnia, Golden Sundrop & 3 Kinds of Echinacea

Bee on purple coneflower: Copyright © by Phyllis Wheeler, August 2014

Happy floral Friday! Welcome to my weekly "This week in my Maryland garden" feature! While reviewing this week's photos, I noticed a theme and thought you might enjoy these close up photos of bees on the blooms. The echinacea (coneflower) seem to be particularly attractive to the bees.

Bee on pink zinnia: Copyright © by Phyllis Wheeler, August 2014

But the zinnias and marigolds draw their fair share too. The zinnia in the photo above looks red but it's actually pink.

Bee on yellow echinacea: Copyright © by Phyllis Wheeler, August 2014

I think this is our third year having yellow echinacea. The moth is easier to see in the photo above but the bee is busy digging for pollen at the top of the middle coneflower.

Bee on golden sundrop flower: Copyright © by Phyllis Wheeler, August 2014

Years ago we had golden sundrops and they flourished until the rabbits discovered how tasty their leaves were. This spring I planted six new ones in an area that I don't often see rabbits. Hopefully they'll remain rabbit free and we and the bees can enjoy their pretty flowers for years to come.

Bee on magenta echinacea: Copyright © by Phyllis Wheeler, August 2014

This magenta coneflower doesn't look much different from the regular purple echinacea (top photo in this post) but it's color is much more vivid in person and I love it. 

Hope you enjoyed this week's mini photo tour of my Maryland garden! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Little bees, big flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/little-bees-and-big-flowers-this-week.html
Fighting bees on sunflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/bees-fighting-over-sunflower-photo.html
Heat beating flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/07/heat-beating-flower-photos-this-week-in.html
Autumn bee and flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/autumn-maryland-garden-flower-photos.html

Raindrops on Pretty Flowers for Floral Friday

Happy floral Friday dear friends! I took these photos in my yard just after a rainstorm earlier today. Please let me know which you like best. As you can see in the photo above our black eyed Susan flowers are at their peak. I believe they are the official Maryland state flower. They do seem to thrive here, even with our heavy clay soil.

It's a real treat to grow zinnias (and any flower) from seed and even more so when I get to see butterflies enjoying the blooms. Our zinnias and echinacea plants seem to be our top butterfly attracting plants (although the joe pye weed, obedient plants, milkweed, butterfly bushes, cosmos, lantana and some of our other plants all attract them too). God sure has gifted us with many joys on this earth!

A moth enjoying our red and yellow (bicolor) marigolds.

 A rare yellow echinacea (coneflower) bloom.

A surprise late blooming day lily makes an appearance. I think it's a baby from one of our larger plants that flowered earlier in the year. That's all for this floral Friday's post. Hope you have a blessed weekend!