The Copper Canyon daisies in the front courtyard are blooming profusely now. I planted them last spring and was surprised when they started blooming about a month after I planted them. I thought they only bloomed in the fall, but perhaps I was mistaken. There are only three plants, but they have gotten quite large [...]
November is the month that the Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico, and I have been anticipating their arrival this year since we have more flowers this year than in past years. I saw my first Monarch of the year several days ago. Yesterday there were quite a few of them here feeding on our marigolds and mealy sage. I got several nice photos of them with their wings closed, but wasn’t able to capture one with their wings spread. They are very skittish. With some luck I will have more opportunities to get the full dorsal shots I am after.
Fall gardening is in full swing here, despite the warm afternoon temperatures. We have had a couple of mornings in the 40s this past week, which feels pretty brisk first thing in the morning, but by 9 am it is already getting warm.
I was out harvesting jalapenos and tomatoes for salsa-making this afternoon when I [...]
Once again I have been graced by the visit of another beautiful swallowtail butterfly. As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, we haven’t had many butterflies this year, but the few that we have had have been large swallowtails.
Although the wind was blowing steadily at about 25 mph when I was shooting these pictures, I couldn’t resist trying to get some photos of this beautiful Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. I had been bemoaning the fact that we haven’t had many butterflies in the garden yet this year, and then this guy showed up this morning.
We planted carolina jessamine next to the dog pen fence outside our office window several years ago, and I continue to be pleased with how it is spreading on the fence. It is evergreen, and blooms from February through November (on and off). It thrives in the shade, and attracts many butterflies. When I saw [...]
The arctic air mass is coming our way, and by tomorrow it will be in the 30s. That will spell an end to my butterfly photography for this season, but I did get some pretty good shots from my last batch. These were all taken with my Canon EOS Rebel with wide angle zoom lens. [...]
I selected a couple more of the most recent photos that I took with my ‘analog’ camera to share. They are both shots of butterflies that are common to the Central Texas area. The first one is of a Gulf Fritillary, and the second one is of a Black Swallowtail.
I have been using the Dallas [...]