Camera Critters

With fewer flowers to choose from this time of year, the insects throng together in great numbers where flowers are blooming, in practically a feeding frenzy. Chyrsanthemum 'Venus' is one of their favorites.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, Pineapple Sage is the domain of the Sulfur Butterflies.
 

 

 

To see more critters of all sorts, visit Camera Critters!

Blooming Friday ~ A Little Confused

There is still a lot blooming here, but as Katrina showed pictures of some of her lovelies blooming out of season and despite winter looming, I thought I'd show these two plants. They seem a little confused.

One is a native Coast Azalea (Rhododendron atlanticum) that normally blooms in May, but for the first time has produced a few blooms in November. The flowers have a very sweet and spicy scent much like Dianthus.
 

The second is Rosa arkansana, one of the Prairie Roses, that I started from seed from Prairie Moon Nursery last year. Normally it's a late spring/ early summer bloomer, but its first flowers came in November for some reason. I love the buds -- they look just like bright pink satin -- and the scent is very strong and sweet. Not exactly rose-like, but wonderful nonetheless.
 

 

For more Blooming Friday posts, visit Katarina at roses and stuff.

Camera Critters

Chrysanthemum 'Venus' seems to be where all of the cool insects hang out these days. There and Aster 'Miss Bessie', but that's another post.

I haven't seen many Buckeyes this year, although it's been a butterfly mecca here for most of the growing season. It's probably because the vegetable garden was heavily mulched last winter, covering the seed of the Blue Toadflax that had volunteered there, and my husband mowed the Toadflax that was in the lawn before it could go to seed. (The age-old battle between neatness vs. patience = beauty in the landscape continues.) I will have to get some Toadflax seed. We do have a lot of wild Gerardia though in the floodway fields and by the creek, so the Buckeyes may have been there. I think this is one of the most beautiful of butterflies.
 

 

 

 

 

The bumblebees are still hard at work.
 

 

 

Virginia Ctenuchid Moth, a diurnal (daytime) moth that is frequently seen side by side with bees, wasps and butterflies.
 

The honeybees are hard at work too, quickly buzzing from flower to flower.
 

Coming in for a landing
 

 

 

Nope, not this one
 

 

Perfect
 

 

To see more critters of all sorts, visit Camera Critters!