The weekend is here

Good morning everyone. I hope you all have a nice long weekend. This holiday is one to remember those who have given their lives for our freedoms that we hold dear in this country. May this country continue to stay free.

Below are some pictures from the last couple of days. I'm still waiting for the Bridal Vine flowers to open.

Here we have a Zebra Longwing, our state butterfly, sipping nectar from Hamelia patens or Firebush blossoms. There are LOTS of bees here too and other butterflies. Hummingbirds also visit this shrub occasionally.



Inside our screened room, we have the yellow blooms of
Dwarf Poinciana, Caesalpinia lutea, or Barbados Pride or Peacock Flower,
in the foreground, ficus in the background along with something else I can't remember the name of right this minute. :-)



This is an unknown to me.
Is a creeper of sorts, horizontally and vertically,
plus it spits seeds everywhere.



This is trumpet vine, Campsis radicans.



Here are two baby gardenia bushes,
compliments of Tom from Seventh Street Cottage.
He rooted these in his great clone machine.
They are very healthy looking,
have wonderful root systems,
and I hope they grow well and give me lots of blooms.
Gardenias are one of my earliest girlhood memories of FL.
They will be living in our screened room for awhile
so that I can keep an eye on them.
I'll keep you all posted on their progress.
Thanks again Tom.




This is a Ti plant.
I just love the way the sunlight was hitting the leaves.



Here are the first buds on our Queen Crepe.



These are buds from another crepe myrtle in the main garden,
which also has purple blooms.



Here we have Phyllis Bide,
which is growing over my little lattice covered resting spot
at the northwest corner of the main garden.



Penelope



Love



Kathleen



This is a Sulphur butterfly,
hard to get as they flit all over the place,
hardly stopping at all.



This is a Gulf Fritillary.



First Mexican palo verde
blooms.



Even if something is left undone,
everyone must take time to sit still
and watch the leaves turn.

Elizabeth Lawrence

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Butterfly Lessons

******

Oh how I love to watch the butterflies.

Flitting about on wings powered by the sun's warm rays.

From flower to flower by the hour,

they sip the nectar that sustains them in their flight.

God says,

Take heed my child, as you watch these 'flying flowers'.

See how they gently, unfearingly go about their way.

They are in my care,

as you are,

even 'more' than they.

Flowerlady ~ 16 June 2008

******

Gardening is medicine

that does not need a perscription...

And with no limit on dosage.

Author Unknown

Beautiful singing with nature pictures.

I was looking for some music that might have to do with butterflies
and came across this video below.

This is a beautiful piece, but may not be for everyone.

To 'fear' the Lord, means to have reverential trust in Him.
Reverence - honor or respect.

Sincerely ~ FlowerLady

Black Eastern Swallowtail cats and butterflies

Here we have caterpillars of the Black Eastern Swallowtail butterfly eating my bronze fennel plant. The females lay the eggs on this plant then the little critters start munching away, until there is hardly anything left of the plant at all.

The picture below is a baby caterpillar.


These next two pictures are of adults.

These next two pictures are of one of the butterflies freshly emerged.
Soon after I took these pictures he/she flew away.

FlowerLady

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

Buckminster Fuller

Sulphur cats and butterflies

Sulphur butterflies are really fast, flitting around here and there and everywhere, hardly stopping at all. They are very hard to get pictures of but I've gotten a few. Recently I even got one in it's chrysalis and right after it emerged.

This is a picture of the caterpillar. It is munching away on my cassia shrub.

Below are two pictures of the butterfly getting ready to emerge.
You can see the chrysalis starting to split at the top.

Here it is fresh out. I missed seeing it emerge, dang it.

This is a close-up of the critter.

The cassia shrub is a host plant. The females lay their eggs here.

The flowers bloom in the fall.

Hope you enjoyed this little group of pictures.

FlowerLady


"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly.

"One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
Hans Christian Andersen