This week I’ll largely post photos. That’s what most people want anyway.
There was a lot of emergence in this, the first full week of Dow Gardens’ Butterflies in Bloom. We also had three mating pairs, which I haven’t seen this early on. For the most part people kept a respectful distance, but one woman plucked a mating pair off a marigold when I was busy elsewhere and put them on her toddler grandson to photograph. SERIOUSLY? Like you’d want to be bothered that way. And no, they were not at all inclined to separate; I don’t know how long they go at it, but some of them remained fond of each other for my entire 2-hour shift.
Mating great yellow Mormon and swallowtailSame pair, side viewA zebra longwing on one of the marigolds brought into the conservatory for the butterfliesA trio at one of the food dishesA Mexican bluewing whose coloring is more of a light violet than the usual cobalt blueA starry night cracker, one of my favorite varietiesA different starry night cracker, sharing a bananaAnother of our smaller varieties, a buckeyeSomewhat larger, a malachiteA great yellow Mormon without one of its telltale swallow”tails”Same variety, different specimen; note the two “tails”A little girl asked why one butterfly didn’t have eyes and I said it did, but they were black … like this one’sMore flying critters …… and another …… and anotherMating pipevine swallowtails; note the top one’s wing is so battered you can see the yellow of the marigold through it
Beth's Planet 