Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Take a Walk on the Wildside



This was absolutely the wildest year in our yard......ever! Wild in growth and wild in activity. We went from this in early summer....



To this in late fall.......









And the activity was outrageous....in a good way.....mostly! I've never seen so many butterflies in our yard.....and it has been a butterfly garden for many years now. I think the main reasons for this was the loss of trees that introduced more sunshine, and some really extraordinary pollinator magnet plants! I tried to document as many different creatures visiting as possible but some were too fast, or a little camera shy. I hope you've been working out and are in excellent cardiovascular shape and not easily bored so that you can take this "walk on the wild side" with me. Or just take a short jaunt and come back other days for a visit......(insert sheepish look here).....I'm just trying to warn you that I've got a lot of pictures.....a whole lot of pictures.....more than Johnny's Aunt Annie's slide shows. Soooooooo.....here I go!




The Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) was one of the favorites




Southern dogface on the tropical milkweed.




So many flowers, so little time!



The Bumbles loved the

Henry Duelberg Mealy Cup Sage



Zoom in on this guy....OMG....look at those feet!









Those eyes!

















http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/butterfly-plants/mexican-sunflower/








 There were so many different varieties of creatures on the frostweed it was a picture taking event every time I went outside.




The grand finale of the frostweed...how it got its name.


Just because! For some reason this makes me swoon!
 And of course.....in any wildlife habitat, there are those who love to partake of all that is available....whether we approve or not.

We are currently getting our first snow of the year, so this has been an absolute delight for me to reminisce....thanks for taking a walk with me!