The Green Comma

No, this post has nothing to do with punctuation! This post is about one of the butterflies that ranges from our area all the way up to Alaska! It is the Green Comma. Reading information about this butterfly I discovered that this is the only butterfly that hibernates and mates in the spring!

What caused me to notice this butterfly was the movement that I saw from the corner of my eye on a grouping of flowering plants!

Movement caught my eye

Here is the Green Comma up close!

The Green Comma

Isn’t this a pretty butterfly? What was really different with this butterfly compared to others in our area is that the underside of the wings is not a mirror image of the topside! Great camouflage for when they take a break and sit on tree bark!

Brown underside of the wings

And the edges of the wings are ragged rather than smooth.

Ragged wings

This butterfly loves nectar!

Feeding on nectar

They are amazing in color too!

Lovely colors

Such a pretty butterfly, don’t you think? Thank you for dropping in today! See you tomorrow?

Be well! ^..^

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Orange Revisited

I thought that for today we would take another look at the color orange! So come with me and let’s take another look at the color orange!

Orange ruffles

Oranges spikes

Orange and White

Shades of orange

Orange is such a wonderful color, isn’t it?

Have an amazing day! Thanks for visiting with me today! Be well! ^..^

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Around the Garden…

This morning I thought that what I would share with you are random photos of flowers in my garden. I am hoping that today my Dr. will take me out of quarantine, so that I can expand my view of the world with you! So let’s head out!

While sitting outside, I noticed a butterfly come in and land on our miniature rose tree! This is, I believe, a gray hairstreak butterfly.

Gray Hairstreak Butterfly

When the buds open on the salvia, some are white, some are red and some are a combo of the two!

Salvia

When I shot this photo of a black-eyed Susan, I noticed one of those little yellow spiders…

A visitor on a black-eyed Susan

I am singing the blues over my delphinium!

A blue delphinium

I discovered this visitor, featured in my post yesterday, on my miniature white roses!

A visitor on the roses

One final shot. I love the softness of this photo and the contrast in colors!

The softness of a California poppy

Thank you taking the time to drop on by! I hope that your Wednesday is wonderful! Be well! ^..^

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Marigolds in the Morning

Marigolds are a very sunny flower and a great addition to any garden! They are beneficial in that this lovely plant has an odor that keeps some of those pesky garden insects away, like the aphid! They are also a deer resistant plant! There are yellow marigold and orange, but I prefer the beauty of the variegated variety called Queen Sophia. They have an amazing rust color and as the blossom ages it changes color! So, for today I give to you Marigolds in the Morning!

Marigolds in the Morning!

An emerging blossom

A bit of sunshine!

Amazing colors

Positively glowing!

An older blossom of pure sunshine!

I hope that you enjoyed this series of photos! Be well and have an amazing Saturday! ^..^

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Camouflage is Alive and Well in the World of Spiders!

Yesterday I discovered when looking at one of the lovely blossoms in my garden something that did not look right. Upon closer examination I discovered a new species of spider that I have not seen here before. This is on the lovely little yellow flowers of a flower that I cannot quite remember the name of due to chemo brain! If it comes to me as I add photos I will let you know the name…So, check out this pretty little spider that is so perfectly camouflaged that it most likely saves its life and provides it with dinner!

I have researched and think that the name of this spider is Misumenoides formosipes. Frightening name but to me it is a beautiful yellow spider on my coreposis! I remembered the name of the flower! Wahoo!

Check this little guy out! Tell me, is it not a beautiful spider?

My first sight of the spider!

I think this spider is the Misumeoides Formosipes. I am giving this a common name: The Yellow Spider!

Misumenoides formosipe

And, here are the other photos I took while this little guy ran away from me!

Does it see me?

Hanging on to the backside of a leaf

Is that leg a pincher?

What an amazing spider, isn’t it? And, as the heat came up today it disappeared. I am really happy that this new spider showed himself to me and that I can share this with you!

This morning I go off for what is hopefully my last chemo treatment. I have to admit that I am not looking forward to this treatment due to the side effects. I am, however, grateful that I do not have it as bad as others, but it is still uncomfortable. I most likely will not be doing any posts for a couple of days.

One of the things that I should mention is that with the chemo treatments I have been having neuropathy in my hands and now in my big toes. Neuropathy is the loss of feeling in the fingers and toes. At least mine is not as bad as it could be. What I have just written took me about an hour to write this post as I have to keep re-typing.

So, I will be on hiatus for a couple of days due to the chemo. I wish you the best and that you be well! Thank you for sticking with me through all of this, and thank you for visiting with me today!

Again — be well! ^..^

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Flowers at the Sacramento Zoo

While wandering around the Sacramento Zoo, just as in any zoo, there are flowering plants everywhere! I wanted to share these lovely gems with you that stopped to admire!

Matilija Poppies

Canna

Pretty Unknownikis

African Iris

Lillies

Mid-flight between visits to many flowers

Trumpet vine

I hope that you enjoyed these! Have a peaceful Saturday! And, thank you for taking the time to drop on by!

Be well! ^..^

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Today’s Flowers

I love wandering through my garden at this time of year because of all the flowers that are blooming! We have quite a variety and I thought for today’s post I would share these with you. Are you ready to head out into the garden? Let’s go!

Calendula

Delphinium

Lily

Black eyed Susan

Rock Rose

Rose of Sharon

Zucchini

Gilardia

Russian sage

Shasta daisies

One more…

Yarrow

I hope you enjoyed wandering around the flowers in my garden! Do you have a favorite of all of these?

Thank you for stopping by today and have a marvelous Monday! 🙂 Be well! ^..^

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Oleander and Mimosa

Right now our oleander and our mimosa trees are in full bloom. The lovely white of the oleander makes a lovely contrast to the brilliant pink shades of the mimosa! For today, I thought I would share with you how lovely these two flowers look at the entry to our driveway! Ready to head outside?

Oleander and Mimosa

Check out both of these flowers a bit closer!

Close up

Pin points

Lovely contrast of color and texture

Colors of the sunrise

Shooting star

Starting to fade

Aren’t they just lovely? The oleander will bloom all summer long. The Mimosa will start going to seed shortly and the seed pods are pretty amazing! Photos of those to come!

Have a great Monday! If you are in the hot zone (temp’s here will be close to 100), carry water with you and wear light colors!

Thanks for stopping by and be well! ^..^

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Hollyhocks!

I have always loved the flower on the Hollyhock plant going back to the days when I was a kid. This plant is in the mallow family of which there are about 60 varieties! When we moved to our house here in the Sierra Foothills, this plant appeared in our garden one year. It was a beautiful shade of pink…

Pink

We have had this particular color in our yard now for about 6 years. Maybe three years ago, a darker colored hollyhock showed up. I am not sure how we ended up with this lovely contrasting color. This one is almost black in color.

Black

This year more colors have shown up! They showed up in an area where I harvested seeds last year. Do these mutate themselves? I have no idea! None of our neighbors have this plant in their yards, so maybe they do!

Here are photos of these new volunteers showing all their lovely colors!

Pale Pink

Red

White

Burgundy

The seed pods on this plant are round buttons that have numerous flat round seeds inside. The plant does survive our snow fall in the winter, and are drought tolerant. We do not water these plants and they make it through the hot summers here just fine!

The deer: They find the leaves a tasty morsel as the summer season progresses. I noticed yesterday that the deer are already feeding on this plant. As much as they mow these down, the plants come back! I would have included a shot of the area where all of these lovely plants are, but all you see are the flower stalks! Maybe later in the season as they recover I can post a photo!

Have a great Monday! Thank you for taking the time to stop by! Be well! ^..^

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Pink and Pretty!

This year my pink peonies bloomed later than the white ones. I have no idea why. And, there was only one bloom! It still is a glorious flower and I wanted to share with you this lovely blossom! so let’s head out into the garden – shall we?

Here is one lovely blossom!

One lovely pink peony

Isn’t it pretty? Check out this side view.

Pretty in Pink

The center of this blossom is just beautiful!

Into the center

One more side view!

Ruffles

I would love to have more of these lovely flowers in my yard! Trouble is that they need to be caged as the gophers find them very tasty!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by! Be well!

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