Sunday, September 6, 2015

Flowers and a Monarch!

Finally, I've seen another Monarch in the garden, and there are some interesting flowers still blooming though the season is definitely winding down now.  Many flowers are fading fast and seed heads are showing up, though there's a fair bit of colour yet.

The Monarch today was fluttering around on the Ligularia, Elephant Ears.  It was moving around a lot, and I was lucky to get a shot with the wings open.

Most of the time it was methodically sampling every floret on the flowers, steadily working its way around each blossom.  I was glad to see it.

The Buddleia or Butterfly Bush is also in bloom; in the past I've seen the Monarch on these flowers.

These light pink fall Anenomes are just coming into bloom.  I like the combination of the flowers with the still unopened buds.

We have several Sedums that bloom at this time of year, and I took about 20 pictures of Bumblebees visiting these flowers - not a single shot clear, the bees were moving so fast.

My horticultural consultant said this one is a Bush Clematis, and the blooms do look like Clematis flowers.  But the overall plant, a shrubby 2 foot high clump, doesn't look the least like any of the other Clematis in our gardens, all of which are vines.

But we're still working on this one - the bloom is about 1/2 an inch wide and 2 inches high, with only a few leaves on the stems. ... a week later, we've figured it out, it's a Persicaria, one of the Smartweeds.

The flowers of the very tall Cut-leaved Coneflowers are setting seeds.  I'm going to gather more yellow Coneflower seeds this year and scatter them in the meadow, along with some Milkweed seeds.

I always find this tiny Sea Holly blossom interesting.  There has to be really no breeze to catch a clear shot.

And two of our earlier-blooming Clematis vines are now going to seed, forming this beautiful seedhead.

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21 comments:

  1. Lovely photos . Just a few blooms left on our butterfly bush and other plants but tons of wild flowers in the field beside us so all are still enjoying . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  2. Nice Monarch photos. Too bad those beautiful butterflys have become so scarce. Always feel bad when I bump into one with the car. Yes the visible changes in all the ground flora is becoming very noticable as we shift into early Fall.

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  3. I've seen several Monarchs floating through the city. They all seemed to be heading south but that could have been a coincidence!

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  4. I love these images and the monarch is very cool! gotta love insects :-)

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  5. I love all of your pictures, especially the monarch and the wonderful seed heads. I wish I were better at identifying names of flowers, but I fear I don't know them. I enjoy looking at them, though. :-)

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  6. The butterfly is my favorite, but the flower shots are also beautiful. Don't you just love those remnants from the clematis? I think they are intriguing.

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  7. Wonderful photos of the Monarch butterfly! I've not seen one in years. You're right about trying to take pics of flowers when there's even a slight breeze...everything is out of focus. I didn't know there was a bush clematis. It's very hot here at 31 and very strong westerly winds too.

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  8. Great shots - I especially like the first.
    Please come link up at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/09/allium-glorious.html

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  9. Lovely flowers and a beautiful Monarch. I have only seen one Monarch this summer. Beautiful post, enjoy your new week!

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  10. These all are so great to see. The monarch has a long way to go south. It is a beauty and the colors of all the flowers are so great.

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  11. Nice pictures of the butterfly and your flowers. Things winding down here too. The cone flowers and daisies are all gone now.

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  12. You have a great variety of flowers! I'm working on a butterfly garden and hope to attract many to my garden.

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  13. Your photos of the Butterfly are super and I love all the flowers shots as well

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  14. Great closeups! And I'm so glad to see the Monarch butterfly!

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  15. what a beautiful find...i love butterfly bush...i need to plant some!

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  16. The red flower might be cardinalflowers (Lobelia Cardinalis)? There is an App called Like That Garden. It's fantastic. It helps you identify flowers. Maybe that App will help you identify the red flowers.

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  17. We figured out the red flower; it's a Persicaria, one of the Smartweeds.

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  18. Gorgeous flowers and the monarch is a beauty.

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