Saturday Photo Hunt: Colorful Trio

Field of butterfly dreams. Norfolk Botanical Gardens.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

"Gardening gives me fun and health and knowledge. It gives me laughter and colour. It gives me pictures of almost incredible beauty." ~ John F. Kenyon

The butterfly garden blends imperceptibly with the wildflower garden at our Norfolk Botanical Gardens. The butterfly section is filled with plants such as purple-topped vervain, butterfly bush, black-eyed susan, queen anne's lace, hollyhocks, joe pye weed and others. It is only a bit more organized than the wildflower garden but it is organized. The wildflower garden is just that... wild and glorious with tiny little grassy walkways between shoulder high flowers of all colors and shapes. Adults strolling through are only noticed by their heads popping up here and there, children would drive parents to distraction here. In winter this field looks plain and unattractive, but let the sun and the heat show up and it explodes with color in the flowers, with butterflies flitting to and fro and with dancing dragonflies of all shapes, sizes and colors. There is a constant hum of bees and crickets and little tree frogs and toads on their way to more shade, pass by through the underbrush. Always changing with each year, always beautiful.

Stained glass night light.

"Colours are the deeds of light, its deeds and sufferings." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We have a friend who absolutely loves to go to garage sales. She is always showing up at church with little bags of odds and ends she has found for people and she usually buys more for others than herself. One Sunday she handed me a plastic bag with a little light in it. The base is square and wood-grained and the cone-shaped stained glass shade for the light makes the whole thing look like an old time gramophone. Just a little night light, it sits on the bench in our sunroom. She thought it would fit right in since my brother is a musician, and it does... mainly because the colorful stained glass complements the stained glass in the windows of our cupola and transoms. She is always so pleased to see how well her thoughtful gift accents the space when she visits. Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness mean the most.

Palamedes Swallowtail butterfly(Papilio palamedes), in my garden.

"Flowers and butterflies drift in color, illuminating spring." ~ Author Unknown

I found this fellow in my garden. At first I thought it was a male black swallowtail, since they have really relished the fennel this year... or should I say "ravished the fennel". But, this fellow had a much larger wingspan and a different pattern of yellow on the upper wings and most striking of all was the alternating black and yellow stripes on his body. The black swallowtail have white or yellow polka dots on their bodies. He spent a lot of time drinking nectar from the lantana before wafting off into the preserve. I haven't seen any of their caterpillars but we have no sassafras or redbay in our yard.

A trio of colorful creations for today's PhotoHunt.

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