She didn’t seem to mind at all when I stuck my camera in her face.

Beautiful.

~~Rhonda

I want to pick some for a winter bouquet and also need to get some for the Victorian Christmas tree. I might spritz them with a little white glitter spray for the tree. There is one fresh blossom. Seems a lot of the plants put out a few spring blossoms in the fall. Refreshing when everything else is fading.

The crabapple tree looked puny all summer. The leaves didn’t develop well. But it has put out a showing of fruit. Not as prolific as usual and maybe not as bright red as usual, but the birds will still enjoy the feast.

I think I showed you the asters before, but they are too pretty to ignore.

Surprise! A mushroom village erupted in the front yard this week. I like them so much, I mowed around them.

The little iris ‘Baby Blessed’ is blooming. It’s a great rebloomer. About 12″ tall, it will bloom off and on all summer. This week, we have quite a few blossoms. A whiff of spring in the midst of autumn.

Butterflies number three and four were released Thursday. They didn’t wait around for a photo op, but flew off as soon as they were out of the container.

The fifth butterfly to emerge (yesterday) was our first male. The male Black Swallowtail has a lot less blue than the female. Not sure why some are content to sit for a long time and others can’t wait to leap into the sky.

We still have twelve chrysalises and two caterpillars. The other day, DD watched one emerge, but I missed it. She pointed out another one and told me to watch it during the morning. She was sure it was ready to emerge. Well, sure enough…I walked into the kitchen about 10:00 a.m. and there it was, slowly waving its wings back and forth. Maybe I will be able to catch one of the remaining ones as the butterfly emerges.

~~Rhonda

We waited until DH came home after work to release the first one. He had to carefully take the screen off the top of the tank as two caterpillars have decided to attach to it to pupate. Silly bugs.

The butterfly is a female, which you can tell by the blue on her wings. She sat on DD’s finger for a long time. When we released the second butterfly yesterday, it didn’t wait for a photo op. It sprang into the air and took off for the top of the maple.

DD set the butterfly on a butterfly bush blossom and she seemed quite content to rest there.

DD was able to watch the third butterfly emerge this morning before I came downstairs. When I asked if she took pictures, she said, “No, I was too excited.”

~~Rhonda

I’m posting this photo in a large size so you can see the amazing beauty and detail of the wing scales. Isn’t God’s gift of creation amazing?

Buttercup is fascinated!

We put some butterfly bush blossoms and a couple of purple coneflower blossoms in the tank to provide nectar. When she gets home from school, DD will release the butterfly in the back yard.

We’re hoping to watch a butterfly as it emerges. If we do, I’ll post some pictures.

~~Rhonda

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

The cabbage white butterflies were hard to get a picture of. They can’t sit still for long.

The Buckeye butterflies seem to prefer the sedum ‘Autumn Joy.’

The path in the woods has a sprinkling of crunchy leaves.

This fuzzy little brown guy was resting on the white boneset.

The fall “weeds” are blooming.

Goldenrod

White Boneset

Jerusalem Artichoke

Smartweed

The Southern Oak is still green. It’s leaves will begin to turn yellow in October.

I didn’t get a picture of the asters…I need to do that. The dark purple ones are in full bloom. The ones from the family farm are just beginning to bloom. Soon they’ll be covered with blossoms and butterflies.

~~Rhonda

Today we have six little caterpillars on the parsley.

In a few days I’ll post the set up of the fish tank we use for raising caterpillars.

~~Rhonda