Life in the Bushes -

Butterfly Bushes, That is

The butterfly bush, or Buddleia Davidii,

is a deciduous shrub that can grow to 15 feet.

They often do not reach these heights as winter

cold will often kill the plant back to the ground.

Not to worry:

simply prune and wait for the new growth to appear.

Butterfly bushes have silver/green foliage

and tend be a bit untidy in growth,

with stems arching out and downward.

As the name promised,

these shrubs attract butterflies.

Oh, do they.

Before we head out to the garden,

look at who visited the deck this morning.

This is a Luna Moth.

This beauty has a wing span of about 3-1/2 inches.

I would speculate,

based upon the heavy feathering of the antenna,

that this is a male.

Well, what do you know?

I have stargazer lilies blooming.

The deer usually eat the lilies before they have the

chance to bloom.

I had forgotten how much I dislike this flower's aroma.

Years ago I made the mistake of cutting one

and bringing it inside.

The thing was tossed out of the house in less than an hour.

All right, now we will go down to the garden.

The Foodie Boyfriend and I measured the tallest

shrub this morning and learned that it is 12 feet tall.

Welcome to the butterfly garden.

It is a busy place.

The lovely Tiger Swallowtail.






Even the underside of the wings are beautiful.


















And here once again are those elusive butterflies.










They just don't seem to like to have their pictures taken.

You can see why it is so difficult to get a good

photo of these butterflies.

They just don't seem to want to sit still.

I like the colorful under-wings.

Please come down here so I can get a better picture.








Shh.


One has heard my plea.

Beautiful.

In looking through my butterfly guides,

the closest I can guess,

is that this might be an Eastern Black Swallowtail.

Maybe.

But then again,

I'm no entomologist.

Thank you, lovely butterfly, for posing for me.

What's this?

A newcomer?

This is a Zebra Swallowtail.

This particular specimen has pale blue wings

with the black stripes.

A Red Admiral (on the left) and an unidentified butterfly.

Red Admirals tend to be a bit shy around the camera.

The Red Admiral.

A Painted Lady.

Again, I am not sure what this butterfly is.

This is some sort of Folded-Wing Skipper.

Butterflies at play?

As you can see, he keeps his wings folded to his body.

Butterfly bushes also attract other insects.

Here a honey bee visits.

Notice the pollen in her pollen baskets on her hind legs.

A bumble bee visits.

The Humming Bird Moth has returned.

This large moth is often mistaken for a hummingbird.

Thanks for coming out to the garden with me today.

Too bad you couldn't help me pull weeds

while I waited for the right photo ops.