Every summer Butterflies arrive to enjoy my blooming flowers. Like travelers on the interstate, they stop and refresh themselves with nutrients to sustain them on their way. Leaving their eggs and chrysalises behind they carry on year after year. They are a joy to behold, as they flit from flower to flower probing for nectar in each tiny yellow stamen. All the while they pollinate my Zinnias for next years planting.
Nature’s bright colors
Displayed in shining glory
Butterfly buffet
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
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iPhone Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
The Monarchs are reproducing in my zinnia garden at the side of the hose. Last week, I discovered a chrysalis attached to the siding. When my grandson came to visit, he and his grandma found some others along the bottom edge of the siding. A couple were already empty. Today I saw the caterpillar above looking for a place to attach. When I went back later I could not find it. The chrysalises we found were in different stages of development. One was emerging from the shell. A couple had already hatched out and flown away. I am excited to find this many monarchs, even though the caterpillars stripped the leaves from my milkweed plants.
Caterpillars eat
Milkweed leaves disappearing
Fall butterflies hatch
Chrysalis shells split open
Monarchs’ migration ready
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Butterflies and bees are back again, enjoying all my colorful zinnias. Even the humming bird could not resist. It is wonderful to see them flitting from flower to flower, not worried in the least that I am standing among them taking their photos.
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Grandfather Mountain
The Blue Ridge Parkway yields panoramic views
Rising and falling through majestic hues
Turnoffs, overlooks, tunnels, and bridges
Orchards of apples and long gorgeous ridges
Grandfather Mountain towers ahead
Drawing us up to its jaw-dropping ledge
Serpentine backbone a scoliated spine
Split Rock lay open and wrapped in vines
The bald rocks the twisted trees
Bask carefree in the summer breeze
Hurricane-force winds cannot rip them loose
Deformed over time by Nature’s abuse
Excited to be at the top of the world
Here where branches and trunks are curled
Blooming flowers defy the wind
Smiling sweetly until the very end
Feeling the sway of the long steel bridge
Looking up in the distance at the neighboring ridge
A rocky pathway draws some to his face
The old man of the mountain stays fixed in his place
Undaunted by storms or gray fog rolling in
He’ll still be there when our vision grows dim
Creating the mystique that continues to draw
Young and old from near and far
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Photo: Dwight L. Roth
This morning while filling my bird feeder, I saw two beautiful monarchs on my fading zinnias. They must have lost their map on their way to Mexico! They were so beautiful with deep orange and black colors. I thought my zinnias were finished a month ago, but I left them grow as they fell over onto the fence. Surprisingly they kept on blooming, even with a white dusty mold that came on their leaves. In another week we will likely get a heavy frost that will finish them off. Here is a taste of the late summer beauty I saw. Poetry without words! Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Fall beauty is all around. Although it has not rained here in three weeks my zinnias keep on blooming. They are appreciated by the butterflies and moths that stop by for a taste of their sweet nectar. Yesterday a monarch was on my butterfly bush. Today I saw this beautiful butterfly moving from flower to flower. It is called Gulf Fritillary and is common in North Carolina So I got my camera for another round of poetry in motion. Enjoy the show! No words needed!
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
