Tag Archives: zinnia flower

My sunshine

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This morning we had two rays of sunshine emerge from their chrysalis in our butterfly house. The larger of the two was not interested in having its photo taken. As soon as I put my finger inside, it crawled on and then took flight right away. The sulphur was absolutely stunning as it spread its gorgeous wings.

The one below hung out with my daughter and I for a while, before I put it on one of the zinnia flowers I grew from seed. It eventually flew to the roof and sat for a while before it flew away.

I absolutely love the sulphur butterflies. The yellow is so bright and sunny, leaving you smiling. They remind me of my daughter, as I have sung her “You are my Sunshine,” since she was a baby.

Gratifying

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It’s the simple things. The simple things that become the highlight of the day.

I have fallen in love with zinnia flowers, for the pure, simple beauty they add to the garden. I began planting them from seed and am having huge success. They are popping up everywhere all over the garden on a variety of colors. Some are in the ground, some on pots creating different heights.

The “simple” pure joy comes from watching the monarch butterflies stopping for a sip of the nectar. There’s truly nothing more gratifying than planting a seed, watching it sprout, grow and eventually create a bud that turns into a magnificent flower that is a food source for the butterflies.

First of the New Year

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We had our first of 2023 monarch butterfly emerge yesterday in our butterfly house. This beautiful male was eager to fly away, making it No. 350 that we have successfully reached since we began this journey.

The great thing is the garden is very active, as well as the butterfly house with many chrysalis and caterpillars.

It is incredibly rewarding to witness the life cycle of the butterfly. The nest part is sharing that passion with not only my daughter, but iur fsmily and friends too.

I am excited to share that 2023 is bringing a new vision for me, one that includes growing many host and nectar plants from seed. I am having huge success with zinnia and dill so far.

Super excited . . .

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My garden is coming alive again with a ton of monarch caterpillars in many different stages, or instars. I spotted the one below while it was still molting, which never gets old. It’s amazing how they wiggle free the old skin, so they can continue eating more leaves.

But, the part that I am super excited about is the male monarch that I found in the yard hanging out. He crawled onto my finger and I put him on one of my zinnia flowers, which I grew from seed, and he went to town. He remained for a good long while sipping away to his heart’s content. The excitement lies in seeing the monarch sip nectar from a plant that I watched pop out of the soil and grow taller and taller slowly producing buds. I love knowing my hands got dirty to help the butterflies who visit the garden. I am also very excited about the photographs I was able to capture. The hair on the butterfly that was so pronounced in the photo left me giddy!

Pink

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The same plant, two different kinds of zinnia flowers, one with one layer of petals, the other with three. So neat and beautiful. Every day new flowers emerge. I am happy to say the two zinnia plants I planted in the garden are doing really well.