Milkweed

This is one of the most beautiful flowers I saw in Texas, but it took me awhile to figure it out. I noticed a low-growing plant with green flowers as we were driving along, but I was so dazzled by bright yellow and incredible purple flowers that I ignored it until we got to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. When I saw it up close I was just wowed! It is one of those flowers that is just so perfect it looks fake. Then I realized it was a milkweed. No wonder there were so many Monarchs flying around! Maybe we will plant it on our Papillon Ranch outside of Junction.

Giant Swallowtail

I'm just back from Texas, where I saw many beautiful flowers and butterflies. This is a picture of the Giant Swallowtail in the "Butterfly Haus" at Wildseed Farm outside of Fredericksburg. This butterfly hous was great because it had only Texas butterflies and there were hostplants in the enclosure so that the butterflies could mate and lay eggs. Classical music was playing as we walked around, it was very lovely . These butterflies lay their eggs on citrus, prickly ash, and other plants. I saw one at the Tucson Botanical Garden fluttering around a grapefruit tree, but it wouldn't stay in one place long enough for a photo, and I never saw it lay eggs.