It's Earth Day officially but in my opinion Earth Day should be everyday. I try to but and plant flowers that are native and that butterflies and bees will like. You can do it for cheap with Zinnia seed. They grow easily and butterflies love them! I took this image of a male Tiger Swallowtail on an old established Lilac a little over a week ago. It was perfect so must have been newly hatched. My first butterfly capture for the year.
Happy Monday and happy new week! Today is a special day, it's Earth Day! Every day should be Earth Day but .... We can all do our part by thinking about how many disposable type items we use instead of a re-usable one. We can think of what we plant in our yard to give a food source to bees and butterflies. I leave my clover and dandelions in spring when there is nothing else around for early emegers to eat instead of mowing it off. We can plant things they like as well and it doesn't have to be expensive. Flowers like Zinnias, Echinaceas, Cosmos, and even Marigolds are easy to start from seed and I almost always find bees or butterflies enjoying them. My image of the day is of a Painted Lady butterfly on an Echinacea in one of my gardens.
It's Earth Day 2023 Today I would like to make the case for Dandelions. Many people do everything they can to keep them out of their lawns. A few, like me, let nature take it's course. This is the reason why. Monarchs are emerging in our area and looking for food. Flowers are not very plentiful this early in the year but Dandelions are starting to emerge and as seen here, are providing much needed nutrients to emerging butterflies like Monarchs. Keep the bees and butterflies in mind while planting your gardens this year. Try to plant native flowers if you can. Butterflies enjoy Zinnias as well and they are one of the cheapest and easiest flowers to grow and can be grown easily from seed. I captured this Monarch last Sunday on a cool spring day after we finally received some rain and the Dandelions popped out like crazy.
It's a double digit day! 😀 It's also Friday, TGIF! Today is also Earth Day! On Earth Day I always like to promote growing plants for bees and butterflies. Zinnias are a great one. They are inexpensive and they can be grown easily from seed. They bloom up until a hard frost and provide color and a food source for butterflies. The image is a Great Spangled Fritillary on my Zinnias from this past summer. This image has some great bubble bokeh and so it's my image for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
