07/20/26

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  I love Echinaceas or as they are also known, Cone Flowers.  I love looking at their centers up close as they have quite the neat pattern.  Reminds me of that old drawing tool, a Spirograph.

 

03/16/26

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  Today's image is one of my favorite flowers.  I find them very photogenic, especially the centers of them.  They grow as a wildflower as well but it is generally the pink variety.

12/26/25

 It's Friday, TGIF!  It's the last Friday of the year so I wanted to share one of my favorite flowers with some great bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!  This is an image of my white Coneflowers or Echinacea that grow by the gazebo pond.

09/18/25

 I have not seen many butterflies this year but the ones I have seen have been very nice and were mostly Swallowtails.  This is a Black Swallowtail that was enjoying my Echinacea or Coneflowers one afternoon.

08/04/25

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  I thought I would start off the week with a lovely butterfly I was able to capture on my Coneflowers/Echinacea not long ago.  This is a female Black Swallowtail.  I have seen a good amount of Swallowtails around this year and Skippers but, unfortunately, not many others.  I do see a Monarch every now and then, hope to see more before the summer is over.

07/23/25

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's flower is one of my favorites and has been blooming like crazy around my area and especially in my gardens.  This is Echinacea also known as Cone Flower or, here in Kansas, Black Sampson Echinacea.  It usually blooms June through July.  This Echinacea provides pain relieving compounds and Native Americans used it for toothaches, sore throats, wounds and burns.  I find it very photogenic.  Birds like to eat the dried seeds.

07/07/25

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  It's also a double digit day!  😁  The Echinacea are in bloom right now in my area and I have been enjoying them a lot.  I love the whorled pattern in their center and took this image recently of one.

01/01/25

 Happy New Year!  It's a double digit day of course.  It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog and the first one of the new year.  Starting off with a favorite in an image that reminds of some natural Fireworks.  This is a white Echinacea that I have growing over by my large pond.  Also known as Coneflowers, these can bloom all summer.

12/16/24

 Happy Monday and new week!  Today's image is of one type of insect that I did see a lot of this summer.  These are in the butterfly family and are known as Skippers due to their quick darting habits.  This is a Silver Spotted Skipper that was visiting my Echinacea or Cone Flowers in my garden.

09/12/24

 This little white Crab Spider had been on one of my Coneflowers or Echinacea pretty regularly.  I captured it one day and thought it was kind of a fun picture as the markings on it's abdomen in this position look like a face.  

07/19/24

 It's Friday, TGIF!  I was able to see and capture a Great Spangled Fritillary visiting my Cone Flowers/Echinacea.  It was rather tattered looking, wondering if it was damaged in the hail storm.  It didn't seem to hurt it's ability to fly or float as I observed it doing both around the blooms and was able to capture it just after takeoff from this one.  I am sharing this image today due to the lovely bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

07/05/24

 It's Friday TGIF!  My Cone Flower/Echinacea has been blooming and attracting various nature.  I captured this Skipper enjoying the blooms one late afternoon.  I chose this photo for today due to the bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

06/08/24

 Last weekend was the annual Wildflower Walk out at Konza Prairie.  It was a lovely evening and they had a huge turnout.  I led a group of about 20 fun people.  After we got back I went back out a short way to watch the sun set over the prairie and I took this image.  That's an Echinacea in the foreground and behind is a lovely example of a Butterfly Milkweed.

04/22/24

 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.

10/13/23

 Happy Friday, TGIF!  It's Friday the 13th, appropriate for the month of Halloween.  😅  Hope it's a good day for you, it usually is for me but we shall see.  I thought I would start the day off right with a photo of one of my favorite flowers, Echinacea or Cone Flowers.  I had to share this photo today due to the wonderful bubbly bokeh behind them because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

7/20/23

 I have seen several Monarchs around this year which has been quite nice.  I was able to capture this one on my Cone Flowers/Echinacea recently.

7/10/23

 Happy Monday and new week!  Today's image is one I captured a couple weeks ago now of my Echinacea or Cone Flowers growing in my garden railway.  They are a bit out of proportion but they love it there as they have spread quite a bit.  Anyway, I loved the mood set by the light on this group.

6/30/23

 TGIF it's Friday!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well and I have a lovely bubbly bokeh image for today.  This is an Echinacea, or Cone Flower, flower in the very early stages of blooming.  The petals look like spikes and very different to the long lobed pink petals when fully in bloom.  The light on the plants behind it was creating the wonderful bubble bokeh.

3/31/23

 It's Friday, TGIF!  Sharing a flower today that I love to see as they make me almost as happy as a Sunflower.  These are some Coneflowers or Echinacea that were growing in my garden railroad this past year.  They are a bit tall for that so I will probably transplant them this year.  They had some lovely bubbly bokeh behind them so I had to share them today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

3/17/23

 It's Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  It's the last official day of my Spring Break.  Sigh.  Anyway, today's image is another to remind of summer.  I captured a Monarch enjoying my Cone Flowers in my yard this past summer.  Our temps keep bouncing around from nice and warm to cold, really looking forward to them stabilizing out on warm.  The bokeh is created from the leaves from the trees behind the flowers.