nature's sculpture

As the world begins to sleep, nature reveals her faded beauty.

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy

A Southern Daydreamer

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter S.  S is for nature's Sculpture.




photo by me © 2011-2016  all rights reserved

woodland path

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

~John Muir

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy  (napping)

A Southern Daydreamer





photo by me © 2012   all rights reserved

flower and bee

bee on caryopteris (bluebeard or blue mist)

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy

A Southern Daydreamer

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter P.  P is for purple.





photo by me © 2009   all rights reserved

rainforest path

from a hike in Olympic National Park September 2015

LINKS:

Olympic National Park

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

ONP Facebook page

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy  (kitty taste test)

A Southern Daydreamer (beautiful asters)

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter O.  O is for Olympic.




photo by me © 2015   all rights reserved

mums!

Wordless/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy (Kitty photo bomber!)

A Southern Daydreamer  (time for the fair!)

ABC Wednesday This week's challenge is the  letter N.  (stretching just a little!) N is for Nature.




photo by me  © 2016  all rights reserved

Pink Double Delight Echinacea

Echinacea purpurea 'Pink Double Delight' (one of the varieties of Echinacea growing in my garden)

LINKS:
Growing Guide
photos of many varieties
herbal remedy usage (Echinacea is purported to strengthen the immune system.)

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:



Create with Joy  (including a cat ball giveaway!)








A Southern Daydreamer  (hydrangea)






photo by me © 2013  all rights reserved

milkweed

common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Beautiful, fragrant flowers abound on the common milkweed plant!  This plant is most associated with being nectar food for the larvae of monarch butterflies, but is also enjoyed by a host of pollinators.
The numbers of monarchs have drastically fallen in the last 10+ years.  Its caterpillars depend solely on milkweed for food.  And milkweed is being destroyed due to herbicide spraying both by homeowners as well as farmers on genetically engineered crops.
Deforestation due to illegal logging and environmental factors has reduced the acres of available over-wintering sites for the butterflies that make it to Mexico.

LINKS:
Washington Post article about the destruction of monarchs
Monarch Watch.org
monarch population chart (scientific study)
Center for Biological Diversity
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center explore

milkweeds (Asclepias--There are >140 species):
common milkweed
swamp milkweed
butterfly weed

Consider planting one or more of the beautiful milkweed plant varieties in your yard!

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy (Those Irresistible Eyes)

A Southern Daydreamer (Lantana)





photo by me ©2016   all rights reserved 
(This photo was taken at the Cincinnati Nature Center where there is a small "milkweed forest" at the Herb Wall.)

Butterflies

"Butterflies of the Caribbean" is the current show at Cincinnati's Krohn Conservatory.  The garden room is alight with fluttering butterflies!  delightful!  Some even land on people.

MY BUTTERFLY POSTS:
Krohn Conservatory  several photos at beginning of post
July  first photo
Lepidoptera

LINKS:
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Krohn Conservatory


Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy (Magellan's Cat Cave)

A Southern Daydreamer (beautiful azaleas)

  
The Art and Tree Chatter of Aquariann  (Shenandoah Caverns)




photos by me ©2016    all rights reserved

tranquility

corner of a garden in Ault Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

Wordless Wednesday/ Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up: 

  The Art and Tree Chatter of Aquariann

  (yellow Asiatic lilies)

Create with Joy

(Magellan--the Laundry Hunter)

 

 
photos by me © 2014  all rights reserved