Nature At It's Best

I'm amazed each day at how much my flowers change and grow. More blooms and vivid colors keep me gazing and constantly looking for a new picture in which I can capture the beauty of the them at their best. I planted the majority of the flowers in these pictures. But many of them are volunteer plants! They look as nice if not better than some of the plants that I put in just this past spring. The greenery seems to be thicker and more full on some of them too. You'll just have to look for yourself. I only wish you could see them in person. These photos just don't do them justice.

Moss Roses



One of the volunteer plants! Isn't it big?


Moss Roses and Snap Dragons

Marigolds

Today, as I was driving into my garage, I happened to look down into the flowers and noticed a rather large Monarch butterfly just sitting on the plants. I stopped everything and took out my cell phone to record the evidence of it's presence. I hadn't seen one so large in a very long time.

If you look closely, in the center, is the Monarch butterfly.

Isn't it pretty?

The butterfly is making its rounds across all the plants and happens to be checking out my snapdragons. If you click on the picture, you can see all the beautiful colors in the dots around the edges of its wings. The body is very large and velvety looking.

The flowers towards the bottom third, the yellow and light pink and dark pink, are all volunteer plants! Love them....they grew in between the sidewalk sections.

I wish I could keep the blooms just as they are for the winter time. They are gorgeous and I think Mom is helping them to bloom better and bigger! These were some of her favorite flowers to plant. She used to have a two tiered flower bed and the bottom area was all Moss Roses. The top had Petunias. Years ago, prior to remodeling and adding on to the farm house, She had a rectangular shaped flower bed west of the house. Some of the plants in it were the Marigolds. Hers seemed to grow very tall. There were yellow, gold, and some two-toned colors.
I hope She likes the view from her perspective!