Visit of the Swallowtails

I'm revisitng the post I did yesterday for Macro Flower Saturday, hosted by maiaT at Macro Flower Pictures because I had another visit from a swallowtail today and wanted to show the photos to you.

The original photo that I posted can be seen below. 

It's hard to believe I had never seen any swallowtail butterflies in real life until last year when I saw some Pipevine Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails at Mercer Arboretum.

Earlier this week as I was sitting at the breakfast table, movement over by the Vitex caught my eye.  It was a huge Swallowtail which at the time I mistakenly took for a Giant Swallowtail.  Unfortunately, when I ran outside, although the butterfly stayed around, the camera lens was fogging up.

I did manage to capture this shot though...

It was only when posting the photo in here, along with the photos I took today of another butterfly that I realized I had mis-identified this one.  Can anyone tell me what this one is? Is it a Black Swallowtail?



Today when I stepped out the front door there was a butterfly floating around the four foot tall Tropical Milkweed. I'm pretty sure this one is a Giant Swallowtail.

I managed to capture several shots of him and noticed in the process that there are NO APHIDS on the Milkweed now! Yay!

It's been such a lovely day today.  The temperature is cooler, the humidity is down.  Fall is definitely on the way. My favorite time of year!

I hope you all had a great day too!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Macro Flowers Saturday

I spotted this Giant Swallowtail on the Vitex from indoors and went rushing outside with my camera... only to find the lens fogged up immediately!


Eventually, after cleaning the lens off several times, I was able to get some photos. This was the best one and I decided it would be my entry for Macro Flower Saturday, hosted by maiaT at Macro Flower Pictures

 If you enjoy macro photos of flowers, head over to her site to see her awesome photos and visit the other blogs listed there for Macro Flowers Saturday.


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Macro Flowers Saturday

As the temperatures hovered around 99 degrees all this week, I ran the sprinklers in the early morning to try and save the garden.

One added benefit -- I love the way the sprinklers left drops of water on this Rose of Sharon bloom.

This is my entry into Macro Flowers Saturday, hosted by maiaT.

If you'd like to see more wonderful close ups of flowers in bloom, click on the link above, or in the Macro Flowers Saturday box in the right hand column and visit some of the other blogs listed there.  

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Macro Flowers Saturday

Yes,  I know it's Sunday already, but I just found the Macro Flowers Saturday meme and thought that this photo I took last week would be perfect to include in the meme.

If you'd like to see more wonderful close ups of flowers in bloom, click on the link above, or in the Macro Flowers Saturday box in the right hand column and visit some of the other blogs listed there. 

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.