Sunday, April 17, 2016

Walkabout





Most years it seems that we go from winter to spring to summer in a couple of days. Last Sunday was cold and windy, today is warm (20 C) and calm. The insects don't waste any time getting active.
This morning I saw this Mourning Cloak butterfly as well as, what I believe is, a Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly which was too skittish to photograph.  The Tortoiseshell likes stinging nettle so that is some consolation for the nasty surprise you get when you accidentally  pull some out of the garden. The Tortoiseshell is a medium size orange-brown butterfly with some black and white on the wing tips.
This little butterfly is an Eastern Comma.  They are common and come out early in the season.  They are not fussy as to what they eat.



 Common as they are, crocuses never fail to cheer me up.  And they are a good early food source for the bees.

A sedum plant that was covered in leaves is a lovely rosey colour.  It will green up soon.

Also because it was covered in leaves, this evening primrose is a bright cherry red.

 Evening primrose (left), sedum (center), and scilla (right).

Garlic that I accidentally left behind last fall.


The bleeding heart looks like some deep sea anemone. Very exotic.



Finally, the so very lovely pulmonaria.
For some wonderful spring shots of Butchart Gardens, BC check out www.islandrambles.blogspot.com


4 comments:

  1. Great post. So full of promise and hope. I love Spring!! Thanks for posting.

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  2. Wow, 20 degr.C. we have not yet had this year. The garden will jump into spring I suppose, enjoy it!

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  3. A nice variety of shots of the unfolding Spring. I particularly like the butterflies which are of course very different from what we see over here. Our Spring is, as usual, stuttering in - 17 degrees one day and 5 degrees the next.

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  4. Funny that sedum reminds me of my purple asparagus popping up! thanks for popping by my blog. Oh how I wish I could grow garlic here, but they dont like the tropical weather. I went to the burchart gardens once while travelling - it was amazing!

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