just my good , bad and ugly garden shots , unless or until someone else cares to join in.



bee balms in full bloom and oddly not a hummingbird in sight , they do smell good though

My homemade pentunia / salvia plant

front - 6/20


back - 6/20


and at the beginning - 5/18

Where's the bad and ugly?
I love all of them !!

I don't see any ugly.

I am not trying to post bad or ugly shots , but if I do my bases are covered.

I have one!
The other day I had a lady ask how I managed to get such good butterfly photos. Well, the truth of the matter is that I don't always.
Sometimes the butterfly is picture perfect, but the flower is crummy. With all of the beautiful coneflowers around, this Red Admiral chose to land on one of the spent blooms that I was allowing to go to seed. Ugliest flower on the place. Go figure. I've read about photographers who put pillowcases over plants to insure that the butterfly lights on a specific flower. That sounds like a lot of work to me, plus it would create more laundry to do.



Then there are those times when the flower is fine, the background is soft, and I get really excited. But the butterfly is missing part of its tail. I'm sure there are those out there who could photoshop the image and make it perfect. I'm not that good.



Another example is the Julia Heliconian below. Would have been nice...if a bird hadn't tried to use it for lunch.



So here's my True Confession: when you see a good butterfly photo that I've taken, rest assured that many (MANY) others went into the Delete/Recycle file during the selection process.
It's very rare when all of the elements come together, and I just happen to get that lucky shot.

nature definitely does not always cooperate but , when you do get a few good ones it does seem to make it all worth while.

I was trying to take some with my macro lens today and the wind did not want to cooperate.

The crocosmia shot I posted in the data base was the cream of the crop.

the fuller version

Love that shot. May I ask which macro lens you use?

Canon 20d and a Sigma 105 mm macro lens. I have a Canon Rebel Xti with a 10-22mm wide angle lens on it too as well as my Minolta Maxxum 5D with Sigma 50-500 mm lens

your shots look more like a Nikon camera and lens to me

did I mention I usually use my Nokia cell phone camera

This would be a Bad ,
Bad idea to plant a Bridal Bush so close to the house. (Mom and / or Dad)
Bad idea to build a new deck and stairs so close to the other sides of it. (Brother and friend)

I can laugh, but I know the feeling. I had a winter honeysuckle that ate the picnic table.

I think we've all done that kind of thing at least once in our lives.

Flowers, flowers and more flowers gotta love it! I agree no uglies here. May sunshine and good fortune be yours today, and if a cloud appears may it contain rain.

Sharon , very beautiful quote , I may need it

I am off to try and finish taming an Ugly


A hydrangea bush over run with crabgrass
I took down the little fence between the gate and sidewalk
so I can attack it from the other side.


if it gets too hot though I am sure I'll be back to cool off.

Well I did not finish , but it does look a whole lot nicer at the moment.



I did manage to get out 3 stumps - 1 small tree , and 2 poke berry (I think) roots
1 more maple tree stump to get along the fence.



I was digging it up with my little hand hoe/cultivator until I saw this



this bush has already got me once , reaching my hand into it to prune it and got stung by a wasp or two that had a nest on one of the branches
one year , my whole hand swelled up. So I finished trimming the crabgrass with the weed eater for now , rather then risking a snake bite.

Looks great. Be careful out there. Nature fights back sometimes!

Kurt-- I was wondering if the two times you were bitten if you were wearing gloves? Here in Texas everything bites big time. I never know about snakes, scorpions,or spiders. I can not move wood, rocks, debris, or reach in a plant without gloves. It was an adjustment for me because in other places I didn't t have to worry about what was lurking around. With gloves I feel clumsier but safer. Your hydrangea looks good! Can't wait to see blooms. Have a joy filled day and stay safe!

I honestly do not remember Sharon , but while I have several different kinds of gloves I usually do not wear any.
They are usually more annoying then useful for me. I was wearing a pair of latex finger and palm with cotton back yesterday ,
and use leather pair when pulling vines even though I seem to be immune from poison ivy I do get mild rashes from several vines.

the good - I was out pulling weeds and I see a very nice Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly
the bad - I had to go back in to get a camera
the ugly - right when I get a clear shot and am still focusing , it flies up and over our shed and into the neighbor's trees

so I took a bunch of after the rain shots of my flowers

Pow Wow Wildberry conflower , haven't been doing well but still kicking



The Butterfly Bush the butterfly was at , 1 of 2 in the back yard



a couple petunias from my salvia / petunia planter , all grow from seeds of the same plant - easy wave burgundy velour - it was in a pot with black magic petunias
so I can see where some of the darker ones get their darkness , and have had a few mutants in my black magic seedlings last year , but just a flower or two never whole plants.



finally , something on my orange butterfly weed



a mosquito on my only upright Indian Pink bloom after the rain



and lastly 2 of mom's Portulaca grandiflora

That Indian Pink photo is amazing! Hopefully your swallowtail will return.