When I stroll through the garden my mood is instantly lifted by the colors of the flowers and the buzzing of the bees & butterflies who frequent them.
In garden journals of the past I have focused on the flowers growing in the garden zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. Today I want to highlight two butterflies in particular. You, dear gardener, may even recognize them.
The Gulf Fritillary can be found throughout North, Central, and South America. Their host plant is the passion vine of which passion flowers and fruit come from. In this area passion vines grow wild but I mostly see these orange butterflies visiting the zinnia flowers in my garden.
Between boughts of butterfly watching I went to check on the progress of the pumpkin patch. This year I decided to switch up the variety of pumpkin I am growing. During the past four years I grew a orange squash that is similar to spaghetti squash and is called zapallo de anco here. This year I am growing a round, green pumpkin but, I worry that a few volunteers from last years crop have cross pollinated. Hopefully some will come out as I hoped!
Earlier in the morning I went to the hawthorn tree to harvest a few handfuls of the red berries which are an important heart medicine. The path from the hawthorn to the garden took me by a couple of rose bushes that had a few fall flowers to collect. The garden itself is home to a few annual and perrenial herbs like catnip and yarrow which I harvested during my garden visit. The catnip is for my cats as a reward for putting up with a lot of visits from strangers to the house. The yarrow is such a multi'use herb that I include in tea mixes and as part of my spiritual practice too.
To my delight and surprise my time spent lingering in the garden was rewarded with a visit from a rare butterfly ....
The Southern Monarch!
As a migratory butterlfy monarchs can only be found in these mountains in spring as they head to their summer breeding grounds and fall as they move towards the tropics for winter. I have never had luck with growing their host plant of milkweed but try to compensate by planting lots of nectar plants for them to feed and rest upon. I know in the wildlands they will find milkweed and hope to have a patch of it in my next garden.
As you can see by my long wool sweater, the weather is turning from summer to fall. Zinnias are surprisingly resistant to a bit of cold though I wonder how much longer the butterflies and I can enjoy their beauty.
That is truly the beauty of the seasons, to enjoy each while they last. Fall has its own magic. It is the season of harvesting roots, nuts, fruit, and hopefully pumpkins! More on all of that soon!