Idly afloat in the sunshine

“One of my chief joys in porch life is studying the butterflies. There are numbers of them about every day, of lovely pastel shades…” ~ Dorothy Scarborough, From a Southern Porch

Thursday dawned and found me once again wandering about the garden, where two very important observations were made. The first: If bird watchers can have bird blinds and deer hunters can have deer blinds, then I could have a butterfly blind. A place to sit and watch butterflies without disturbing their flutterings about my garden. Once upon a time, an older property in town had an old deer blind out at their fence line with a faded “for sale” sign nailed to one of its pink camouflage sides. Yes. Pink. Camouflage. Why my husband never bought this for my garden still baffles me. Wouldn’t it have made a fabulous butterfly blind? Yes, I think so, too.

The second observation that was made Thursday morning was that my camera outfit needs some additional zoom lenses.

A day later, still turning these observations over in my mind and examining them again and again, I think I can forego the butterfly blind as I would need multiple ones – one for each sunny area of our oddly shaped property – but additional camera lenses will be researched and added to my Christmas wish list.

I find that the older I get and the faster the world goes by, the more I just want to wander barefoot about my gardens, camera in hand, studying and recording the wildlife that seeks out refuge or food here. The earlier quote landed in my path at just the right time, for one of the chief joys of gardening is studying butterflies, the lovely pastel shades of the numerous butterflies that flutter overhead and stop to partake in the banquet of nectar spread out before them.

Today I share photographs of a tiger swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar on the native buttonbush in my garden on June 8th, 2023. Swallowtails are named for the long “tail” that extends beyond their hindwings, resembling the tail on the swallow, a type of bird.

There are more than 500 species of swallowtail butterflies, with around 25 species living in the United States.

This particular butterfly species lays its eggs on plants in the parsley family, as shown in the photograph below.

“I’ve watch’d you now a full half-hour,
….What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!…” ~ William Wordsworth, To a Butterfly

“…Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!…” ~ William Wordsworth, To a Butterfly

“STAY near me–do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!” ~ William Wordsworth, To a Butterfly

“Idly afloat in the sunshine, butterflies look like flower-petals from some enchanted garden, possession motion and life, so that when they fall, instead of perishing, they take on a new, unearthly beauty that will not die. Or are they perchance the souls of flowers that faded yesterday, or the imperishable dreams we mortals cherish, too delicate to come true, but too lovely to be destroyed? ~Dorothy Scarborough, From a Southern Porch

All photographs taken during the morning hours of June 8th, 2023, in my Southern Denton County, Texas, garden. Zone 8a.