Finally! I’ve been waiting for a female #pumpkin blossom! I grew this pumpkin vine from seeds a friend gave me last year. Male flowers came first to put my vine on the bee’s pollination ‘route’! 🎃 🐝 🧡

I always welcome a visit from the giant swallowtail #butterfly! Some cultures believe it represents endurance, change and life! 🌸🦋💕

Isn’t it amazing? Look at the artistry of this common buckeye #butterfly wing! This one is enjoying the morning in my blue mist! 🦋💕🌸

First monarch cats that I’ve found this fall! They were worth the search! 🐛❤️🦋

How adorable is this queen larva enjoying a native #milkweed blossom? 🐛🌸 Found him tonight jogging along county roads! 💕

Three cat friends! 🐛 A black swallowtail, a queen, and a monarch. Each one is more stellar than the other! 🦋 💕

Three monarch #butterflies emerged during class yesterday!🦋 We will tag and release for migration on Monday! ☺️💕

I love all the white polka dots on the queen #butterfly! Especially fond of a girl on a pink zinnia! 💕 🌸

My favorite part of the cloudless sulfur #butterfly is the butter yellow compound eye and fuzzy body! 🧈 💛 🌼🧀

Baby pink queen #butterfly chrysalid! 💕 🌸 I always hope for a pink one when the larvae forms the chrysalid. This is only my second one! ☺️

Quick drink for the road! Feeding these two female monarch #butterflies this cold weekend before the long migration ahead of them! ❤️🇲🇽

This precious #goldfinch is enjoying the safflower on this icy day! ❄️ 🐦

Discovered this Great Purple Hairstreak #butterfly in my winter garden! Mistletoe is the host plant for this beauty! 🦋 A bit of a wing fold, but we have flight! Precious! 💕

The onset of spring with the Texas Bluebonnet! 💙🤍 The rewards of harvesting and sowing! ☺️

The Texas Indian Paintbrush! 🎨🖌️ That vibrant color comes from the modified leaves or bracts, not the flowers. A fav in my pasture! ❤️

My first #butterfly released in my new apartment! 🦋 A beautiful black swallowtail enjoying the freedom to fly! 💕

Saturday morning feeding monarch larvae! 🐛 My students are raising them, I’m babysitting! ☺️

My first monarch #butterfly released for 2023! This beautiful female is the last larva I found at my old house, and my first release of the year! 💕🦋