Swallowtails in the Garden

By Jim | Published September 11, 2019

Today’s post features a few of the many Swallowtail butterflies that have been busy in the Monarch butterfly garden I designed this spring at the Lake of the Ozarks: Although this butterfly garden is new, and small, it has been very successful this first year.  With more plantings planned for fall and again next spring, […]

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Keeping the Species Alive

By Jim | Published September 5, 2019

As you may know, Monarch butterfly numbers have been declining the past few years. In the new butterfly garden that I put in at the Lake of the Ozarks this spring is flourishing with Monarchs.  Here are a few of my favorite images captured recently in this garden. Monarchs busy laying eggs: Monarch butterfly eggs […]

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Monarch Nursery

By Jim | Published July 31, 2019

Back home, after some R&R at the Lake of the Ozarks. Actually, spent a fair amount of time working a new butterfly garden that I’ve helped a friend put in. Over the past few months, I planted multiple milkweed species, along with other butterfly-attracting plants, and while working in the garden last Friday, I had […]

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A Late Visitor

By Jim | Published October 19, 2018

As I left my house to pick up my mail at the road yesterday, I noted a beautiful Monarch butterfly that was very interested in a stand of aster wildflowers that are blooming in my rural Missouri butterfly garden. I went back inside and grabbed my camera and grabbed a few images of this regal […]

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Fun Friday: Changes in My Nursery

By Jim | Published October 5, 2018

As I mentioned in a post last week, I have collected several Black Swallowtail butterfly eggs and caterpillars. They are housed in a mesh, indoors “nursery” in my rural Missouri home. I had been waiting for the caterpillar to begin making it’s chrysalis. Well, I went to bed on Tuesday night and the caterpillar was […]

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Royalty in the Garden

By Jim | Published August 6, 2018

Today’s post features a few images I captured over the weekend of a Monarch butterfly that visited my rural Missouri butterfly garden. I saw a few Monarchs back in late spring, but until this weekend, I had not seen any. I’m hoping I will continue to see them as they add such beauty to the […]

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The Last of 2017?

By Jim | Published October 23, 2017

This past week, I stepped out for a week of photographing the Madison County (Iowa) covered bridges in the peak of fall colors. What a wonderful week it was, shooting sunrises and covered bridges surrounded by fall colors, and spending the late nights photographing the stars and Milky Way over the bridges! Had a wonderful […]

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A Travel Snack

By Jim | Published October 16, 2017

I recently made another trip to the wonderful butterfly garden of Lenora Larson, near Paola, Kansas. Her wonderful gardens were filled with color and a large variety of butterflies and pollinators that were busy collecting nectar as fall is rapidly approaching. One of my favorites on that morning was a few Monarchs that briefly stopped […]

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Silver-Spotted Skipper

By Jim | Published October 11, 2017

I had another wonderful art show over the weekend, reacquainting with several ex-coworkers and high school friends, and meeting many new, wonderful nature lovers! It’s always exciting to meet and share stories about our natural world.  My next, and last art show of 2017 will happen on November 03-04, at the John Knox Pavillion in […]

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It’s a Zoo Out There, Part 1

By Jim | Published July 24, 2017

I was hoping to have some new images of dragonflies to post today, but I’ve not seen any around my rural Missouri butterfly garden over the past few days. I don’t know if the extremely hot temperatures are causing them to lay low, or I’ve just not been in the garden at the right time. […]

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