Late afternoon the day before yesterday, I was walking around my garden when what should I see, but a large orange butterfly.  I immediately thought it might be a Monarch as it seemed too large to be a Painted Lady.  It must have flitted around and through the garden for a good 10 – 15 minutes before it finally rested with its wings open in a spot where I could get a photograph.

Male Monarch Butterfly

It was clearly a male Monarch butterfly.

I was amazed to find him again, yesterday — 24 hrs. later, still in the garden.  I keep fantasizing that he’s feeling that he has found a spot where the world is as it ought to be.  There still seem to be plenty of nectar flowers available — boneset, goldenrod and a butterfly bush. Plus there’s plenty of milkweed should a female arrive to lay eggs.  (I wish this male could somehow get a female to join him.)

I reported this sighting to Journey North (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1407963782).

I’ve been seeing what I thought was a blue wasp on my mountain mint, but couldn’t get one to hold still long enough to be photographed.  This evening I finally got a shot where you can definitely see his/her “blueness.”

Blue Wasp on Mountain Mint

I think this must be a Blue Spider Wasp (see http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/the-world-as-we-know-it/send-probably-a-spider-wasp-version-2/ for a much better picture).

One of my all-time favorite flowers is Rudbeckia triloba, known as “thin-leaf coneflower” or “brown-eyed susan.” It blooms late mid-summer.  I love masses of them.  If you stare into their faces, as in this photo, you can become a little hypnotized and imagine they are cheerfully looking back at you.

Rudbeckia triloba (thin-leaf coneflower)

Like other Rudbeckia, this one swarms with bees, in this case tiny bees.  This greatly enlarged photo shows 2 such little bees.

Triloba with Bees

— Robin