hibiscus – Wandering Dawgs

For Sofia’s challenge I chose flowers that bloomed this May in my coastal Georgia garden.

I had a big oops in January that fractured my left arm. My garden is suffering this year because I couldn’t get out and work in it this spring. The only blooms I’ve had are from plants that come back year after year.

The header image is of one of my knock out rose bushes. I cropped the header image for a closer look at the flowers.

The next gallery has two images of the same hydrangia bloom. The image on the left shows the whole bloom and the one on the right zooms in on the details.

The final gallery includes a black eyed Susan, hibiscus, pink oleander, and a southern Magnolia.

Many thanks to our host Sofia for her challenge Lens-Artists #301 – Floral

Although most of the plants in my butterfly garden are finished blooming for the winter, some of flowering plants continued to bloom in late December and early January.

Mexican Sunflower in December

Hibiscus in December

Sunflower under bird feeder in January

The milkweed is blooming and attracting Monarch butterflies. Because Hurricane Irma destroyed my butterfly garden in 2017 there were no butterflies or caterpillars last winter. I replanted the garden in the spring of 2018 and in December, 2018 I was thrilled to find monarchs and caterpillars on the milkweed once again.

20190101-Welcome-New-Year-(10) — Monarch on milkweed in January

20181224-Caterpillars-(4) — Monarch Caterpillar

Two days later, this caterpillar had changed into a chrysalis.

20181226-Chrysalis-(12) — Monarch Chrysalis December 24, 2018

I checked on the chrysalis every day. A week later, on New Year’s Eve, it was starting to change.

20181231-Garden-(1) — Week old monarch chrysalis after rain December 31, 2018

I continued checking on it daily and I could see subtle changes each day. Just when I knew it wouldn’t be long before a butterfly emerged, I found it lying on the ground the morning of January 5. We did some research on the internet to find out if there was anything we could do to save it. We tied it to a branch with piece of thread and let it hang in a jar. It’s been over a week since then and still there is no change.