Mexican Sunflower – Page 2

This week, Tina has asked us to show creativity in the time of Covid-19.

I’ve tried my best to stay creative with my photography during this time. I’ve been experimenting with different photo techniques and some different editing effects.

One day in early spring I went out after a rain shower to take some photos. I wasn’t happy with them until I started playing around with different editing effects. This Mexican Sunflower photo was boring until I added a water color effect.

I am usually on the ground looking up when I take pictures of hummingbirds. One day I sat on our deck looking down at the flowers and captured this Ruby Throated Hummingbird going from flower to flower. By shooting from above I was able to get the shots I wanted.

I’d like to thank the amazing Lens-Artists team of Tina, Amy, Anne-Christine, and Patti for giving me inspiration and keeping me motivated during this time.

Tina, thank you for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Creativity in the Time of Covid-19

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.