The Hummingbirds and Monarch Butterflies have been coming in great numbers to our deck flowers and feeder. I could sit and watch them all day. The hummers are usually very solitary, but now two or three hummingbirds at a time can be seen doing aerial ballets for our enjoyment while others hover over the flowers on a different side of the deck.
This time with the hummers and butterflies is so special as it is quickly coming time for them to fly south. I know they ride the thermal winds, I have read about their journeys, but I will never understand how these tiny bits of life can travel so far.
The hummers and butterflies are hard to catch with the camera as one second they are there, and the next second they are gone.
The hummers seem to be getting a little fat around the middle as they stock up for their trip. All the flowers I plant on the deck are for the enjoyment of the hummers and butterflies. I have lots of different kinds of salvias, verbena, pentas, impatiens, nicotianas, tropical plants with red and pink tubular flowers, miniature petunias, moss roses, cannas, flowers on my herbs, and flowers blooming off my tropical succulent plants. Even the Catalpa tree, which grows up through my deck, contributes flowers for the hummers. In the backyard, the only thing the deer have not devoured of my former spectacular garden is a butterfly bush which sometimes is so covered with Monarchs that the bush looks like it is moving as the butterflies flutter their wings as they feed. (Rmember double-clicking on a picture enlarges it.)
Butterflies on Butterfly Bush.
An added bonus to the Elfin or Hummingbird Salvia and Victorian Blue Salvia, I plants that the Gold Finches love to land on the stems and eat the seeds from the plants. Our deck is alive and fascinating to watch. Even Katrinka and Izzy enjoy the shows the birds put on for us. However for Katrinka or Izzy, a squirrel crossing the deck is a call to arms!!!
Coming in for a landing.
A bee on Elfin salvia. I haven't met a salvia I didn't like, but I think Hummingbird or Elfin salvia is my favorite. It comes in the color coral, red, and white,
Monarch on Victoria Blue salvia with red and coral Elfin salvia.
Tail up for landing.
Winging its way to the feeder.
Where is Waldo the Hummingbird? Am I the only one who remembers the Where's Waldo books?
Good camouflage allows them to blend in with the flowers.
Hummer resting on the feeder which is in the Catalpa tree that grows through the deck. Yes, everyone said I was crazy to have a tree growing through the deck. Actually I did the same thing in Missouri, only the tree was an oak.
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