Name That Job!

What do all of these critters have in common with regards to an important function they perform? If you know or have an educated guess, please answer in comments below. (Hint: The senate passed resolution 580 in 2006 creating the first National ______________ Week in June of 2007.)

Indian Summer Clouds of Butterflies

Here in North Texas our extended Indian Summer came to an abrupt halt yesterday. The weather during the prior week was spectacular though and the butterflies took advantage of the sunshine, warmer temps and plentiful nectar in a patch of blue mistflower and a lantana bush in my backyard. Many varieties of butterflies were attracted to both, including some very late Monarch butterflies on their trip south.

The lantana bush seemed especially popular with the sulphur butterflies. It was alive with a cloud of predominantly yellow butterflies flitting from flower to flower. How many do you see in my photo? (Click to enlarge to make your job easier.)

Queen butterflies flocked to my patch of blue mistflower. A cloud of orange erupted when I walked too close to this area of the garden. In this photo they share the nectar bounty with other butterflies and insects.

Butterflies in the Garden - Fort Worth - 2016

The butterflies are back! Their second week has begun at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and they will be there through Sunday, April 3, 2016. Exotic butterflies are hatched out and released into the rain forest conservatory for visitors to view as they stroll along the pathways. Butterflies in the Garden comes to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens every other year so if you don't get by before they are gone, you won't be able to see them again until 2018. If you don't live close enough to visit this exhibit check with your local botanic garden to see if they have this or a similar one on their calendar.

What can you expect to see? You will see a wide variety of exotic butterflies from South America. There are a variety of colors and sizes. You will see butterflies, large and small, perching on foliage, drinking nectar from flowers and eating from feeding stations. You need to watch your feet so you don't step on any that land on the path. But don't look down all the time because there will be butterflies flying past and above you. They often travel in groups. It's ok if they land on you, just don't walk out with them. It is also ok to bring your camera but don't bring in any snacks and drinks.

Eclectic Design Choices Launches New Note Card Product Line

As I mentioned in this month's newsletter, the Arlington Museum of Art has debuted a new line of my blank note cards in their gift shop. While the size of the note cards is the same as ones that I have been selling, the artwork, the paper, the printing and the packaging are all new.

I also shared in the article that I had been interested in producing boxed sets of note cards on heavier paper stock for some time. I like the medium weight paper that I print on with my laser printer at home, but it is near the upper limit of paper weight that I can print myself. In order to offer boxed sets of note cards I also needed to find a way to speed up the printing process as I have to feed the card stock one at a time on my laser printer. I had investigated a few full service printing options in the past but the price points and run sizes had never been in the range that would work out to allow me to keep my pricing where I wanted it. The missing pieces of my "how do I make this work" puzzle finally came together late last year.

A fellow artisan gave me a lead last November that I intended to follow up on after the first of the year when my show season was behind me. However, after attending docent training for the Arlington Museum of Art's upcoming Modern Masters exhibit just after receiving this lead and mentioning my Psychedelic Gazelle note card to the gift store's buyer, I was asked about boxed sets of cards. I scheduled an appointment and brought in some examples of my photographic art that tended towards pop. Some of it was selected for individually wrapped note cards on the stock that I print and others were selected for an anticipated boxed set of cards.

Two of my images for the boxed set, whose colors complemented each other, only needed to be cropped to the proper aspect ratio for my note card layout and tweaked a bit to ensure the colors would print well on matte paper instead of the photo paper that those photographic art images had previously been printed on. The third image of a dragonfly required quite a bit more work however. The dragonfly image was already pretty psychedelic, however the colors were way off to make a cohesive set. I was asked to see what I could do to get some purple into the image and match the color scheme of the other two cards. I came up with two versions, one with a lighter dragonfly on a dark background and the other with a darker dragonfly on a light background. Initially one of the two new color schemes was picked to make a set of nine cards, however once I received my test prints of all four potential new cards it was decided to put together a set of eight using all four images.

Those test prints sold me on the print shop I had been given the lead to. The colors were amazing, even better than my printer at home. The paper was a wonderful, heavy card stock. The only thing I was missing was proper packaging. Luckily I knew one of my other suppliers carried this type of product. I placed orders for clear boxes to fit sets of eight note cards with envelopes and a small print run of the four new note cards. Each set in the AMA gift shop contains two each of the four images. I put a different image at the top of four boxed sets so I could show what images come in a set in one photo.

After the Modern Masters exhibit comes to an end on February 21, 2016, I plan to offer boxed sets of these images. However when I do, I will sell sets of six cards, three each of two images. In order to purchase all four images outside of the museum, you would need to buy two different sets of six cards instead of one set of eight currently available at AMA.

Butterfly Sightings July 2015

While I was working in my yard today, I had the pleasure of seeing a variety of butterflies flitting through, sipping from my flowers or just hanging out. Many of the pictures in the following collage were taken today. Those that were taken previously are of the same species of butterfly spotted earlier. Noticeably absent (since I know what I saw this morning) is a tiger swallowtail. The ones I see anymore are always in a hurry and I don't think I have a digital photo of one. I know I have some tiger swallowtail pictures taken with my film SLR (remember those?) and I took a picture of a similar butterfly, a giant swallowtail, last week in Abilene. However I don't have a tiger swallowtail image easily available to add to the collage so you will just have to use your imagination or check out these images online. There is at least one other butterfly that I saw today that is not in the collage and plenty more that live in the area but that I just didn't see today.

Even though it has gotten hot and dry and there is not as much color in my garden as earlier this year, these lovely butterflies add interest and color as they go about their business. The two largest butterflies in the collage are a spicebush swallowtail and a queen butterfly. Click the image to enlarge it.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's 2014 Photo Contest

This year the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Photo Contest changed up its entry categories a bit and added a rule that you could enter a maximum of eight photos per person across whatever categories you entered. There was a new category, Birds and Butterflies with Native Wildflowers and Plants, that really appealed to me because of the nature shots that I tend to take as a starting point for my photographic art images. I found three images with birds and five images containing butterflies that I decided to enter this year. (You can click on the photos below to see larger images or go directly to my images on the photo contest page for voting by clicking here or to each individual photo's voting pages by clicking the title under each photo. When you are on those pages, if you click the photo to the left of the title, a much larger image eventually comes up.)

Female Cardinal on Bald Cypress------Western Kingbird on Pecan-------------Field Sparrow on Elm-----

---------------------Skipper on Pickerel Rush-----Gray Hairstreak on Late-Flowering Boneset---------------

---Fiery Skipper on Frog Fruit---Variegated Fritillary on Butterflyweed----Question Mark on Lantana---

Unless something manages to go viral, I don't expect to top the charts on the public voting, however it would still be very useful to me for developing future photographic art images to know which of these photos people like the best, so if you have the time please vote for your favorite(s). You may vote once per day (24 hour period) for whatever photo you like through May 9, 2014 (even if it isn't mine). If you really like an image but would prefer not to vote, please leave me a comment about the one(s) you like. The categories are judged privately, independent of the public voting.

Celebrate the Spring Equinox

It is almost officially springtime. The long awaited for Spring Equinox is almost here. (It has been a long, roller coaster of a winter this year. I can’t wait for spring to come to stay.) Spring officially arrives just before noon, March 20, 2014 in the DFW Metroplex (CDT). When I think of spring I think of returning flowers and butterflies. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden offers plenty of opportunities to see flowers and bountiful butterflies.

The grounds of the Botanic Gardens has plenty of fabulous flowers. In addition, this year the “Butterflies in the Garden” exhibit has returned. This exhibit is currently open daily from 10am to 4pm through April 6th. Many tropical butterfly species fill the conservatory. You will find them flitting through the air, perching on flowers or just hanging out on the greenery. I have included a couple of the many photos that I took during my visit last week.

If you don’t live close enough to take advantage of this wonderful exhibit, check with your local arboretum or natural history museum to see if they know if and when a similar exhibit is scheduled to come to your area. Many different opportunities may await you in your community. In addition, if you plant and create other habitat for butterflies in your garden you can enjoy your local butterfly community throughout the growing season.

So, take a moment and check out your local butterfly watching prospects. You’ll be glad you took the time to view these jewels of the air.

Artist Spotlight – Butterfly Inspirations

For many years I have seen beautiful displays of mounted butterflies and often thought they would look pretty in my home. When I was growing up, my mom helped me and my brother collect and mount butterflies and dragonflies in balsa wood boxes. However, as I got older, I became concerned about taking these winged jewels out of their natural habitat in order to have them grace my home. In addition, while the butterflies themselves were stunning in the displays that I saw, the displays themselves always seemed to be lacking a certain something that would compel me to take one home.

All of that changed when I was a vendor at the Dallas Handmade Arts Market last November. Another vendor, Carol Shier, had the most artistically arranged and mounted butterfly specimens that I had seen. On her website, ButterflyInspirationsStore, Carol states that her “…butterflies come from butterfly farms from around the world…”. Problem solved with regard to taking these gems from nature. As I already mentioned, Carol’s butterflies are wonderfully and artistically displayed. Her gorgeous specimens are mounted in clear acrylic boxes, often with a natural branch to add to the artistic presentation. Her box of pink glasswing butterflies on a branch reminded me of cherry blossoms. I just had to bring them home with me.

In addition to her website, Carol also has an Etsy shop, ButterflyStore, stocked with a few of her creations. On her sites you will find enchanting displays of single specimens as well as large boxes containing a dozen or more butterflies. I have enjoyed looking at my purchase during these gray winter days. It gives me hope that spring and new beauty is around the corner.

Butterfly Watching

Have you seen them yet? Butterflies that is, fluttering around your garden. While I haven’t seen a large number of individuals yet, I have seen a good number of types of butterflies and moths fluttering around or on my plants. The images in this post are of a salt marsh moth, Estigmene acrea, that seemed to show up from nowhere just after emerging from its cocoon. (After reading about its pupal stage, I think it most likely emerged from the leaf litter at the base of the wall and crawled up the wall a bit to a sunny spot to “stretch its wings”. It was fascinating to watch its wings expand and become ready for flight over the next couple of hours.

You may be lucky enough to see something similar at the Butterflies in the Garden exhibit at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. They usually have a butterfly hatching area. The butterflies that you will find at the exhibit are all tropical varieties. They are a lot of fun to watch flying around the conservatory. Sometimes they even land on visitors. This exhibit will be in Fort Worth through April 8, 2012 and you can find out more information on the Botanic Gardens website.

You can usually find information about out how to attract butterflies to your garden at this exhibit that comes to the Botanic Gardens every other year. One way to encourage butterflies to come to your garden for you to watch is to plant nectar plants for the adult butterflies. I will have some good butterfly nectar plants available for sale at the Downtown Arlington Farmers Market on Saturday, March 31 from 8 am to 1 pm. There will also be short gardening talks at the Market that day on a variety of topics as part of the Smart Yard Symposium. If you are in the area, come out and say hi. Contact me if you want an on site evaluation of how to attract more butterflies to your garden.

Gardening for Wildlife - Monarch Migration

There are several great plants including milkweed and butterfly weed that can attract Monarch butterflies to your garden. I would like to share two Texas natives, that you might not be as familiar with, that Monarchs flock to in my garden. They feed on the nectar of these plants to help fuel their 2500 mile fall migration to Mexico, where they hibernate for the winter. These two Texas natives, late flowering boneset and blue mistflower, supply much needed food for this epic journey.

Late flowering boneset naturally grows near streams, lakes or other low lying areas. I have found that it is adaptable to being included in my xeric garden. This plant does spread by underground roots and if it is in an area where it is very happy (damp or frequent watering), it will spread and form a large colony. It is also a vigorous reseeder, so it is best to clip and dispose of the seed heads so that you won’t be constantly pulling seedlings the next year. (Natural seed propagation is how it found its way to my garden in the first place.) So much for it’s vices, there is still a lot to recommend this plant for the right spot on your property. Late flowering boneset will attain a height of 3 to 6 feet. In my garden, it tends to get 4 to 5 feet. It usually blooms, from late September into early October. It is covered with an umbrella of white, fuzzy blooms for a few weeks and attracts a large variety of insects to feed on its flower’s nectar, including Monarch butterflies. This is a plant for the back of a large bed or for holding the soil along banks near low lying areas on your property. It is a perennial that dies to the ground during the winter.

Blue mistflower is also good for stabilizing sloping ground near low lying areas. It also spreads by underground roots but I have not found it to be an aggressive reseeder. It too, will happily fill an area that stays damp or is watered regularly. I have found it to be very useful in my xeric garden. I got my start as a division (with permission) from a local xeriscape. It also dies back in the winter but only gets a foot or so high in my garden, so it can be planted closer to the front of a bed. It usually blooms at a similar time as late flowering boneset but often for a little longer. It has similar flowers that are lavender in color.

If you have the space for either of both of these plants on your property, I would like to encourage you to plant them to help support the Monarchs on their long journey. You will be rewarded by getting to watch Monarch butterflies flitting around your garden during their fall migration, in addition to the other nectar sippers that will visit.

Watch the Butterflies

If you are looking for another nature themed family outing, be on the look out for a live butterfly exhibit coming to your area. Visit a local butterfly attraction to enjoy seeing and learning about these lovely creatures and possibly get motivated about attracting them to your garden with nectar, water sources and host plants.

A friend of mine convinced me to take a break for my birthday recently and visit the “Butterflies in the Garden” exhibit at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. This exhibit is open daily this year through April 4th. Many tropical butterfly species fill the conservatory. You will find them flitting through the air, perching on flowers or just hanging out on the greenery. I have included a couple of the many photos that I took during my visit.

If you do not live close enough to take advantage of this wonderful exhibit, check with your local arboretum or natural history museum to see if they know if and when a similar exhibit is scheduled to come to your area. While visiting the Texas State Fair the last couple of years, I have strolled through a butterfly exhibit garden that was staffed with volunteers to point out the caterpillars and butterfly eggs that were on the host plants in the garden. Adult butterflies could be seen flitting in and out as well. Many different opportunities may await you in your community.

So, take a moment and check out your local butterfly watching prospects. You’ll be glad you took the time to view these jewels of the air.