Monarch

There is a plant in my yard that is technically a weed. It's even called a weed. Joe Pye Weed. I've seen it grow by roadsides, a neglected fend for yourself kind of plant. It grows taller than I am. Somehow a few years ago one found a home in my hostas. And now I have lots of them in the hostas and raised bed nearby. I wouldn't pull them as weeds for love nor money. This is monarch butterfly time. They're gorging on anything purple.

They love Joe Pye weed. When I come home and close the garage door they are all a flutter around me as I make my way to the house. There must be well over fifty of them sharing these flower heads with the bees. It's amazing. When I was trying to even attempt to capture this they were surrounding me and I could actually hear them flutter around my head. What is more delicate than a butterfly???? Yet I could hear them as they moved around me.

Amazing. I wish you could sit in this window or on the porch and see this.
I'm also sending this along to Snappyfriends. Photographer's choice. These little beauties were hard to capture...they keep moving! But oh, so beautiful! The plants are completely full of them.