butterflies

Coneflowers with a monarch. You can also spot a red admiral butterfly nectaring.

butterflies

Some of my recently-released monarchs feasting on coneflowers, monarda, and rudbeckia.

monarch

A favorite nectar plant - "Lady in Red" salvia, a cultivar of Salvia coccinea, native to the southeast. These have much more nectar than the common hybrid salvia widely used as a bedding plant, which has very little nectar, having been hybridized to merely decorate people's yards.

monarch

A monarch tanking up on the nectar from the cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum).

monarch

On one of its favorite plants - joe-pye weed. It's also one of my favorites - an easy-to-grow, handsome plant.

FarCry - Mollio