Fall Bugs and Flowers

Walking past these maples after leaving the Farmers Market last Saturday I finally had to admit that fall is really here. From the look of these trees, it just might turn into a truly spectacular one.

Luckily, the days are still warm and sunny and the bugs are still busily bussing about.

The Monarchs (or Viceroys, or both) continue to migrate through our backyard. A few years ago we noticed that there were more than the usual number passing by so we started to count. As it turned out  there were so many we gave up somewhere in the seventies but they continued to fly by for hours afterwards. This year a cold snap slowed them for a bit but now they're back and on the move.

This poor Viceroy (I think) flew into my backyard a couple weeks ago. Actually it glided in as it was missing a big chunk of one of it's tattered wings. A little sad, but I had admire it's persistence. 

It's easy to get carried away photographing them and completely ignore all the garden chores.

Guess that's what is meant by the phrase "chasing butterflies".

The serious side of all this is the fact that flowers and bugs can't exist without each other and

for that reason I just use my own compost and try to keep everything as organic as possible.

These volunteer Black-Eyed Susans are so annoying when they come up in front of the roses or crowd out the foxgloves. Some of them get to stay because they are very popular with the bees.

Not all bugs are created equal but the cute and fuzzy ones do look great on the roses.

 Fall flowers for zone 5a are limited but there's a few like this perennial anemone.

Gardens would be pretty dull without bugs and what would the birds and toads eat?

  

 I just read an article about how butterflies smell with their feet. That's a turn around, ha!

  

Sometimes it takes some research to discover just what I've taken a photo of. For instance this elaborately patterned caterpillar eventaully turns into...

. . . a Cabbage butterfly with a rather simple wing design. (Some might call it classic.)

One thing you can always count on in the insect world is variety. This guy looks like he just walked off stage after performing with a death metal band. Do I detect an attitude there? 

I never know exactly what's in the close-up photos I take of bugs on flowers until I get a good look at them enlarged. Usually I'm not surprised by their appearance but mostly they look just plain weird.

Interactions can be entertaining, it turns out that these two don't like to share.

Never know what I'm going to get, here's one of the cute ones just going about it's business. . .

. . . and some other ones having an orgy, hey guys it's fall not spring! 

How does Autumn arrive where you live?

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

Yesterday I was attacked by hoards of mosquitoes. To be fair I believe they were only

doing their job and in no way was it in retaliation for being left out of all the insect photos.