Monarchs in 2016

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With today being a blistery and blustery deluge with dark skies, I thought some “blog color” would be in order.  All of these photos of monarchs were taken by Ken Tapp, a local photographer, who shares much of what he captures out in the gardens.  We have such great “volunteer” photographers like Ken, Marcia, Ken, Santos, Barb and Tina who share their beautiful images.  We saw a lot of monarchs this year, particularly in August and September when they targeted our Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’), South American verbenas (Verbena bonariensis) and much more!

 

We had quite a bit of indoor work today which included processing lights for the Holiday Light Show (HLS), processing labels, etc.  Volunteers included Kathy, Eva, Marlene, Vern, Ron P. and Dick H.  Our grounds staff of Larry O., Larry H., Big John, Cindy, Bobby K., Janice and myself all had a wide range of projects as well.  Larry H. and John loaded and hauled off our bananas (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’) for winter storage which was not a task the rest of us envied. We sure can use the moisture although the sideways wind wasn’t appreciated.  This would have been a whole lot of snow if the weather was colder so we’ll take this as some much needed Autumn moisture!  Enjoy the photos of this amazing creature.

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