Papilio glaucus: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail buterfly

^ Female: Black black with shadows of dark stripes.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail [Papilio glaucus] is a species of swallowtail butterfly native to North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States, where it is common in many different habitats. It flies from spring to fall, during which it produces two to three broods. Adults feed on the nectar of many species of flowers, mostly from those of the Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae families.

Papilio glaucus has a wingspan measuring 7.9 to 14 cm [3.1 to 5.5 in]. The male is yellow with four black “tiger stripes” on each fore wing.

Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwind, while the dark morph is almost completely black.

Photo:  Dawsonville, GA. [20130824], Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, Callaway Gardens, GA [20130901], Brevard, NC, USA [20150829]

Source: Wikipedia

Phoebis agarithe: Large Orange Sulphur butterfly

The Orange Giant Sulphur or Large Orange Sulphur [Phoebis agarithe] is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. The habitat consists of open, tropical lowlands including gardens, pastures, road edges, trails and parks.

The wingspan is 57–86 mm [2.2–3.4 in]. The upper surface of the males is bright orange without markings. They feed on flower nectar of a lantana, shepherd’s needle, bougainvillea, rose periwinkle, Turk’s cap and hibiscus.

Photo:  Dawsonville, GA. [20130824]

Source: Wikipedia

Pastinaca sativa: Wild parsnip

Pastinaca sativa is a biennial/perennial herb that looks and smells similar to cultivated parsnip and can grow up to 4 ft. [1.2 m] in height. Flowering occurs from May to June, when hundreds of yellow flowers develop. Flowers arranged in an umbel.

Found in open places along roadsides and in waste places throughout the northern United States and Canada, from British Columbia to California and Vermont south to Florida. It endures a wide range of edaphic conditions, usually dry to mesic soils, but occasionally  in wet meadows. Best grows on calcareous, alkaline soils.

Pastinaca sativa is native to Eurasia and occurs in sunny areas with varying degrees of soil moisture. Contact with this plant can cause skin to become photosensitive; exposure to sunlight can cause severe blistering. Be aware, poison hemlock [Conium sp.] and water hemlock [Cicuta sp.] are close in appearance and are often confused with Pastinaca sativa. Poison hemlock has a mouse-like odor while Pastinaca sativa has a parsnip-like odor. Water hemlock prefers wet habitats whereas Pastinaca sativa prefers dry soils.

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: BugwoodWiki

Salvia greggii: Autumn Sage

Salvia greggii [Autumn sage] is a herbaceous perennial native to a long, narrow area from southwest Texas, through the Chihuahuan Desert and into the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, typically growing in rocky soils at elevations from 5,000 to 9,000 ft [1,500 to 2,700 m]. It was named and described in 1870 by botanist Asa Gray after Josiah Gregg [1806 – 1850], a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico who found and collected the plant in Texas.

^ Salvia greggii ‘Coronado Pink’

It is closely related to and frequently hybridizes with Salvia microphylla. Contrary to its common name, it blooms throughout the summer and autumn.

Salvia greggii is a highly variable plant, with numerous named cultivars, reaching anywhere from 1 to 4 ft [0.30 to 1.2 m] in height and less in width. It can be either upright or mounding. The leaves are typically mid-green and glabrous, tending to be less than 1 in [2.5 cm] long, and with a spicy fragrance. Flower size and color are extremely variable. Flowers reach from .25 to 1 in [0.64 to 2.5 cm] in length, and include many shades of scarlet and red [most common in the wild], along with rose, white, pink, lavender, apricot, and violet.

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: Wikipedia

Salvia chamaedryoides: Germander sage

Salvia chamaedryoides, or Germander sage, is an evergreen perennial native to the high desert [2100–2800 m elevation] of the Sierra Madre Oriental range in Mexico. Its name comes from sharing the running rootstock typical of Teucrium chamaedrys [Wall germander]. Spreading freely, it reaches a height of 60 cm when in bloom, with small grey evergreen foliage. The flowers are blue, appearing sporadically throughout the growing season, with peaks of bloom in early summer and autumn.

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: Wikipedia

Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’: Pincushion Flower

Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in full sun. Tolerates part shade, particularly in the hot summer climates of the deep South of USA. Prefers light soils with neutral pH. Intolerant of wet soils, especially in winter.

This pincushion flower cultivar is a compact, clump-forming perennial which typically grows only 12-15″ tall. Long and profuse bloom from late April until frost. Flowers [2″ diameter] feature an outer ring of frilly, flat, lavender-blue petals and a paler domed center cushion with protruding stamens [resembling pins in a pincushion]. Flowers bloom singly on stiff stems.

Photos: Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore 20130516

Source: Missouri Botanical Garden

Cleome hassleriana: Spider Plant

Cleome hassleriana, commonly known as spider flower or spider plant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cleome of the family Cleomaceae, native to southern South America in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and southeast Brazil.

It is an annual growing to a height of 150 cm [60 in], with spirally arranged leaves. The flowers are purple, pink, or white, with four petals and six long stamens. Flowering lasts from late spring to early fall. This plant re-seeds itself and keep coming back year after year 🙂

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: Wikipedia

Abelia grandiflora: Glossy Abelia

Evergreen: Yes

Size: Small, Medium

Bloom Period:  Summer, Spring

Bloom Color:    Pink, White

Exposure: Sun, Part Shade

Category: Shrubs

Abelia grandiflora is a drought tolerant shrub that produces small bell shaped flowers that bloom from late spring through fall.  These flowers are white or light pink, slightly fragrant, and bloom on terminal clusters.  The dark green glossy leaves are ovate in shape and no more than one inch long.  The small leaves arrangement are opposite along the arching stems and often turn a bronze color in the fall.

Abelia sp.

Abelia is a genus of about 15-30 species and many hybrids in family Caprifoliaceae. Abelias are shrubs from 1–6 m tall, native to eastern Asia [Japan west to the Himalaya] and southern North America; the species from warm climates are evergreen, and colder climate species deciduous. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three, ovate, glossy, dark green, 1.5–8 cm long, turning purplish-bronze to red in autumn in the deciduous species. The flowers appear in the upper leaf axils and stem ends, 1-8 together in a short cyme; they are pendulous, white to pink, bell-shaped with a five-lobed corolla, 1–5 cm long, and usually scented. Flowering continues over a long and continuous period from late spring to fall.

Photos: Candler Park, Atlanta, Georgia, USA [20130812]

Source: Wikipedia

Liatris squarrosa: Scaly Blazing Star

Liatris squarrosa, also called scaly blazing star is a perennial wildflower in the Asteraceae or aster family. Its Latin name, squarrosa, means “resembles a pink squid”. This plant grows along roadsides, in open prairies and along the edges of woodlands in the eastern and central United States.

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: eHow

Liatris aspera: Prairie Blazing Star

Liatris aspera also known as the lacerate, rough, tall or prairie blazing star is a wildflower that is found the mid to eastern United States in habitats that range from mesic to dry prairie and dry savanna.

It grows to 2-4 feet. The flowers are an erect spike with numerous, purple, button-like, stalk-less flower heads blooming from the top down. Leaves are alternate, numerous, rough, and narrow along the entire stem.

Photo: Atlanta, GA. [20130803]

Source: Wikipedia