A Garden of Delights

Before the weather started getting too crisp and autumnal, Baloo and I took a hike in a lovely area that used to be part of the state's mental hospital system. It's been renovated and the old buildings have been turned into shops, restaurants, and some senior apartments and assisted living quarters. Behind all this, though, there is a large wooded area with miles of trails to wander.

Last year, they added a beautiful pollinator garden at one of our favorite entrances to the woods and on this particular day, it was full of bees and butterflies taking advantage of the blooms before hunkering down for the winter or migrating to warmer climes. (There are at least four butterflies in the picture above.) 

Constant fluttering of brilliant wings made an already outstanding collection of colors and textures an absolute feast for the eyes.  

Incidentally, does anybody know what this tall purple-tufted flower is? It was the hands-down favorite with the butterflies and I would love to get some for my back yard!  Also, in the picture above, I managed to catch a monarch in flight - without it being totally blurred. That always makes me smile. 

This picture has a painted lady butterfly in the foreground and a monarch in the background - I didn't notice immediately, since they're both orange beauties. 

I liked the subtlety of the folded wings as these two fed quietly on that same (obviously delicious) purple flower. I've done some research and I think it *might* be a meadow blazing star, but I'm not an expert gardener, by any stretch of the imagination, so if you have a definitive identification, I'd love to hear it. :)

They had also planted an unusual type of mint that was absolutely humming with honeybees, but I didn't get any very striking pictures of that. I was just glad to see a bunch of happy honeybees, since this didn't seem to be a particularly prolific year for them.  Most of the bees I saw this year were of the bumble (or yellow jacket) persuasion.