Fluttering By the Zinnias

Zinnias and Glads have perked up since the recent rains and the grass is green again.

The earliest glad to open were in blended shades of pink and cream.  More recently a brilliant scarlet-orange and a chrome-yellow have opened.

I didn't capture these smaller butterflies with wings open.

They are not distinctively marked.

Pretty thing!

I love the tinge of green as the yellow flowers open.

Butterflies are more difficult subjects than birds.

Its a matter of 'point and shoot' and hope that a usable image is caught.

This one obligingly opened its wings.

This spangled fritillary was very busy in spite of tattered wings.

This is perhaps the last day of its short life-span.

I've long thought of zinnias as rather coarse flowers--nearly scentless, brazen in their sturdy form and colors.

year after year, when the pastel blooms of spring have faded and the roses are sulking,

the zinnias stand up to heat and drought, luring in a host of butterflies with thier blazing colors.

Swallowtail on a fading pink zinnia.

Smaller Mexican zinnias.

Nothing delicate about these colors!

Not sure if this is the same battered fritillary.

A picture in pink.