My backyard has not had very many butterflies this season, which is always one of the highlights of summer to me. Swallowtails have especially been few and far between. So, the other day, I went to Smith-Gilbert Gardens, which has a butterfly garden, to try and get my fix. My neighbor Patty (who you met in a previous post) braved the heat and joined me – she is proving to be a really good sport about walking around in sweaty weather!
I had been to Smith-Gilbert in years past and they had always had A LOT of butterflies, but this year they didn’t seem to be faring much better than my backyard. One of the workers said that the butterflies were late coming because of the incredibly cold winter we had, which does make sense.
They did have a lot of lovely Monarchs flitting about…
…as well as some Monarchs in the making.
But the sole Swallowtail was this yellow Tiger who was visiting the cup flowers.
I’m so hoping that the arrival of August brings with it the arrival of the Swallowtails. I’ll keep ya posted!
Backyard Bird Nerd 
Lovely shots, Kathy. Butterfly counts are down here as well. I blame the weather.
Nature’s cycles are truly fascinating. Such a delicate web, so intricately put together that just one ingredient being out of sync causes the whole system to readjust.
I deliberately planted a whole garden full of zinnias this year, because I remember a year we had a batch of them and I could count on hummingbirds and butterflies being there no matter the time of day I went out with the camera. This year the flowers are waiting patiently but I haven’t seen anything but me enjoy them.