Let me tell ya 'bout the butterflies and the bees...and the flowers...and the...huh?

So for today's facts of life lesson, we'll be learning about the sordid business of shrubbery propagation. Ready?

"Otto Luyken" Laurel

This is the top of one of my laurels. As you can see, it's full of small white flower blossoms. These blossoms smell like an intoxicating mixture of honey and Easter lily, therefore, attracting tens of species of butterfly, bee and even moth on any given day. If you enlarge the photo, you might even notice a couple of bee specimens hovering above the plant.

Honeybee

This is a honeybee gathering nectar from my laurel for it's hive. As it works, the hairs on its legs and body pick up pollen from the flowers. This pollen is then transferred from the flower's male parts to its female parts as the bee moves about the shrubs.

[cue sound of screeching needle across vinyl LP]

Well, that was just a mess, no? Please accept these photos of other bees and butterflies in my garden as a token of my appreciation for your continued readership (despite my sometimes strange behavior).

Bumblebee (one of many species of the genus Bombus)

(I took all of these photos on the same day at the same laurel shrub.)

Wasp (ick)

Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly (genus Cupido)

This tiny butterfly is only one inch wide from outstretched wing to wing. In flight it appears light purple in color. This male is, in fact, blue on the top of its wings and...

...grayish-tan underneath its wings. The wings are also marked at the bottom with orange crescents.

One will rarely see the Eastern Tailed-Blue resting with its wings completely outstretched; it prefers to rest like this - with its wings at a 45-degree angle.

Rare Welsh Tailed-Blue Butterfly and Welsh Bumblebee

Never before seen in North America, these elusive pollinating insects prefer the nectar of only the rare Doofus Dewianium (black flower found in my garden).

Doofus Dewianium

How lucky am I?!

Intoxicated on nectar

Genus: Dewido

Bombus Corgimus Fluffimus

What a handsome pair!

*****

The Chronicles of Cardigan would like to wish everyone a wonderful weekend teeming with life, beauty and hope for the future! We will return in full force after the Easter holiday.

xoxo

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