Tiger Swallowtail on Dame's Rocket

When my husband said he wanted to go for a jog on Memorial Day, I grabbed my camera and went along. I was hoping to see some butterflies, and I was not disappointed! We went over to our local gameland, SGL 176 the Scotia Barrens, and I walked (with camera, of course), while my husband jogged. And so here are some pictures of butterflies!

There are two flowers blooming now that are attracting most of the insect attention. One is daisy fleabane, which you may view in a prior blip. The other is dame's rocket, which looks a lot like phlox, but isn't. How to tell them apart? Dame's rocket blooms have four petals; phlox blooms have five.

The butterflies were really adoring the dame's rocket, and I have photos to share of two different kinds of butterflies feasting on this plant. Above you may see a tiger swallowtail, which is quite a large bug; an excellent wind-surfer, to be sure. The American lady in the extras is quite a bit smaller; and I selected the photo in the extras to show you some fine hot proboscis action!

My soundtrack is for those luscious pinky-purple blooms, dame's rocket, which (though technically an invasive) I adore. I was thinking Rocket Man, but for (or by) a dame. And so here is Kate Bush's awesome rendition of the Elton John classic, Rocket Man. You may find this track on the album Two Rooms, Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin (and every song on it is good).