In the Garden

I took a short walk in the garden this afternoon, looking for anything photograph worthy.  Georgia spotted this Eastern Box Turtle trying to get into our garage, and rudely put him back on the lawn.  Yes, it needs mowing.  Don't remind me.  You can tell it's a male turtle because of the red eyes.  Or maybe it's a female with a drinking problem.

A dark phase female Easter Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) on our "Butterfly Plant", whatever that is.  But what ever it is, it does draw butterflies.  Actually, it seems to be a cultivated form of Milkweed.

From below you can easily see the "Tiger" markings in the wing,

 At the same time, the plant was also being visited by this Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cebele).

It seems hard to get a good shot of the top of the wings, because most of the time they keep them erect when alight.  But usually before they settle down, they flap them once or twice, so with some persistence (and a lot of failed shots), I got this one.

Also, another Cabbage White butterfly, like I found this morning at the beach.  They're very common, but I find them very hard to photograph because they rarely alight, and when they do, they don't stay long, and they never seem to leave their wings open.  It seemed to prefer the Mexican Sage to the Butterfly plant.