Roses and Butterflies

I have made two trips recently, one to Roses of Yesterday (a rose nursery and display gardens),....

Sally Holmes

 ... and one to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco to see their new butterfly exhibit.



 I thought I would combine them into one post: I don't have enough time to blog more frequently, and I am getting bogged down with all the pictures I am taking :)

Gypsy Boy spilling over the entrance gate at Roses of Yesterday

Visiting Roses of Yesterday was a real treat on Mothers' Day weekend.

A very impressive mound of Ruselliana

The nursery is located at a higher elevation and closer to the ocean than my garden, so their roses come into peak bloom just as mine are getting crisped in the heat.

Marguerite Hilling

 I have been there a few times and thought I have seen all there is to see, but surprises don't seem to end.

Rose de Meaux 

The display garden is very old with lots of roses tucked together, growing ever bigger, and suckering ever wider.

Phyllis Bide growing into Russeliana

 Most tags are illegible or missing altogether, which only adds to the charm, as far as I am concerned. On each visit I find a rose or two I missed on previous trips :).

'Pink Mermaid'. Unlike the real Mermaid, it is very restrained in growth and far less prickly.

For a suburban dweller like me, it is very soothing to visit a quiet rural garden in the woods where instead of manicured lawns, roses intermingle with abandon and drip from redwoods.

Belle de Crecy

Because of a cooler and moister climate, the size of blooms is considerably bigger than in my garden. The fragrance wafts. The colors hold in the gentle light. A pure delight in every sense.

Complicata

Roses blooming at the display garden

NOID

Roses for sale

The butterfly exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers was very different but equally entertaining.

A common buckeye

I walked through a cottage garden filled with flowers....



....where butterflies could be seen as close as one wants.

A white peacock

There was also a "hatchery" where butterflies emerge from chrysalises. It was the most fascinating part of the exhibit for me.

I have learned that butterflies determine the quality of nectar on a flower by tasting it with their feet.

A great southern white

They use ultraviolet vision to zero in on a flower.

A butterfly's long coiled tongue, called proboscis, is used to sip water and nectar whose sugar is the butterfly's chief food source.

I was one of the first visitors to the exhibit, and as it turned out it is not always a good thing. In this exhibit, butterflies are released into the garden as they hatch, so the longer you wait, the more different butterflies you will see.



 I thought I would try to visit the exhibit again at the end of summer, when the dahlias at the nearby dahlia garden are blooming.  Hopefully, many more butterflies will be drinking nectar from these flowers. It is nice to have something to look forward to.