More butterfly wings in back-light

Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus)

Butterflies in Backlight

 A Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), stops to fuel up on, arguably its most preferred nectar source, Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum).



Gulf fritillary, (Agraulis vanillae) - In the Fall, heading to the Rio Grande Valley for the winter.

Texas Star Fungus

Texas Star Fungus

Star Fungus explained in Texas Park and Wildlife Magazine



Half a dozen stars in the woods behind my house.



Some of them looked like giant reddish spiders coming out of the trees.  I need to go to Japan some day to see the Texas fungus next of kin.



Eclosure day for the Gulf Fritillaries.



Not sure why they picked such a cold morning to come out, they stayed on these rocks getting warm for over an hour before they took to the skies.



Cactus Project Begins

EdenSouthWest is my attempt to document the creation of a cactus garden in by backyard in Northwest Austin. 




The first few modest steps were taken when I began digging up St. Augustine grass and made a trip to FirstWorkers to employ a few day laborers to help me with digging, man jackhammers and what turned out to be a daunting task, site leveling.  The construction plan was for an "eye level" cactus bed that included a stone fireplace and a small patio.




Like most home grown projects, I had no idea how much I would eventually spend on the total project.  I knew that I wanted to spend a lot of money on plants so I needed a stage that was worthy of them.



Here is a view of the Texas Hill Country from a trail that runs around the neighborhood about a mile from my house.



Originally my interest in desert plants started with my collection of native plants.  Native plants naturally led to other interests for me as well such as the wild life that frequently visited our back yard Eden. 

This is my son with a Gulf Fritillary that we raised on Passion Flower vines, note the previous picture has 7 or so chrysalis on a chrysalis tree that we made while raising caterpillars.