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Butterfly weed’s bright orange blossoms are so striking, though in our garden this flower seems to be more enticing to bees than butterflies.

honeybee on butterfly weed

Every year it starts forming seed pods before I think it should. The orange has been replaced by 35 seed pods (and counting).

six butterfly weed seed pods

But we got a surprise this week: a few new buds opened up alongside the seed pods.

butterfly weed in bud and in seed

Summer isn’t quite over yet.

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I got home from work yesterday evening soon after an apparently heavy downpour. I wondered where all of the bumblebees went during the rain, so I checked the usually busy giant hyssop. It took some searching, but I eventually found…

bumblebee clinging to the underside of a leaf
This bumblebee (and one other) clinging to the bottom of a leaf …

 

grasshopper clinging to the underside of a leaf
… a grasshopper doing the same …

 

wet bumblebee clinging to a flower
… and this unfortunate bumblebee that must not have been able to find shelter in time. He (she?) looked pretty exhausted from hanging on.