Not only has the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at CBG been better than ever this year but I have really enjoyed helping Courtney Quigley and the exhibit team by photographing the new species each week and adding my work to the database of images for the exhibit.  Courtney has an unbelievable knowledge of butterflies and it is fun learning new things each time I visit.  She is always eager to share her knowledge and enthusiasm about the butterflies.  Yesterday I was dodging raindrops but the subdued light was wonderful for photographing some of the new friends in the exhibit.  Courtney was very excited about a new species that had just emerged from their pupas - the Mocker Swallowtail, a fascinating example of how nature adapts to survive.  The Mocker Swallowtails are from Sub-Saharan Africa.  The male Mocker Swallowtail is monomorphic and always looks the same with the typical "tails" of the swallowtail. The females are polymorphic, which means they all look slightly different and they can mimic up to 17 other species of butterflies from Africa.  She mimics butterflies that are poisonous or distasteful to predators, which helps her survive. The females rarely develop the tails typical of the males.  The Mockers are very active, making them difficult to photograph and even harder to catch with wings open.  This behavior is also a defense against being eaten by birds in the wild.

A male Mocker Swallowtail momentarily perched on an 'Autumn Brilliance' Serviceberry tree. Those berries are delicious, by the way - Courtney had us sample them!

Mocker Swallowtail - Male Mocker Swallowtail - Male

The female's inner wings are all sorts of variations of white, black and orange, with no tails.

Mocker Swallowtail - Female

Last week when I visited the exhibit I saw for the first time what has to be my new favorite butterfly, the White Peacock.  Beautiful!

Love the colors of the Gulf Fritillary.

Gulf Fritillary

Another new species from last week's visit, the Sergeant.

Common Sergeant

An open Sergeant

Common Sergeant

Last year I didn't pay as much attention to the butterflies emerging in the pupa emergence room, but this year I am trying to capture them as they come out. 

An Orchard Swallowtail

Just emerged - Orchard Swallowtail

Ready for release into the exhibit

Orchard Swallowtail - Just Emerged

During yesterday's visit, the White Morphos were just coming out.  Can't wait to see these beauties flying about the exhibit!

White Morpho

Please visit my butterfly gallery to see more butterfly images.  I can't begin to put them all in a blog post!

http://annebelmont.zenfolio.com/butterflies

Today marks the summer solstice, the first day of summer.  I've been to the Garden almost every day between butterfly visits and photographing summer blooms.  Many of the summer plantings at the Garden have not matured and filled in yet, but one can find plenty of things to photograph all over the Garden.  The Rose Garden is gorgeous now and I have learned through the years that the soft light of the early evening is just perfect for photographing roses.  I caught this one with lingering raindrops from an afternoon shower.   

The Circle Garden is a favorite garden during the summer but it's still early for catching it at its glory.  I have, however, enjoyed photographing some of the newly planted zinnias during this past week.  They are one of my favorite summer flowers and I am always drawn to their interesting centers and vibrant colors.

In the side "secret" gardens within the Circle Garden there is an interesting agave, the 'Blue Flame' century plant.  I was having fun photographing it with a wide open aperture and capturing the lines and blurred soft colors of the plant and plantings around it.  It was almost sunset and the sun just happened to catch the edge of one gracefully curved leaf.  It was one of those lucky photos that just took my breath away.

The Butterflies and Blooms exhibit is back and better than ever at CBG.  People who know me know I love butterflies and photographing them.  I think my fascination with them began when I started teaching 3-year-olds the life cycle of the butterfly every spring.  We would raise butterflies in the classroom and then let them go towards the end of the school year.  When you begin to see the world through the eyes of a preschooler, it reawakens that sense of wonder about nature and its creatures.  The more I read about butterflies and the more I photographed the varieties, even those found in my own gardens at home, I was hooked.  They are gorgeous, interesting creatures and their progression from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly is magical to witness.  For more info on Butterflies and Blooms and on how to photograph butterflies, read my article on the 'Out of Chicago' website posted today.

http://outofchicago.com/butterflies-and-blooms-at-the-chicago-botanic-garden/

Here are a few of the images I have taken since the exhibit opened two weeks ago.

Red Lacewing
Lacewing

My lucky day...I was able to catch a Red Lacewing with wings open!

Red Lacewing                                       

A Paper Kite

Paper Kite              

A Blue Tiger, just released and letting his wings dry, so he was very cooperative with the camera.

Blue Tiger     

Best of all...an Atlas Moth!  He is huge! His sole purpose once he emerges from the pupa is to mate.  He only lives 1-2 weeks, has no mouth parts and lives off his stored fat. Atlas Moth

I normally don't spend much time in the greenhouses when the weather is nice and there is so much outside to photograph and enjoy at the Garden.  Over the weekend chilly temps and drizzles sent me into the Arid Greenhouse in search of things to shoot and I was delighted to find the cactus in full bloom.  I had stopped in there the day before in search of inspiration for my 365 project and all the buds were tightly closed.  I had no idea that those buds would produce such beautiful flowers within 24 hours.  Believe me, from now on I will be watching for those blooms this time of year.  They were spectacular!  Within a few days they were all closed and shriveled up, so it is an event you have to catch in a two day period to get the blooms at their best.

The tulips are all gone and most of the flowering trees have dropped their blossoms at the Garden. This past week there was a flurry of activity as staff and volunteers pulled out spring gardens and planted displays for summer.  It's always bittersweet to see beautiful displays being pulled up and changed. I get attached to certain gardens but it always means that something equally beautiful is about to appear. I know the first day of summer doesn't officially start until June 21st, but I always think of the beginning of June as the start of summer.  Yesterday I started a fun new project I've been thinking about doing for years - a 365 project centered around capturing the patterns and textures of nature.  I'll be taking and posting a photo each day for a full 365 days!  Wish me luck!  Sounds easy but I know from others that have done 365 projects that it's challenging to keep up the pace, but it will inevitably lead to a lot of growth as a photographer.  Here's the link to the special page on this website:

http://annebelmont.zenfolio.com/365-project---textures-and-patterns-in-nature

I haven't been posting to my blog as often as I like lately - travels and having kids home has kept me very busy - but here are a few images that I've captured at the Garden over the last few weeks.

The apple blossoms were lovely this year.

  ...as were the pear blossoms

I almost missed the azaleas in the Japanese Garden...beautiful as always!

A few last tulips - these were in pots on the Rose Garden Terrace. I love the soft pink and the way these two were snuggled together so gracefully. I just never tire of photographing tulips - their beautiful textures, colors and the way the light illuminates them. 

These beauties - Snowdrop Anemone - caught my eye in the Waterfall Garden.

English daisies in the Heritage Garden after their morning watering.

The irises are in bloom now - these were captured in the Landscape Garden near the waterfall.

Butterflies and Blooms is open at the Garden now.  I've been once and will be back again tomorrow.  Next post will be about butterflies!

One area of the Chicago Botanic Garden I had never explored before is McDonald Woods, the wooded area at the eastern borders of the Garden. Last week Chris Smith and I met at the Garden very early on one of our 80 degree days to spend some time exploring the woods and search for wildflowers. McDonald Woods is a 100 acre remnant of what used to be a much larger oak woodland that covered this area 100 years ago.  The Garden is working to restore the woods to its presettlement state.  It is home to a vast number of animals, insects, birds and native plants.  May is the perfect time to see wildflowers in the woods, as they bloom while the sun can still reach them and fade as the trees in the woods come to full leaf and blot out the sun.

 White trout lily

Trillium

Swamp buttercup                                                

Capturing the feel of the woods in bloom with a panning shot.

Another wooded area of the Garden that I love and visit almost every time I go to the Garden is the Sensory Garden Woods.  It is full of wildflowers now but my favorite spring bloom in these woods is the bleeding heart at the north end of the woods.

This year I enjoyed photographing the marsh marigold blooming in the Sensory Garden Woods.

I am blessed with lots of wonderful friends and the past year has brought so many new friends into my life through my photography.  One of those new friends is Don Burkett.  I met him on the "Out of Chicago" community through another wonderful friend, Chris Smith. Like me, Don writes articles for Chris's website. Before meeting Don, I started following his blog and have thoroughly enjoyed following all his posts, but especially those about his adorable beagle, Brody.   This is no ordinary dog, folks - he's amazing - and I haven't even met him!  I finally met Don this past weekend when we met at the Garden to shoot.  It's such a treat to photograph with people that are equally passionate about photography, to share ideas, see their perspective and share in the beauty of the Garden.  It was a fun morning!  That afternoon, Don sent me the following link to his website: 

Profiling Light

Thanks, Don! This really touched me and made my day!  Take some time to explore Don's website while you're there and get acquainted with the cutest dog ever, Brody.  I'm backlogged with photos to organize and process, so I'm not quite as organized as Don with his photos from Saturday, but here's an 'Orange Princess' tulip for you, Don...

And don't forget, you can never have too many photos of tulips...or water lilies...or butterflies...or...

Tulips in Bloom in the Crescent Garden

Read my new post on photographing spring at the Chicago Botanic Garden on the "Out of Chicago" website.

http://outofchicago.com/spring-at-the-chicago-botanic-garden-2/

It seems that everywhere you turn there are tulips in bloom at the Garden...in every size, variety and color you can imagine.  It's a feast for the eyes!  Tulips happen to be a favorite flower and I never tire of photographing them. 

The Crescent Garden tulips - all 26,000 of them in shades of purple and cream - are in full bloom now.  I've been watching them for weeks and patiently waiting. Last year the lake was drained as they were doing shoreline restoration and it was hard to get a good landscape shot of the beds.  This year, we have the lake back again and I always love this view of the tulip beds with the yellow willows, blue sky and water in the background. Frequently you will see the swans on the far island.  They must be nesting there this spring.

A few tulip portraits from around the Garden...

Another stunning garden full of tulips is the Circle Garden. This garden features a dancing fountain in the middle with four identical beds of spring tulips in pink and yellow, as well as beautiful combinations of annuals, scrubs and flowering trees.  There are two "secret" gardens off to each side (in this photo, one is straight ahead).

Ironically, my favorite tulips this year are in the far parking lots and they are known as Tulipa 'Ad Rem.'  They fill the dividers between the road and the lots. Stunning colors! I caught them as the early morning sun was backlighting them.

The tulips in the Sensory Garden are always unusual and beautiful in their color combinations.  I plan to do a post dedicated to the Sensory Garden soon - it is probably my favorite garden within the garden, especially this time of year. 

Lastly, tulips with raindrops are always fun to catch. These were taken very early in the morning after a night rain.

The rain and flooding of two weeks ago certainly affected the Garden but you would never know it now. The Garden bounced back quickly and is more beautiful than ever.  So many flowers are in bloom in all corners of the Garden and the tulips are quickly opening with the warm weather we had this week. I've been busy shooting for my Advanced Portfolio class and enjoying it immensely.  I'm trying to capture the blooms of spring in a dreamier, more abstract way, using a wide open aperture.  Here's a bit of what's been blooming over the past weeks at the Garden.

One of the earlier flowers in the Bulb Garden is glory-of-the-snow, both the blue and pale pink/purple variety.  It is tiny but hardy and you have to get in close to see the beautiful glistening texture and detail of these flowers.

I adore tulips and the Garden has so many varieties and colors and every year the displays are different.  These are a few of the earlier bloomers in the Bulb Garden. The colors just amaze me.

This is one of the Bronze Charm tulips I photographed a couple of weeks ago, but this time it's completely soft focus, so it's all about the colors both in the tulip itself and the background. 

Lastly, a lupine in bloom in the Heritage Garden. 

Lots more images to come but get to the Garden and enjoy the beauty firsthand.  Stop in Joutras Gallery in Regenstein Center and see the Garden Photographic Society's "Nature in View" show.  The show opened on Saturday and will be in the gallery until May 18th.  I am honored to have four images in the show and to be showing my work alongside such a talented group of photographers.  For more information visit the CBG website:

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/exhibitions