Caviar might be an acquired taste. If it’s good quality, it’s yummy.

The pink is also known as butterfly weed or swamp milkweed. It grows wild throughout most of the US. I don’t know where you live, but if you have access to open prairies, you might be able to find some. It doesn’t always transplant well, though; it has a very long taproot. But, many nurseries carry it. There are a lot of varieties of the butterfly weed; this one is also called Cinderella, and it’s the host for the monarch caterpillar. You need a fairly sunny spot for it, but it doesn’t take a lot of care once it’s established. In summer, look on the plant and you should see a number of caterpillars munching on it – those will turn into monarchs. Then you’ll see monarchs on it all the time. I’ve seen various swallowtails, too, but I grow an entire butterfly garden.

I’m not a professional photographer, but I did take a class in journalism school on photojournalism. That’s when I got interested in photography as a hobby, and then took some classes on the side at university. I spent a ton of money on good equipment – before the days of digital – and it was sitting in a box.

I wasn’t happy with the quality of my digital pictures (the majority in the galleries are digital), and last summer, dusted off my old equipment and started shooting with film again. The quality is a million times better and I plan to shoot more film this season.

I’ll still do digital because it’s so convenient, but there’s just something special about film. I’m even thinking about digging out my old darkroom equipment and setting up a darkroom in the basement.

Thanks for your kind comments.

Juli

The pink flowers are gorgeous. How hard are those to grow? Do all butterflies like them?

I was looking at your photo pages and some of your photography is really beautiful. Are you a professional photographer or something?

I want to know more about this pink flower!

Thanks, Renee