May; Butterfly garden;

A butterflies thinks its life goes on forever, at the most for a fortnight. Ts

Farfalla/Italian (Butterfly in different languages)

Papillon/French

Do ye not comprehend that we are worms,
Born to bring forth the angelic butterfly
That flieth unto judgment without screen?
~Dante Alighieri

Borboleta/Portuguese

The new Butterfly garden along the chicken fence;

Mariposa/Spanish

Cathrantus roseus; bred in many shades of red and pink plus white, but I have not seen a yellow one.

Fiäril/Swedish

Alamanda/caramel
This great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.
~William Butler Yeats, "Another Song of a Fool"

Papilio/Latin

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly!  Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

Vlinder/Dutch

The beginnings of the butterfly garden; Billy checks it out.

 Motyl/Polish

Planted many corms of cottage gladioli

Féileacán/Irish

Cathrantus roseus;

Babochka/Russian

With the rose the butterfly's deep in love,
A thousand times hovering round;
But round himself, all tender like gold,
The sun's sweet ray is hovering found.
~Heinrich Heine, "New Spring"

Perhohen/Finnish

Imortelles/ Strawflowers

Liblikas/Estonian

Grown-ups love figures.  When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters.  They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like?  What games does he love best?  Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand:  "How old is he?  How many brothers has he?  How much does he weigh?  How much money does his father make?"  Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French

Dwarf Canna;

Kupu-kupu/Indonesian

FrenchLavender/ summer aster/ yellow Lantana;

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.
  ~Hans Christian Andersen

The girls;

Fluture/Romanian

Tropical Salvia;

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.
~Robert Frost, "Blue-Butterfly Day"

Plecanthrus amboinicus

Paparo/Filipino

We must remain as close to the flowers, the grass, and the butterflies as the child is who is not yet so much taller than they are.  We adults, on the other hand, have outgrown them and have to lower ourselves to stoop down to them.  It seems to me that the grass hates us when we confess our love for it.  Whoever would partake of all good things must understand how to be small at times.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Butterfly garden; variegated creeper Plecanthrus coleoides;

Turkish/ Kelebek

Alamanda Cheri'


The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me.  I grow older.
~Li Po

Sunset in the garden; 05 May 2014 17:28 PM


Believe it or not:
Red sky at night, shepherds' delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning a proverb, meaning If you see a red sky at night, the weather will be good next day, but a red sky in the morning foretells bad weather.


©Photos/Text Ts