In the Garden with a Queen

— Nearly on the spur of the moment, I decided to find out if I could reserve a spot to visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Reservations are now required in order to keep it safe for Center patrons. So, I was lucky that I could reserve an afternoon time to visit the center on the same day. I thought about it and opted to get the latest entry. I figured that going late would serve two purposes. First, the heat would start to cool down. Second, I was hoping for fewer people there. To my surprise, as I entered the Center, I saw two small family groups leaving. As soon as I began my walk in the gardens, I then realized I was the only person on the trails. I was thrilled to be there almost by myself. The only other people I saw were a couple of Center employees. Therefore, I took advantage of that to enjoy the wildflowers and wildlife slowly. Also, the Center employees were extremely helpful in pointing out certain flowers that I was interested in photographing that afternoon. In one particular section of the gardens, I knew to search for Monarch butterflies. Monarchs like Gregg’s mistflowers. So, I proceeded slowly to that section. I then came upon a Queen butterfly exploring those Gregg’s mistflowers. Although they look alike, Monarchs and Queen butterflies are different. Two distinct characteristics are on the wings, when they are closed. A Queen butterfly has white dots on its forewings, as shown in the photo above. Another distinction is that their wings are uniformly orange with some brown tint. In contrast to a Queen butterfly, a Monarch has lighter orange hindwings with forewings mostly deep amber.