Vervain and Painted Lady. Verbena bonariensis and Vanessa cardui in an Idyllic Garden, Glimmen, The Netherlands
Today the Idyllic Garden in Glimmen just to the south of Groningen in The Netherlands, in which I am a glad guest of my Latinist and Art Historian friends, was particularly beautiful. As Frogs sunned themselves on lilypads in the pond and dragonflies flitted to and fro, its fringes were alive with bees and butterflies frequenting autumnal flowers.
This Painted Lady - earlier in life as a caterpillar feasting on thistle (= Cardus) leaf - could not get its fill from this beautiful Vervain. An almost sacral sight, this coming time and again to these bright purple rods. Described they were by the great Carolus Linnaeus (1753) as 'bonariensis', from Buenos Aires or possibly Bonaire. And the air of this Edenic scene did justice to that name!
Duty in Groningen called, and I had to cycle off not heeding Elizabeth Barrett Browning's (1806-1861) exclamation:
"Sweet verbena! which being brushed against.
Will hold you three hours after by the smell..."
Vervain and Painted Lady. Verbena bonariensis and Vanessa cardui in an Idyllic Garden, Glimmen, The Netherlands
Today the Idyllic Garden in Glimmen just to the south of Groningen in The Netherlands, in which I am a glad guest of my Latinist and Art Historian friends, was particularly beautiful. As Frogs sunned themselves on lilypads in the pond and dragonflies flitted to and fro, its fringes were alive with bees and butterflies frequenting autumnal flowers.
This Painted Lady - earlier in life as a caterpillar feasting on thistle (= Cardus) leaf - could not get its fill from this beautiful Vervain. An almost sacral sight, this coming time and again to these bright purple rods. Described they were by the great Carolus Linnaeus (1753) as 'bonariensis', from Buenos Aires or possibly Bonaire. And the air of this Edenic scene did justice to that name!
Duty in Groningen called, and I had to cycle off not heeding Elizabeth Barrett Browning's (1806-1861) exclamation:
"Sweet verbena! which being brushed against.
Will hold you three hours after by the smell..."