Magical plants at the Botanical Gardens

When I was in Atlanta in mid-August visiting friends, I spent some time at the Botanical Gardens. It’s one of my favorite places to take pictures.  They were having an exhibit of “Mythical Creatures” topiaries that was really cool to see.

Above are just a few of the growing “creatures” that come to life.

Lots of fun things to see at these gardens which were full of butterflies.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World. 

A perfect view

img_0254

The view of the pool area near our room.

img_0372

img_0411

The view from our room.

img_0377

The view from my beach chair.

dsc_5722

The view from the front door.

dsc_5721

dsc_5726

dsc_5727

dsc_5728

dsc_5730

dsc_5731

The view of the critters that come out at night. We would see them coming back from dinner each night. I’ve never seen lizards this color before, especially with glowing red eyes.

img_0415

Another view from my beach chair.

All views at our hotel, Casa Ybel, in Sanibel Island.

SkyWatch Friday

Sitting pretty for my shots.

DSC_7054DSC_7057 DSC_7059 DSC_7134 DSC_7196 DSC_7143 DSC_7237 DSC_7242DSC_7257DSC_7200DSC_7208

Butterflies were everywhere at Bok Tower Gardens in late October so I got a lot of butterfly shot practice. There were still a lot of summer flowers out. Now I can’t wait to go back in the spring to see everything blooming then. I was trying to take a closeup picture of a butterfly when I noticed something green moving on the next flower. That little lizard barely moved as I moved in to get a shot of him. He was so tiny, that flower didn’t even bend with him on it.

The frogs were a bonus. I had walked around the historic home at the gardens and in front of the house was a water fountain with frog statues along the bottom. I walked down a path and saw a little pond with a frog sitting pretty on the side. I said out loud “You’re not real” thinking it was another statue and it jumped up and landed in water.  So I missed out on a jumping shot.

Mandarin Orange MondayShine the Divine

Flappers and jumpers at the botanical gardens

DSC_3988

This bluebird was singing pretty loud on a light post.

DSC_3983

I don’t know what this is. It flew onto the same post as the bluebird above. At first I thought it was a juvenile bluebird but that beak looks different. Any ideas? Cobb?

DSC_3994

My first “male” goldfinch.

DSC_3951

Wet robin with a berry in his beak.

DSC_3970

Catbird on a chain.

DSC_3980

House sparrows hanging out on a nest box.

DSC_4012

Upclose with a frog.

DSC_4013

Cool frog in one of the fountains.

Just a few critters I saw on my walk around the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The bluebird was a plus since I rarely see them in central Florida.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for