One last cosmos was hanging on among the dried ends of cosmos stems and brown, hardened sunflower stalks. A green butterfly landed in the mulch to warm itself in the sun before flying off to forage for what little flowers remained. I was going to start pulling up the dead sunflowers, but the finches and sparrows were still feeding on them, so they will remain standing awhile longer.
Off Center & Not Even 
Lovely flower! I’ve never seen a green butterfly before! Love these and the little sparrow is so cute! Great contrast! 😀
Thanks, Michelle! There is a white variety of this butterfly that is very common and prevalent through the summer months. I don’t see much of the green butterflies until late in the season.
This is a great set! I love the first image– that white and purple is beautiful!
Thanks, West!
Beautiful photos, Timothy! The sunflowers sound like the Restaurant at the End of the Cosmos for the finches. Ours are staying up a bit longer too, as the little birds are still finding seeds to pull out and eat.
Thanks, Lavinia! It’s like “¡Hasta luego y gracias por todas las pepitas!” at the sunflower cantina at the end of our cosmos 😉
As always, beautiful photographs, Timothy! It looks like the bird is sitting in the middle of a circle.
Thanks, Herman!
Always so poignant.
Thanks, Janet!
So pretty and love the butterfly. Great shots.
Thanks!
Haven’t the cosmos and sunflowers been great this year? I still have finches and goldfinches feeding at them also, so mine are still up as well. Wonderful images, as always.
Thanks, Susan. We let both the cosmos and sunflowers get overgrown this year and the birds, insects and other critters loved it.
I had to look up the translation – “So long and thanks for all the seeds!”. I have no excuse for not taking a Spanish language class at this point. I know a bit of Russian and my French is better – both are rusty, however. Thank you, and Herman, for the gentle nudge to expand my language horizons! 🙂
It just sounded better in Spanish for some reason.
So striking! Great find and capture of this lovely!
Thanks, Sharon!
Pretty! I’m glad you let them be, so the butterflies and sparrows could enjoy them a little longer.
They may stay up for a lot longer for “Winter Interest!”
Reblogged this on bonniegcarter and commented:
The End of the Cosmos by Timothy Price.
Thanks, Bonnie!