READY TO DEFEND Size:16x24 METAL PRINT I continued past the cottonwood

I continued past the cottonwood trees

cup plants (silphium perfoliatum)

I like how the soft lighting brings out the textures of the patterns in the snow beneath the elderberry bushes

Common milkweed seed pods are late to break apart exposing the seeds that will soon be carried off in the wind at Wildlfower Park

READY TO DEFEND Size:16x24 METAL PRINT I continued past the cottonwoodA viceroy butterfly has a brief moment basking in the sunlight on a swamp milkweed plant before taking off and defending its domain against the larger monarch butterflies in this prairie scene at Wildflower Park in Northern Illinois. (666 2133)