Thursday 22 January 2009

Butterflies at RHS "Wisley Gardens"











When we visited Wisley on Tuesday there was the added bonus ( we weren't aware of before getting there), and that was, that there were about 1000 tropical butterflies in the Glasshouse. This is the first time they have done this and it started on 18th January and they will be there until 22nd of February 2009. It was hard to spot most of them as they blended in with the plants and flowers, but I did take a few, as you can see.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, the wonder of a glasshouse. Nice shots of the butterflies! You have inspired me to dig out my shots of the butterflies from last year.

Maureen said...

Thanks for visiting. I will look out for your butterfly shots on your blog.

Anonymous said...

They're like little jewels. Maybe even better than jewels.

May I ask a question? I'm a newbie to blogging and I don't know what "Allotment" is referring to. Is it another word for garden or small farm? Curious.

Maureen said...

Hi Grace thanks for checking out my blog and for your comment.
To answer your question relating to an Allotment, (that's a good point by the way)! I forget that other people from around the world don't always know what this means. Well it's a piece of land, sometimes owned by a private landowner (rarely) or usually by local government. It is divided up into "plots" which are then worked by each individual tenant to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers( not for business purposes) for a small yearly rent to the local borough council plus in our case anyway an annual charge for the water which is on standpipes.
The Idea started in 1649 would you believe ? when poor peasants were given "the Right To Dig" and it was a necessity after the 2nd world war, you may have heard of "Dig For Victory" ? when food was scarce allotments helped fill hungry bellies. I hope that clears it all up, I expect you may have them but call them by another name in the U.S.A ?

TC said...

Hi Ms. Maureen. Lovely flutterbuy shots. We call allotments community gardens. ;~)

Maureen said...

Hi TC, thanks for the comment. I was actually wondering if other countries called them "Community Gardens" but we also have those here as well, but they are gardens that everyone works on together and they aren't divided into plots, (unlike Allotments) Community Gardens here are often found in inner cities within apartment blocks, where the tenant's don't have gardens of their own.

Anonymous said...

Hi Maureen,
What lovely butterfly photos! They makes me long for spring. We get a lot of butterflies at my house . . . and dragonflies. I was reading other comments here and saw the "what is an allotment" question, which I wondered too when I first came across your blog. I googled it and got my answer - but without the interesting history you gave! I should have just asked you. :) Love to visit here. Hope all is well for you are your beautiful family.

Anna said...

Oh how simply beautiful - the first one looks like burnished gold. It must have been warm and snug in that greenhouse.

Maureen said...

Hi Leigh, it's always lovely to hear from you. I'm glad the reference to Allotments helped clarify things. I envy all the beautiful photo's of the birds in peoples gardens in the U.S.A when I visit others blogs, they make our garden birds look dull, but ours are still a source of pleasure & interest even if they lack colour.

Peggy said...

Hi, I found you on blotanicals we have an allotment in ireland and I found your post on the loo rolls excellent! I have been recycling as much as i can but had not thought of loo rolls. Too late to start now for this year as we will be sowing peas and beans soon.best wishes