Lovely pic of monarch.
I don't think that is silk road lily....here is the 'silk road' I got from the lily garden.
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you're absolutely correct ! Not sure what I was thinking when I typed that - pretty sure that's a Scheherezade.

so I must really need a vacation - that's not even a monarch - its a yellow, or tiger, swallowtail butterfly !!!

Great picture Philomena!
I love when butterflies visit my Lilies...

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Beautiful pictures! I followed a swallowtail around the garden for a good 15 minutes the other day before I could get a good shot, she was moving so fast! It's a good thing I had lots of different phlox for her to visit.

Deanna

Wonderful photos! Yes, that is a tiger swallowtail, monarchs are those dark orange or rust-colored ones with different pattern of dark stripes.

What a catch! Hadn't seen one in years and was stalking one on my phlox. Dang, got one shot, not good enough to post, monarchs pose for me better :-). TS's seem to spook more easily. Still a thrill to even see that after a very dismal summer picking Jap beetles among other things.

Luckily I have tons of the swallowtails (both tiger and black)and also monarchs due to some of the other plants I have, like swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), NY Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) and Blue Fortune Agastache - the bees and butterflies love those plants, and the monarchs especially go for the milkweed, as that is one of their primary food sources, especially for their caterpillars.

I should have let my milkweed grow behind the garage. Maybe it will come back, love the softness of the leaves. I did let a thistle grow in the front yard, and it attracted a monarch, got some nice photos. Then the baby thistles popped up all over the yard :-). Knew it would happen, patiently dug them all out. I'm funny that way. One year, a halloween pumpkin fell off the stoop and smashed or I put some seeds out for the birds, can't remember. Got a nice vine going there, just let it grow and take over part of the front yard. Got 3 nice pumpkins out of it.

If veronica is the same as meadow sage, I'm growing some now, lots of varieties of agastashe won't grow in my zone. Saw the swallowtail fleetingly again today. I must be doing something right, better than before. Will divide that phlox next spring and try to get more of it going in the back. Good plant for part shade. It likes that purple one.

Oh today has been a photo day. Somebody at a university spotted some of my race photos and wants to use them in his program for studies about and programs for the elderly. So I've been trying to help with that. That one photo of the TS on what looks like a stargazer lily to me, no it faces down, my SG's face perpendicular to the stalk, is so sharp, what camera was that? We need some more nice cameras in the family, and I need a backup. Here is mine that isn't so great:

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If you're asking about the camera used for the very first picture I posted in this thread (not sure if that's the pic you mean), the camera is a Casio Exilim 7.2 mega pixel - takes really good outdoor daytime shots.

Also, Veronia is not meadow sage - pretty sure that's in the salvia family. The pic below is of a monarch (got it right this time! :-)) on the veronia - it can grow to 7 feet in height after 3 years.

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If you're asking about the camera used for the very first picture I posted in this thread (not sure if that's the pic you mean), the camera is a Casio Exilim 7.2 mega pixel - takes really good outdoor daytime shots.

Yes, that was it, thank you so much. That photo is so sharp, couldn't top it with my probably much more expensive camera and lenses. Will look up that camera of yours, am very impressed. One thing was the metering, am guessing that you don't fiddle with settings and just pointed and shot. The exposure looks perfect to me, plus it is so sharp and color excellent.

Also, Veronia is not meadow sage - pretty sure that's in the salvia family. The pic below is of a monarch (got it right this time! :-)) on the veronia - it can grow to 7 feet in height after 3 years.

Then I need to look for some veronica, need a darker purple. Height not a problem, think it comes in many "flavors". Everything so far is about the shade of purple/lavender in your photo which is very good BTW, that is a monarch.

Thank you so much for catching the post and answering my question. Off to read up on that camera, would never thought of Casio.

Now I see there are many Exilims. I would like a 10 mp camera but simply do not presently have enough room left on 2 internal hard drives for 10 mp photos, 7.1 or 7.2 would be just right for my purposes now.

Can you look at your cam and check the model # for me, please? If it has been discontinued, will look for the next best one.

Do you see any just like yours at the useful link?

Here is a link that might be useful: Casio Digital Camera on dpreview.com

Your photos are very nice, too. I might look at your Kodak P712 while I'm at it. Lighting does make a difference, and yours seems to perform well in low light.

Already I'm confused. Would prefer 28-210mm or so range (whatever that translates to in zoom), good metering without using EV, IS, card I can stick in my reader, reasonably good battery life, best lens possible, fast AF, a few controls I can tweak, and something I can stick in my pocket, sometimes like wishing for the moon. So here we go again, wading through all the confusion, specs and opinions.

Price is always an issue, but when it comes to cameras, cheap is not always the best way to go, not saying any of these are cheap.

aliska, mine is an EX-Z750 - that exact model is discontinued, but I did find it for sale on Amazon, both new and a couple used - the link is below. It's a small, point-n-shoot camera - the mode I used was probably portrait-in-landscape, and in macro auto-focus. I didn't change anything with color balance - all was set by selecting the portrait/landscape mode.

The pictures from the 7.2 megapixel camera are around 4MB in size at the best resolution. I had to edit and save that pic for online posting to reduce the size.

Also, note that the flower I have been mentioning is a vernonia - NOT a veronica. Its a very, very different plant than a veronica, not related at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: camera on amazon

Thanks SO MUCH, philomena! Vernonia, never heard of that, will check it out and see what other colors there might be & also if it will grow in my zone. It's different, I like it a lot, and if it attracts butterflies, so much the better, haven't seen any but those whites & the TS in front and none in the back w/lots of new plants there.

Now the camera, thanks SO MUCH for that, too! It is a pocket camera and has a lot going for it. I also checked the Casio with the 7x zoom but the review wasn't very good with distortion, users didn't rate it very well, BUT and I haven't been into movies, it is excellent for those, can replace your video cam (which I never had nor wanted) with it (prob tongue in cheek) & good stereo sound.

The review on yours should still be up on dpreview even though discontinued if they did one, sometimes new models are released so fast and furiously they skip now and then, and I'll go check that out at dpreview. I just thought it put out really nice photos, if I need the extra bells and whistles, I can use my dslr and lens I want. But I want a pocket cam, could use my old Olympus which served me well, was a little bigger, but it is just too out-dated now.

This is going to require a lot of thought especially because I'm helping daughter and grandson get both their Canon S2 IS repaired or replaced, will only pay half, and they have a super good deal going on refurb Rebel XT for them, oh boy! 6 months warranty. Offer from the factory good for at least 2 weeks. Also a couple others, the Rebel would be great for them, good for me as a backup cam but I think a pocket cam would be better and get more use.

Well, I don't have to have it right this minute, sure is affordable now.