This tabachine bush near my studio was swarming with fluttering black butterflies, but they moved so quickly that I couldn’t get a shot. I have a video of them taken a few years ago, and it is like a ballet—their graceful swooping, bending and departing.
A few days ago I showed a different color of tabachine. This is the more usual color—and my favorite. Butterflies love them. So do I. Although my gardener calls the small bush varieties of the poinciana tabachine and the large tree varieties flamboyan, sites on the internet call the larger variety both tabachine and Royal Poinciana and this smaller variety a dwarf poinciana.
This is such an unusual color of tabachine. They are usually vivid yellow and orange.
Love them against this vivid fuchsia wall.
For Cee’s Flower Prompt.
For Cee’s Flower of the Day, May 24,2017.
Here is my backyard and studio, taken yesterday, plus a closeup of the tabachine. You’ve seen plenty of closeups of the bougainvillea in the past. Click on either photo to enlarge both. it’s hard to remember what season you are in in Mexico as there is always something blooming. The bougainvillea bloom year round and the tabachine a couple of times a year. I just heard the first rainbirds (actually an insect–cicadas) this week so the rainy season will soon be upon us. Then those hills behind my studio will be verdant green.
See Cee’s flowers of the day HERE.
Plumeria, tabachine and calla lilies are the main stars of the front of the lower garden. The path leads to my art studio.
Next to the studio, bougainvillea and tabachine compete for attention.
https://ceenphotography.com/2016/06/14/flower-of-the-day-june-15-2016-rhodie/
This tabachine bush was covered with butterflies, but they are almost impossible to photograph. They are constantly lighting for a few seconds and then flying off, circling, lighting––but never long enough to get much more than a blue. I felt fortunate to get one good shot.
https://ceenphotography.com/2016/06/04/flower-of-the-day-june-5-2016-peony/
This Tabachine (Dwarf Poinciana, Flame Tree, Flamboyant) bush almost hurts the eyes. It was actually swarming with dozens of black swallowtails, but I managed to catch just one in my lens. They move fast.
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/09/15/flower-of-the-day-september-15-2015-mango-madness-dahlia/
Tabachine: Showy, Outrageous and Beloved by Butterflies
Known also as the Poinciana, Dwarf Poinciana, or Bush Poinciana–this smaller version of the Royal Poinciana Tree is known as a Tabachine in Mexico,
To see Cee’s outrageous hibiscus macro, go HERE
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 