Spineless Cactus

I've photographed this amazing plant many times but today I noticed that what I thought was a bird on the top of one of the paddles is actually a flower about to bloom. 

This is one of those plants we stuck in the ground when it was simply one paddle. That was about five years ago. The plants that do well in our garden seem to be trying to take over. The fact that it is a cactus should be a clue....It was developed by Santa Rosa's own Luther Burbank for use as cattle fodder, but even without thorns, the cattle wouldn't eat it. One has to give him credit for trying.

I was happy to see a few butterflies in the garden today, including one swallowtail, but so far, no monarchs at all. This worries me....

Tim and Joni and the kids are coming back from the waterpark at Spring Lake soon. It's been a very low key Fathers' Day.  I was trying to catch the bevy of goldfinches drinking out of the fountain but they took off so I put in an extra shot of scabiosas for Freespiral instead.