A monarch butterfly circles a Vacaville pollinator garden, surveys for predators and mates, and then touches down on an expired zinnia.
It sips nectar, and then lifts off.
Houston, we have lift-off.
Roger that!
The once brightly colored zinnias, now dull as ditch water, seem to have met their expiration date, but no matter. Monarchs absolutely love zinnias.
The "Z" flower may be at the bottom of the alphabet, but it appears to be topping the migratory monarchs' "fave" list.
Zinnias, noted for their long-stemmed 22 petal flowers, belong to the genus Zinnia. The genus name honors 18th-century German scientist Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759), who collected Z. elegans seeds in Mexico.
According to Wikipedia, "the genus is native to scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the Southwestern United States to South America, with a centre of diversity in Mexico."
Houston, we have liftoff!
(To that we add, "Houston, we have a problem." Not with the lift-off but with the dwindling population of Western monarchs due to habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and climate change)
