I’m in love with this downed milkweed plant outside our house, watching it evolve day by day. This first stage is “tucked up.” The seeds are all in a row, waiting. They look like large-headed creatures dressed in silky white and all standing at attention.
This is the launch phase. The first seeds are leaving the pod, teased out by the wind, ready to dance through the air.
This, that and the other thing 
Lovely!
I enjoy seeing it every day.
Fab!
the first photograph is a real beauty with excellent work on light management
Many thanks! I’m happy the photo shows the beauty I saw.
janet
it just gets more beautiful
So true, Beth. 😊
Absolutely stunning photos. Doesn’t it always amaze you that sometimes you grab a shot, and it turns out to be a great one, and other times you work at it only to hit delete. I took several of these last fall and took the seeds out to package for giveaways. You cannot imagine how that silk flies around. 🙂
That is funny. Sometimes I get home at think I have a fantastic shot and it’s out of focus or doesn’t convey what I’d hoped. But sometimes it goes the other way and I’m unexpectedly thrilled. As for the silk, I’ve seen it flying around in the park, so yes, I can imagine. 😉
It is so delicate! Really amazing!
The wind is gradually dispersing the seeds, but there’s beauty in all the stages.
Yes, indeed
Very beautifully captured! Well focused.
Good old iPhones. 🙂 Thanks very much, Amy.
Marvelous and miraculous!! The light is lovely.
Merci, Madame. 🙂 I know milkweed can be invasive, but I love them and love that monarch butterflies love them.
Absolutely stunning photos 😀
Thanks very much, Cee. 🙂
I suggest that you gather some of the seeds and plant them. As you probably know, it’s the most important plant for the monarch to survive.
I’ve let a number of plants grow, but as we’re in a rental, I have no idea whether the next tenants will let them stay. Milkweed spreads quite rapidly even without help and the small park a few blocks from our house always has quite a lot of it, as does that park where I walk.
It really is beautiful. Nature’s planning at its best.
With the wind we’ve been having, the photos will soon be of the lonely pods. 🙂
Wow, this is amazing! Great macro shots! 👏👏👏
🥰. So happy you liked them.
janet
Marvelously detailed photographs, Janet!
Thanks!!
Beautiful Janet!
Thanks, Nicole.
janet
I can remember how thrilled we kids were when the milkweed was dispersing. I can also remember one of my aunts encouraging us to gather the pods but NOT to open and disperse them, because they were a “weed”. I wish I had all those “weeds” in my yard now! 🙂 Beautiful pictures!
Trust me, Marian, if you get just one, it will soon be more than one! I keep having to dig them out of the lawn and try to limit them to the garden area. My guess is the next tenant will get rid of them completely, but I can’t do anything about that!
…. and I am teased by your shots. Gorgeous, Janet!
Thanks, Resa, and thanks for the visit-Janet’s-blog marathon. 🙂
I wanted to catch up. There’s a few others (Dale, Gigi) who I will catch up on now.