A Little Holiday Cheer

MOSI Outside is ready for the holidays! After a week of planting and decorating, our Flight Encounter and surrounding areas are full of cheerful reds and whites, with a little sparkle thrown in. A few highlights:

The wall along the walkway has been planted with poinsettias, white angelonia, and white snapdragons.

The area around the small pond near the MOSI entrance is now full of red dianthus, white snapdragons and white angelonia.

And the Flight Encounter itself is very festive indeed, with poinsettias, pentas, angelonia, salvia, porterweed, and more – all accented with red bows and a few shining gold stars.

How’s this for a great photo backdrop? Don’t you want to come visit and have your picture taken here while the butterflies hover around you?

Our little kumquat tree is full of fruit, adding to the color and cheer.

And what do the butterflies think? Oh, they definitely approve, since these cheery flowers are also full of nectar, like this red porterweed being enjoyed by a Zebra Longwing.

The poinsettia flowers themselves are just starting to open (the red “flowers” are actually modified leaves called bracts; the flowers themselves are small and yellow), and this Gulf Fritillary is waiting nearby for the first sip of nectar!

It’s a wonderful time to visit MOSI Outside. Butterfly diversity isn’t as high as it is in the spring and summer, but there are still plenty of butterflies to be seen both in the Flight Encounter and in the gardens outside. Drop by and see us this holiday season if you can, and if not, take a look at the album below for more pictures of MOSI Outside decked out for the holidays!

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