butterfly wings

I am cleaning up and putting away all the dried botanicals I sifted through before I went to teach for five days at Longwood Gardens. These leaves were hidden among my stashes; brought back from a workshop I did in Florida in early May. While the colors are not all that remarkable, I thought the nearly perfect butterfly-winged shapes were indeed remarkable–at least for this northern gal.

Funnily enough, I brought back almost no treasures from Pennsylvania. It was forbidden to take anything from Longwood, and when not in the gardens I was in the classroom. Sigh.

Interestingly, Minneapolis just got reclassified as Zone 5a (from 4b) in the USDA Hardiness Zones. Accorning to Google, Longwood Gardens are in Zone 7a, and Bonita Springs, Florida where I gathered these leaves is Zone 10a.

orchid tree leaves (Bauhinia purpurea)