Try to find patterns, interesting shapes, and hidden things. That was my photo challenge to myself early this morning when I went to the Botanical Garden. I also confined myself to the front of the garden, with a boundary of the pools near the climatron. My favorite subject, the Japanese Garden, is beyond that boundary. But I wanted to challenge myself to find things where I don’t typically look. So here are a few of the results.

Okay, this photo from the rose garden fell outside of the challenge, but I had to laugh at this robin. Her posture made me think that she knew that she lives in an upscale neighborhood compared to her feathered counterparts.

Loved this little fuchsia rebel.

Below was also outside of my challenge, but demanded attention. This is a corpse flower (titan arums) that is ready to bloom. These guys are weird and supposedly stink to high heaven (a stench like a decomposing body wearing sweaty gym sneakers found in a dumpster of rotting fish at the height of a steaming summer day. Or so I’ve heard.). But to see (and smell) one in bloom is rare. In fact, only 157 blooms have been recorded ever between 1889 and 2008. But get this — botanists across the US are mystified and trying to figure out why so many corpse flowers are blooming simultaneously. In the US alone, at least seven flowers have bloomed this year — and here’s our guy adding to the count. I’m still debating whether or not to go back when the bloom opens. I’m leaning towards no, but we’ll see.

I spy a little orange butterfly. See him?

But the best sighting came at the end of my visit. In the parking lot, in fact. This mammoth creature floated in front of my windshield as I backed out of my parking spot, coming to rest on the landscape in front of me. So naturally I pulled back in. Isn’t he a trip?? I love the face staring back at me like a grinning Halloween mask. I’ve never seen anything like him outside of the Butterfly House, so this still has me feeling giddy.