My photos today are of an American Lady butterfly aka Vanessa viginiensis.
The American Lady butterfly is related to the Painted Lady butterfly and looks very similar. The easiest way to tell them apart is by the number of eyespots on the underside of the hindwings. The American Lady has two eyespots and the Painted Lady has four eyespots.
This is the same photo with the two eyespots of the American Lady circled in green.
All of my photos were taken in my garden and, evidently, the American Lady likes the conehead flowers that I planted this year. They don't bite in the butterfly stage because they can't. They use their probiscus to get nectar from flowers. In addition to conehead flowers, they get nectar from goldenrod, aster, milkweed, marigold and more.
It amazes me how different the American Lady can look with its wings open or closed. You may even think it is two different butterflies. I think it is a beautiful butterfly either way and I sure am glad I decided to plant those conehead flowers! 馃槈
This is my entry for #butterflyday which you can read about here and is hosted by 
This is also my entry for the Qurator Photo Friday competition which you can read about here and is hosted 