Photo of the Week: The Endangered Migratory Monarch Butterfly

Bright orange and black butterfly lights on a yellow dandelion flower, green blurred field in the background.

When I was growing up, seeing a Monarch butterfly was something I took for granted.

I would see the brilliant orange and black butterflies on a daily basis throughout the summer.

Monarchs were common in our yard, stopping on brightly-colored flowers to sip nectar. I remember chasing them with a butterfly net, rarely being to catch one.

Never in my mind would I have thought one day Monarchs would be considered endangered.

Yet, that’s what happened this month when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migratory monarch butterfly to its Red List of threatened species.

The migratory Monarch butterfly is now considered an endangered species.

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Photo of the Week: Native Wildflower, Plains Coreopsis

Brilliant yellow wildflowers with deep magenta centers against a mass of lancelike green leaves.

When I planted a packet of native wildflower seeds last year, I was pleasantly surprised by the range of flowers that bloomed throughout the summer and into the fall: blue and pink Bachelor’s Button, yellow-fringed orange-centered Gailliarda, and the white flowers of Sweet Allysum.

But one of my favorites is the long-flowering Plains Coreopsis.

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Photo of the Week: Detroit Institute of Arts Inside|Out Program in Canton

A wood framed painting on a pole in a shadowed park area. The painting depicts a women in long white dress, green bodice with blue shawl leaning against the trunk of an oak tree, as if she's whispering secrets to the tree. Her straw, wide-brimmed bonnet flung on the grass behind her.

Hard to believe it’s been over 12 years since the launch of Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Inside|Out program in 2010.

Part of the DIA’s 125th-anniversary celebration, the Inside|Out program has become an annual community art outreach program in Michigan.

Reproductions of high-quality paintings from the DIA are installed outside in communities throughout Michigan from spring to fall for community members to enjoy.

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