We saw this Praying mantis in the sage today.  Beautiful!!  It was about 4 inches long, and didn't move for a long time, well, long enough for me to go inside, get my camera, come back out to the sage, and take a few pix.

 

We've seen them in the gardens before, sometimes eating our precious Monarch caterpillars.  I don't really love that, but it's the way of Nature.  Everybody has to eat something.

 

I read about Mantises, and learned that there are over 2,400 species in the Mantidae family of insects.  They live all over the world, and got their common name:  Praying mantis, because of the way their forelegs are folded while they remain stationary, waiting to catch and grip their prey.  And I loved this description:  Mantids are "mostly ambush predictors."   That paints a pretty picture, doesn't it? 

 

I hope you get to see one in your garden, they are so pretty.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!