My calamondin (calamansi) tree shows a summary of garden friends I like to see often in my garden:

Swallowtail butterfly is back..at first resting on the screened door:


After awhile on the agapanthus:

Mantid hiding under the senecio container:



And it got spooked while I was doing my daily watering:


Running away now:

Swallowtail is a beauty!
baby mantis -

Also, another crab spider -

Wow that is a Giant baby mantis
Cutie pie crabby spidey..

Thanks for sharing your photos jmorth!

you do know that the mantis will catch and kill a butterfly if given the chance. I found one doing that last year on a flower of mine that the butterfly had sat on and the mantis caught it...I like the mantis but after that not so much..

I feel about the same after seeing one catch and consume a Monarch last year. They also do in moths.

I guess that is Nature for us..survival of the fittest..survival of the fastest..each creature has their purpose, and their own needs to feed. It is sad when we actually see how they do it, but life is such.

whats the best way to attract ladybirds to the garden and keep them there?

I don't know how those teeny flower spiders get to the blooms. Especially daylilies when you have to get there quickly before the flower dies. Like: see colourful flower, trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl jump jump jump jump trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl trudge trudge hop jump crawl crawl crawl crawl jump jump jump jump crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl crawl. At last, oh flower dead.

Swallowtail is gorgeous.