Well, I got up early for me this morning (9 am ) because I had to get to Target and Petco to buy a few things before vacation. I picked up a couple of new critter keepers at Petco because a few of mine are cracked and old and need to be thrown out. I just hate that the brand they carry now is slightly wider so my cheesecloth doesn't fit as easily across it like the old ones. I have to stretch it and refold it. I might need to go to Jo-Ann's and just buy some fabric to stretch across the top. And FYI, I'm totally taking some critter keepers with me on vacation. Never know what you'll find up there. I've never been in September so I don't know what stage the butterflies will be in. WV has distinct broods unlike FL where they just breed near constantly. I also checked, and I should be at the right latitude for peak Monarch migration. So maybe I'll get lucky and see that happening!
Anyway, there was some pretty good activity when I left this morning but of course, I didn't have my camera on me. Of most excitement was that I saw a Giant ST and I hadn't seen one in a while so that was cool. But I came home around lunchtime and went out to check the pipevine for eggs again. And I saw a few things worth taking pictures of.
First though, I hope you'll forgive me if I rant about a couple of gardening things, but not necessarily butterfly things. Sometimes I just find funny things in my yard and since you guys are pretty familiar by now with my yard, I thought I'd share. First off, the American Beautyberries are in full berry right now. People sell these and I have to laugh because if you want some, you can come over to my backyard. The electric/telephone pole supports come down into our backyard and I guess we get a lot of birds sitting up there pooping out seeds. When I first cleaned it up I had invasive Brazilian Peppers (boo!), the beautyberries, and Greenbriar all over a big palmetto. There are also three young oak trees. I turned it into my bromeliad garden for a long time, but there was too much shade so the bromeliads got moved up front and now I don't really have anything in particular growing back there. I've toyed with a few ideas, but first I'll have to clean it up again. I actually don't go back there much anymore and technically half of it is my neighbor's property. He never cared but he died last year and the property is up for sale now so I suppose I shouldn't go crazy until the new owners move in. Anyway, I found a cherry tree growing back there! I never knew my Black Cherry would spread so many seeds; Dad already had to remove a few that came up next to our big oak. There is also a mystery tree that I'm going to have to have Dad identify for me. I also found a little camphor tree that had some suspicious chewing activity but no Spicebush cats on it.
Anyway, here's the Beautyberries. I hear they're popular with birds which I guess is why they keep coming up where they do. So you bird folks might want to plant some if they're native to your area. People can eat them too; I know some people make jam or jelly out of them. I've never planted one in my yard before except to transplant a few to the other side. One thing that does irk me besides people who have to pay for these things, is that someone decided to make a variety with white berries! That's like people who make white coneflowers! Granted, my favorite color is purple, but why mess with something when it's already working? FYI, that's evil skunkvine covering my Beautyberry. Gotta take care of that. That stuff is super invasive. I never get rid of it; I just keep it in check.
Now, another thing that baffles my mind is that people pay for Tassel Flower. At least, I guess they do because it keeps showing up in my Select Seeds catalog. To be fair, I love Select Seeds. I love their philosophy and how they're trying to keep heirloom seeds available for gardeners. Kudos to them. I bought my Mexican Flame Vine from them last year. But every time I see that Tassel Flower, I laugh. If you want some, I can get you some. The ones in the catalog are the pale reddish-orange color which is more common, but we also get a purple variety. The catalog makes the flowers look a lot bigger than they are so sometimes I wonder if they have a different species. A few years ago, either my neighbor or my brother didn't mow around our shared property line and we had tons of Tassel Flower coming up. And I have never seen so many Phaeon Crescents in one place before. They loved the stuff. And as weeds go, it's a pretty good one. The small butterflies do like it, and it's easy enough to pull if you don't want it around. And it's so easy to grow, it's coming out of my gutters. Check the blooms on the left side; this is the purple variety.
Okay, but I do have butterfly pictures to share today. Here's one of my faithful Duskywings on one of the few Spanish Needles that has come back in the front of the yard.
I guess it's good I came in when I did because I can hear it raining now. It didn't look that cloudy when I was outside, but that's Florida for you. Here's another skipper that was just hanging out in the butterfly garden eating porterweed and resting. I looked in my book and I think it's a Southern Broken Dash but I'm going to send it to BAMONA. They haven't gotten back to me lately; they must be getting busy or something. I really am trying to learn these skippers.
Here's a couple of Zebra Longwings that were flying around. Well, the one is taking a rest but the other is nectaring on my now-famous Mexican Flame Vine from the very lovely people at Select Seeds. Heck, there are probably some Mexicans that would laugh at me for buying this plant just like I laugh at people who buy Tassel Flower. I totally love the Florida Native Plant Society folks and I have bought so much stuff from them, but I can't believe some of the plants they manage to get people to buy. Like Spiderwort. You know where I got mine? I went to the next street over and dug it up by one of the telephone poles! No sense paying for something you can get for free. Okay, back to the butterflies...
I think this is the same skipper I saw the other day that I'm waiting to get an ID on.
I should probably go rant on the native plant forum, but as people who raise butterflies, I think we're all very mixed-up into the native plant world ourselves. I had another person this weekend at MOSI ask how I got into raising butterflies and I told him my story about how I got into gardening and I really wanted to plant natives to help the environment. Once I found out some of those native plants would host butterflies one thing led to another and now I'm an addict (it's ok, I can admit it). And remember, you can find native plants pretty easily and you can sometimes get them for free. But remember to ask if you're on private property, don't let the city or county workers see you if you're in a park or preserve (not that I would ever advocate that kind of thing), and just keep an eye open along the side of the road to see what's available (but keep your eyes on traffic or get a designated driver). You can find so many good host plants just growing along the sides of the roads. And your neighbors would probably love you if you took their weeds. They might not love your yard looking like it's full of weeds (especially if you have an HOA) but a lot of laws are changing so that people can have more natural yards and less St. Augustine water-guzzling wastelands. (Full disclosure, that Broken Dash Skipper uses St. Augustine grass as a host plant.) But you can have grass and interesting plants at the same time!
Okay everyone, thanks for listening. I promise you lots of butterfly pictures in return. It's probably good that we talk more about the plants that host our caterpillars and feed our butterflies. I find it interesting how butterflies host on different plants in different regions and since we have people from all over here on the forum, it's nice to know these things. So as you post your butterfly pics, please feel free to tell us more about the plants you're finding them on or what you think they prefer. We're all here to learn. And show-off.
But mostly to learn, right?
Final note: I prefer the traditional coneflowers, but that banner today is gorgeous. It's just the white ones that look so "blah" to me. I guess I'm like a butterfly; I like bright colors in my garden!
