Oh sure! I have that stuff EVERYWHERE!!!!!

No, don't go back over there Melanie. I will look. You told me near the top so I will go a-hunting.

Mellie loved the story about the crazy dogs! Be careful. I went to a great native plant sale at butterflies & blooms in the briar patch (a native habitat in eatonton ga). Saw lots of cabbage whites, bluebirds nesting, and picked up a hop tree. Also the hummingbirds are visiting 2 of my 3 feeders hooray. I was saved from getting into trouble at Home Depot since all their plants have Neonicotinoids on them. Happy Easter all!

I signed up for the North American Butterfly Association and I finally received one of their publications. Nice photos and articles. Guess it'll help me while I'm waiting to see when the butterfly population will really take off this spring. One of the articles was by Jeff Glassberg. I have some of his great butterfly field guide books. The article:

http://nababutterfly.com/wordp...

Linda, great article. It kind of reminds me of ruby-throat hummingbirds and keeping feeders up "will prevent them from migrating" untruth. The media pick up on sensationalism, not truth, and spread it around. So sad.

Very, very interesting article Linda.

I didn't stay long at the museum today because I am super sore from trying to do some gardening yesterday. But I did get some pics for you guys.

Zebra Longwing



Common Buckeye



Orange-Barred Sulphurs



Julia



Monarch



Gulf Fritillary



Female Orange-Barred Sulphur. You can see she lacks the orange bar at the top of the wings and only has orange near the bottom.



Great Southern White that I released this morning.



Also released a female Orange-Barred Sulphur



The Sulphurs hadn't been laying eggs in the flight cage but that was okay because I was finding plenty of caterpillars outside. But now they've gone crazy. I had to take a picture it was so crazy. Nearly every leaf had an egg on the tip of it which is normal. But do you see the three eggs stacked together in the picture? I've never seen Sulphurs stack their eggs. I didn't know they could! I guess they egged all the leaves and had to get creative. I saw it on another leaf, too. I guess we'll have plenty of Sulphurs for a while!



So I got home, ate my bagel from Panera, read a bit, and fell asleep. I woke up at 6pm and thought, "Oh shoot, I have to water my plants!" So I did that and then I thought, "Nothing comes between me and a caterpillar!" After checking that my neighbor's dogs were not out, I wandered back over. I needed to pick some fresh food for my caterpillar anyway, right? And I found him! The one I missed yesterday. I didn't take my camera with me because it was so late and I was trying to be quick about this. (I did see a Tropical Checkered Skipper, though!) So once I got back to the safety of my kitchen, I took some pics. Here is what the nest looks like at the top of the plant. Sometimes you can see the frass sticking to it, as well.



And then you open it up for your caterpillar prize!



I'm assuming this is also an American Lady that hasn't molted enough to look like the other. I haven't raised them in so long, I've forgotten a lot. Oh, I also found more mysterious yellow eggs on my Passiflora 'Lavender Lady'. Have brought them in to see if the Zebra Longwings are finally accepting my cultivar. Of the other eggs I brought in, I only managed to get one Gulf Fritillary. But the experiment shall continue!

Great photos Melanie! Thanks so much for the ones of the cudweed "nest". Cool! I am sure I've seen that but always thought it was just what cudweed does. The stuff is odd in the first place so I never gave it another thought. Now I will!

I looked at so much of that stuff before I finally saw a nest. And once you see one, the others suddenly become obvious. But I think it's one of those things where you really need the visual before you can find them. They're definitely fluffy on top anyway, but if you see one that looks super fluffy, go peel it open. And if it has frass stuck to it, well, you know you're on the right track. Sometimes I open them and the caterpillar is gone. I always assume it became a butterfly because nothing bad ever happens to caterpillars in my world.

Also, I only tend to see Painted Ladies or American Ladies in the spring when we have Cudweed. It's another one of those weeds I wouldn't bother pulling, not only because it's a host plant, but because it dries up and goes away after a few months. I know Painted Ladies use a wide variety of host plants so maybe they're munching on other things during different times of the year. They also migrate around so it's possible they move northward when it warms up. Their numbers vary quite a bit from year to year but this look to be a good year!

Today's friendly visitor..just loves the lantana:






Oh and a nice marble design on the underside:


It was also just hanging by the windchimes: it has been a chilly morning, must be trying to warm up some more, this is the side of the garden getting hit by the sun first:

Huh, you get Red Admirals out there in California? Neat! I've only seen two this year and no caterpillars. They're another one of those butterflies I only get in spring.

Oh, thanks for the id Melanie..I knew you will recognize it It is my first time to see it as well, usually I only see the eastern tiger swallowtail here and moths.

Bee-you-tee-full photos tarev!

Thanks Ann

You're

So glad to find this forum! I just planted this last weekend my butterfly/bee garden. Checked and this morning it has sprouted! Can't wait to get some flowers in for the thirsty little buggies! I have bees already swarming my cherry tree but I haven't seen any butterflies yet, can't wait

Okay, butterfly folks, here's an update on all things happening in Casa de Melanie.

My American Lady caterpillar made a chrysalis. I had to move him to another tank so he'd have room to emerge so that's what the Scotch tape is all about.



Meanwhile, the smaller American Lady caterpillar molted and has now "earned his stripes" as I like to say. The only bad thing about raising these guys is they stay in their nests so you can't really see what they're doing.



I went outside to pick food for everyone and found eight Sulphur cats on my Senna plants! Some of them are Orange-Barred and some are the yellow form Cloudless. They turn yellow because they eat the buds. Here's an Orange-Barred Sulphur.



Now here are some yellow form Cloudless Sulphurs. They still have the blue on them sometimes, but it's rings around their body, unlike the Orange-Barred where the blue makes an actual pattern. I'll take some more pics as they grow. Also, the yellow Cloudless cats lose their blue markings as they are ready to molt or make their chrysalis. Frankly, it's weird that my Sennas are still blooming. It's April, right?



Here's a few of the captives I brought in today. The little one on the right looks like he's trying to bite the butt of the big one.



Oh, I forgot to mention I found six to begin with, took them in the house, and them came back out to pick food. And I found two more. So here's a Cloudless Sulphur about to molt that I found on the second trip out.



There were a few butterflies, too. Couldn't get pictures of the Sulphur flying around or the Gulf Frit that seemed to be looking for a host plant. But here's a Long-Tailed Skipper on Salvia 'Mystic Spires'.



And if you have Spanish Needles, the Duskywings will always hang out at your house.



Lastly, here's a Gulf Frit cat on my Corkystem Passion Vine. I'll probably have to move him and his buddies as they get bigger.

My neighbor's have the mowers out there right now. I guess they either figured the weeds were too high, they didn't like me on the property, or both. At least I managed to save some American Ladies! Also, if they mow their weeds down, that's more incentive for the butterflies to come visit my nectar plants.

Those are so cute to see Melanie. I do not see the caterpillars here, just the occasional butterflies already that come by. I enjoy watching the photos you post.

I've got butterflies and caterpillars and saw a hummingbird, oh my!

For those of you who don't watch the bird threads, here's my hummingbird. I don't have feeders so I just have to watch for when they nectar on plants and take as many pictures as quickly as I can. This plant is called Golden Dew Drop (Duranta erecta). It's not native, but I planted it because the one at USF Botanical Gardens is such a butterfly magnet. And apparently, hummingbirds like it, too.



So I couldn't sleep last night and neither could the Monarchs because one emerged at 4:00 am and the other before 5:00 am. FYI, the lamp was on in my room so it's not like they emerged in the dark. I released them about 7:35 and they flew a short distance. The first decided it wanted to be on the plumbago while the other settled on Spiderwort. Both were males.



Dad and I ran a couple of errands today, but before hopping in the car I had to get pictures of my butterflies. Here's a Gulf Frit on the Jatropha.



And if you have Spanish Needles, you have Duskywings. FYI, this photo is not upside-down - the butterfly is.



First of all, my American Lady caterpillar grew up really fast! I opened the lid and I was like, "Did someone replace my caterpillar with a bigger one?" But to show you how beautiful this caterpillar is, I took it outside in the sunshine so you can see all the colors and details.



And just to reinforce what I'm always saying, look for caterpillars on the new growth of plants! Here's a Gulf Frit cat on my Passiflora 'Lavender Lady'.

Melanie, you will be glad to know that Duranta erecta is native to Florida and Texas as well as other states.

See link to USDA http://plants.usda.gov/core/pr...

So you can grow it with pride.