Not a very good picture of a hairstreak butterfly.

Waving at you Meredith! Hope you're enjoying the weather & I know you're loving spending time with your mom. It looks like your cat is changing colors. The cat sitter seems to be enjoying her job.

Melaine, I love the way you put that about wanting to see some actual science as to the color of the chrysalis's. Is that plural? Or is chrysalis both singular as well as plural? I've been out of school too long & have forgotten many rules. Hum, makes me thing there ought to be "refresher courses" offered for us adults. Or a Q&A symposium where we could all go & raise our hands & ask a question or 2 or 3 or 4 or.....
I digress.... back to what I was going to say. Melanie, your chrysalis(s) prove the scientists wrong since you have both green & brown on brown rough stems. I agree that scientists are arrogant. I wonder who is more arrogant -- doctors or scientists?

Edited for my never ending typos.

Christine, we can tell it's a Hairstreak and that's good enough for me! They aren't always the most cooperative butterflies.

Ann, I have heard people say the plural of chrysalis is either chrysalises or chrysalids. The first one sounds better to me so that's the one I use. As for the color thing, it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do an experiment. Man, I wish I had thought of this when I was still in school. I used to have the worst time thinking up science projects. In 3rd grade I did go to the county science fair and won a trophy. It was like the second place award. I never let my friend, and rival, in the gifted program with me forget it, either!

We had learned about different soils that year. I thought everything was sand or red clay (like on the kickball field) until then. My favorite was vermiculite. I've always like words that begin with "V" and I liked the texture. So I did an experiment where I grew pinto beans (suggested by Dad for their quick growth rate) in different soils. As I recall, potting soil did best and sand from my yard did the worst. That's Florida, for you. You gotta add amendments to your soil!

Yep, you're right but I've learned how to be a good sand gardener & now I can't figure out how to garden in clay!

Oh my gosh, if I found rocks while digging, I think I'd just call the whole thing off! I'll take my sand any day of the week!

Yes, clay is just like trying to dig a hole in a rock. A far cry from sinking a shovel down in sand.

Cabbage White

For a couple of hours today I watched a big butterfly soaring around my yard and garden. It seems to stay within 50 - 75 feet of my house and was looking for something. After waiting forever it finally landed for a few moments so I could get a good look at the color and pattern. From the size, color and distinctive pattern on the back, I believe it is a Papilio cresphontes/Giant Swallowtail; possibly a male hunting for a good-looking female. Sure hope they find the correct plants in my garden.

I honestly don't know how everyone is able to get such good photos; this guy hardly stopped moving.

Greene, if butterflies have taught me one thing, it is patience.

It's hard Greene, they don't like to pose, especially the swallowtails.
Yesterday on my way down to check the mail I spotted the most beautiful Queen butterfly. She was very dark & just breathtaking. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. Still, I am excited to have 1 here.

The buckeye that was in it's chrysalis emerged yesterday. I looked in the morning & the chrysalis had turned dark so I figured it was going to emerge soon. It did & I missed the emergence in the time I ate breakfast but caught it drying out. I will post photos hopefully tomorrow or as soon as I get a chance.

Greene, you are so right about the Giant Swallowtail!! They seem to like to fly high as they flutter and glide just out of camera reach! In my garden they like to lay their eggs on the citrus. and they like to nectar on zinnias and lantana.



Oh, and in case you didn't see my little story I wrote awhile back about the Giant Swallowtail, here it is:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/w...

:thankyou:
Thanks for the link to the article written by Christine/Wildflowers. Yep, that's the same butterfly; very distinctive back markings.

I was worried that I didn't have good nectar plants but with all the Lantana, Japanese Honeysuckle and Goldenrod in the area this critter should be fine. A couple of years ago I gave a small Rue plant to a neighbor; the plant overwinters just fine and is getting huge. I'll go ahead and plant some Rue in my own garden and will be on the look-out to buy the Ptelea trifoliata that was mentioned in your article.

My neighbor has a Trifoliate orange/Poncirus trifoliata which grew from the root stock when his grafted Orange tree suffered a freeze, so I'll walk over and take a look for eggs and larva.

Greene, you better thank Christine! She wrote the wonderful article. But I will second your motion to get host plants for the Giant Swallowtail. As you can imagine in Florida, our citrus industry keeps them going! But I plant Rue, even if it does smell to high heaven, especially when it blooms! Since it also hosts the Black ST, I like to get double my money's worth on host plants.

Question ?

so where do the butterflies go when it rains day after-day? How do they eat?
must be hard to fly in the rain , I do not see them out, we have had rain every day but one this last week.

Christine, very informative article on the Giant Swallowtail, and great photos!

gardengus They roost under larger leaves , trees , shrubs , some kinds of building overhangs ,, they feed on sap in the water if extended time happens , makes them slow and sluggish during this rainy weather day after day ..

A few hours of clear weather here and this happened , my first Monarch of the season # 3
others are a




Great Spangled Fritillary #1 and a Little Wood Satyr #2

Cinda, I think one of the best times for butterfly viewing is the day after a long, rainy day. The butterflies are hungry and they seem to all come out and nectar. I have seen them fly during light rains but for the most part they hang out in trees, under leaves, and such. Next time we have a tropical storm or hurricane, I'll try to pay attention to the populations. But even then, they can come out in between the storm bands and feed for a short time.

Jimard8, nice photos! I don't usually see Satyrs open their wings like that.

Millielong , I don't usually see that many of this type Satyr , The smaller dark ones are a few a season ,
These ;Red Admiral , are my first and last BF's of the season , Camera shy also ,

I'm wondering where all the butterflies have gone. I see 1 here & there every once in a while but the hoards that were here have vanished. I wonder if it has anything to do with our miserable temps.? We have been murderously hot -- far above normal -- for endless weeks. It has to be 3 weeks now that we've been in this torturous heat wave. It's 98 now -- heat index 110.

The rain has stopped and I discovered 5 of these on the allium stand in the rock garden.