I found a fuzzy wuzzy.



And lookee what's on the passion vines. A Gulf Frit cat and a Zebra Longwing cat!

OOPS! I forgot to add these photos

allright ,, Butterflies ..

I still have these , Aha ,,

Oh my, I shouldn't complain about the rain because I know in August I'll be searching the skies for a cloud and praying for a nice downpour. But lately we've had too much of a good thing. This morning I found more victims of the storms:

A poor little bedraggled Lady butterfly



And a huge moth



And a tarantula....



This little dusky has lost an antenna...



While this hairstreak appears to be seeking shelter under a parsley leaf



And speaking of parsley, the caterpillars are still munching away. I know this picture looks like their cupboard is getting bare, but believe me, there's plenty more for them to eat!



We need a week or two of mild weather....

Another visitor to the Greg's Mist Flower. The Queens love it!

Beautiful.

Okay, had to catch up.

Ann, I hate to burst your bubble, but I think your "Zebra Longwing" cat is where the Gulf Frit molted.

Charlotte, I see two antenna on the Duskywing.

Yes, but I think his little antenna "knob-thingie" was gone.

Might just be the angle, Charlotte. I've seen a few with partial antenna before, too.

Well, I slept way past my alarm today. Luckily, I woke up half an hour before I was expecting a call from a person I'm doing genealogy research with! We spent two hours on the phone so by the time I got off the phone, it was sprinkling and pretty cloudy. It's now pouring down the rain which is making me super happy! No hoses today!

Oh, and yesterday at Lowe's I picked up their last Salvia 'Saucy Red' off the clearance rack along with six Blanket Flower 'Gallo Red'. I prefer the yellow and red blanket flowers, but for $3 each, I'll take them! Plus, if Lowe's is dumb enough not to know how to maintain or market Blanket Flowers, they don't deserve them. Do you know how many people walk in there and ask what can tolerate full sun? I'd be taking them straight to the Blanket Flowers!

I did release the Gulf Frit that came out last night and it flew right off. Then, I was checking the food levels and noticed that my Spicebush ST emerged! Grandma was here so I showed her and she asked if that was the little caterpillar I had shown her in the leaf. Remember, it got mailed from North Florida when I ordered my Spicebush plants. I was surprised Grandma remembered and I told her that yes, this was now the butterfly! It flew straight to my Cherry tree, but I saw a pristine male Spicebush in the yard later that I'm pretty sure is the same one.



And for some odd reason, this Gulf Frit was hanging out on the Pipevine.

Thanks Melanie! I thought something looked odd about that "cat". I was worried it had a disease.

Nice spicebush ST!

No problem, Ann! I remember a picture someone took where they saw the molted skin and thought the Gulf Frit cat had eaten another one. And I had to reassure them that it was just the cat's old skin. I can see how someone would think that, though. The spiky caterpillars don't tend to eat their old skin like other cats so it just sits there and looks confusing.

frostweed said:I love Gregg's Mistflower, I have a lot of it and it is great!!

Obviously gonna have to get some of this. One I do not have. Have grown Mistflower, but not Gregg's.

You will be happy with Gregg's Mistflower, it blooms for a lot longer period than the regular Bluemist, Conoclinium coelestinum although both are very pretty and the butterflies love them.

Well, today was mostly a "stay in bed" day. First, because I was tired. Secondly, because it rained most of the day. And it was wonderful! I always have to get up and feed the caterpillars, though.

A male Pipevine was enjoying the Pentas in the garden. This is probably one I released.



A Tiger ST briefly flew through the yard. It checked out Dad's trailer and the only picture I managed to get was it taking a look at the gas can.



A Zebra Longwing with a big glob of pollen hit up the Pentas, and then the Tampa False Vervain (an endangered plant).



The Zebra was checking out the Corkystem Passion Vine, but it was already occupied with many caterpillars.



I was walking through the yard when I startled this Cassius Blue.



Finally, I follow a non-profit group called The Caterpillar Lab on Facebook. They're based in New England and do a lot of education and outreach. They have professional grade equipment and their videos blow my mind! They had a fundraiser recently where if you donated a certain amount, you got a t-shirt. There were four designs to choose from, but you know I had to pick the Swallowtail cats! From top to bottom it's Tiger Swallowtail (brown form), Black ST, and Spicebush ST. To check out the Caterpillar Lab, click here: http://www.thecaterpillarlab.o...

Hey @GrammaChar Dave shared a pic you posted in the plant database of the Queen on the Mistflower to the NGA Facebook page. He gave you credit, of course. I just thought you might be excited. I am!

Edited to say he used the Monarch pic. I like the Queens better!

Quite an honor!

And it has 30 likes as of right now!

Pictures after I eat dinner...and maybe after I water the plants. Scattered showers - come on down! (Said in my best Bob Barker voice.)

Well, I had to water the plants. But they say there's a decent chance of rain in the morning. I hope so!

My Pipevine Swallowail cats hatched. Sometimes I'd get people at MOSI see one of the smaller butterflies and say it was a baby butterfly. Then, I'd have to explain that butterflies are the adults and caterpillars are the babies. So here are my babies.



Female Spicebush was flying around. Looks like someone tried to take a bite out of her.



Not quite as many Gulf Frits out today, but it was cloudy. This one is on Porterweed.



Now, I was out there feeding the cats. Before I went out, I checked all the tanks. I was planning on cleaning the container with two Checkered White chrysalises because the plants were getting moldy. When I opened the container, I found another caterpillar! Where has he been? I cleaned the container and got him some fresh food.



And I found a few more Pipevine cats. To be fair, they were on the other side of the fence.



So Dad finished fixing up the trailer, but he had an extra board and it's just laying in the yard. A female Gulf Frit felt like it was a good place to bask, and this male was trying to get her interest. She had her body tilted up which I thought was an invitation, but they never did "hook up".



Face to face interaction didn't seem to persuade her.



So while they were doing that, I had actually come back to grab the scissors because I found a Gulf Frit chrysalis on my Wisteria. To give some perspective, the P. 'Lavender Lady' is growing all along the right side of this picture, and the Wisteria is growing at the bottom of that oak tree. That's how far a caterpillar can wander. Unfortunately, this chrysalis had been parasatized as seen by the hole in it.



I got egged by the Spicebush again!



The male Spicebush was spotted soon after.



The male Pipevine was there, too. It kept chasing the Spicebush away.



The Zebra Longwing egged the Corkystem Passion Vine up front.



This Gulf Frit was just chilling on some Spanish Needles. That's what the seed heads look like.



I planted my False Indigo to attract the Southern Dogface and Silver Spotted Skippers, but this Looper caterpillar was eating it. I'm cool with that. Moths are cool.



Speaking of moths, this guy was on my rain barrel, but I scared him and he flew to the oak tree.

Forgot my pics of the Zebra Longwing cats.