Okay, I finally saw the Giant Swallowtail and I managed to get one lousy picture of it yesterday. So here you go.
I got out today and planted all my plants by myself. I decided Dad could not be trusted and honestly, sometimes I like to pretend I'm still normal and can do normal things like plant flowers in my own garden. Now, when I spend most of tomorrow in bed taking Flexeril, I may come to regret this decision. But I saw my therapist today and then I decided I needed some garden therapy so down in the dirt I went. It's the getting up part that's hard!
This little skipper was really enjoying the Tampa Vervain (Glandularia tampensis). It's an endangered plant, but you can buy it at Lowe's and Home Depot because we have some native nurseries that are growing it commercially. It self seeds pretty well so I think the reason it's endangered is because it has the nerve to grow on dry ground where people want to build their houses.
The tattered Gulf Frit that's been hanging around doesn't care if the pentas aren't in the ground yet.
Managed to get a couple of decent pics of the Spicebush ST. I'm pretty sure this is a male which is good because my host plants are barely leafing out.
So what does all this work look like? Well, I don't often show my garden, but here you go, folks. This is the "official" butterfly garden we carved out of the lawn. In the back you have two Sweetbay Magnolias with a Jatropha in the middle. I planted rue all along the back but they're babies so they're hard to see. They get tall though, which is why I put them in the back.
We've got Tampa Vervain in a little triangle, some Salvia 'Mystic Spires' (Dad likes the name, the bees like the nectar), some porterweeds we just cut back but are already coming back, two rows of pentas, and Coreopsis and Blanket Flowers in the front. The obelisk is for the Passiflora lutea I ordered the other day. The trellis with the butterfly on it is where I transplanted two of my volunteer Corkystem Passion Vines (P. suberosa). I figured both Passifloras could grow up and eventually on the porterweed and salvia but the truth is the caterpillars will never let them get that big.
The potted plant is a placeholder for the moment. It's the one I got at Lowe's for a whole dollar on the clearance rack. It's about to bloom and I suspect it's 'Black and Blue' which would be awesome. I have some already but I need to transplant them. I'm actually going to plant the four Carolina Petunias I ordered in that space when they arrive. They're a good native plant and Ruellia species can host the Buckeye butterfly. I actually saw a Buckeye today but it was acting like it had somewhere to be and was running twenty minutes late. I also mixed the colors of the pentas because I just like the way that looks. I have red, light pink, dark pink, and purple.
In other news, that's the new fence Dad put up last week. I told him he better do it before my vines got started. The Wooly Pipevine is already leafing out like mad! I wish it would grow that fast all the time.
I also had my first hummingbird sighting! I didn't get a picture but it was on my Purple Firespike. I bought one in late summer 2013 because USF Botanical Gardens has one and it is a Swallowtail magnet. So far they don't seem to be getting the message. But I also read that hummingbirds like it and that appears to be true! And in case you're wondering why I have a bromeliad sitting on the corner of the garden...well, I meant to move it but that never happened. Besides, the Monarchs like to make their chrysalises on it!
I also saw a Cloudless Sulphur that never stopped. I mean, it was flying through the neighborhood all day! I yelled at it and said I didn't care about it and wasn't going to chase it. So naturally, it landed on the pentas I hadn't planted yet which we're right next to me. But by the time I got my camera out it was gone. Those things are so frustrating! I saw the Giant ST again but it flew way up in the trees. Also, this is the time of year when caterpillars hang down out of the oak trees by their silk. I tried to take a picture of this phenomenon but my camera wouldn't focus because the caterpillar kept swinging. So I grabbed the silk to hold it still but it wouldn't focus. About that time, the caterpillar started climbing up the silk toward my hand, I freaked out because I wasn't sure what species it was, it swung and hit me in the face which caused me to freak out more, and then I lost track of the caterpillar. About the time I screamed Dad was near and asked if I was okay. I asked him to look for caterpillars on me while I looked down my shirt to make sure I wasn't harboring one in my bra.
Life is always interesting with me, folks.
As Dad and I did a last walk around the yard, this skipper (possibly the same one from earlier) was enjoying the Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow which is the same plant the Spicebush was on earlier. I don't remember it being such an attractant in previous years. Hmmm...
