Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 23, 0 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Things are pretty exciting around this forum considering it's November! Mom tried using my camera yesterday when she released one of the ZSTs. I asked her what she was going to do if it had taken off flying around her office and she said. " I had the door closed!" Silly woman. The butterfly made it outside just fine. Next week I should have a couple of Gulf Frits come out.

Glad to see everyone is a fan of the White Peacock. I like them because they tend to fly low to the ground and they land on the grass a lot. Makes it easy to take their picture. I just checked my book and I knew they used water hyssop as a host, but I forgot they use frogfruit too. That makes a lot of sense now. My neighbor's lawn is mostly a collection of weeds - including lots of frogfruit. I wonder what he would do if he found me crawling around looking for caterpillars? Maybe I could get his daughters to join me, but I'd have to treat his fire ants first! (This spring, once I was done using the spreader on our yard, I walked across the street and treated his too - fire ant bites hurt!) This neighbor is across the street from me and I've mentioned before that I take care of the entrance to the cul-de-sac which includes in front of his house (and mine). I guess he's used to seeing me around his fence by now.

Funny story - he has these cute little vincas around his mailbox. It's about the only thing he hasn't killed. Well, last winter they had died off but I could see where the new growth was coming back up. Finally, I couldn't stand it so I took my pruners and trimmed off the dead tops. Then next time he came out I saw him staring at them like, "Did the garden fairy come visit?" I still laugh when I think about the look on his face. When I cleared and separated the bromeliads of the neighbor next door to us he told my dad he "didn't know if someone was trying to help him or run him out of the neighborhood". One yard is just not big enough for me! (That's why I volunteer!)

Melanie (the part-time garden fairy)