Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 28, 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
I have been really lazy (or more accurately - too busy!) to really get any butterfly photos. I have a lot of butterflies in my yard, but just haven't had the opportunity to go outside and chase them down for photographs. I never seem to have my camera on me when I release the ones I am raising. Too rushed every morning I guess with work, running my daughter around, and hospital (now rehab) visits to see my mother. I better get with it because last summer all the butterflies disappeared and didn't show up until Fall. :-(

(Too hot for them probably!)

Here is a photo I just took of one of my Monarch's eclosing, one in it's chrysalis just about ready to eclose (OOPS! I glanced over and it is out of it's chrysalis too!) ... see how fast they are! And a cat near them that is getting ready to pupate. I still have 12 other cats (Monarchs and Queens that are pigging out on milkweed currently).

I have been seeing a lot of Sulphur butterflies. They have been all over my Cassia bushes. Those bushes never died back this winter and only drop leaves when I over-water them. The seeds look really weird, too. Not like most Cassia/Senna plants. The pods are ripening now and I have been collecting seeds. These plants get very tall and bushy and the Sulphur's are all over them. I have no idea what cultivar this Cassia is.

This message was edited Feb 3, 2008 11:46 AM