Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 69, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
I suppose it's better than me running through the house yelling, "Butterfly sex!" We almost saw some of that yesterday amongst the Giant STs. The guy was trying hard, but she was not impressed. He kept up a lot longer than the Gulf Frits; they seem to give up way too fast, but then again, there's a lot of them around so maybe it's easier for them to move on.

I must have some seriously good butterfly karma because I was just about to leave for the grocery store when a butterfly started flying around the garage. I saw a glimmer of blue and thought I had a Pipevine ST and got very excited. But it turned out to be even better because it was a RED SPOTTED PURPLE!!! it landed on my cherry tree and I thought it might be laying eggs but I couldn't find any. It flew off after a few minutes. Dad claims credit for it because he was sanding cherry wood in the garage and thinks the smell drew it in. I also dumped the compost pail and didn't cover it up because there's some rotting fruit in there. I'm also going to go check my neighbor's cherry trees. The Purples will be mine!!

Did catch a female Spicebush today and have her in the butterfly house right now. So far, no luck. But pulling in when I came back from the store I saw a swallowtail on the pentas and even though I was far away, I had a feeling it was a Palamedes. I was right!