We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1021824/
And we have so many butterflies we have to keep going! Here's a little Phaeon Crescent on my recently acquired jatropha. I haven't seen a crescent in a while so it was a nice treat.
Went walking through my neighbor's property again and found a lot of Spicebush eggs and two cats. They were all on (evil, invasive) camphor. I'm not so sure they can really use that as a host plant. I only ever see small cats or eggs on it. I've yet to find a big caterpillar on it like I'll find on bay trees. Don't worry, Melanie has a native Red Bay that I'm feeding to them and they seem to like it.
Caught sight of this Hairstreak and was hoping it was laying eggs but didn't find any. What was it doing down in the leaf litter if it wasn't going to lay eggs for me? LOL!
The Duskywings apparently leave my anise hyssop on occasion because I found this one on some weed. I usually get the Horace's Duskywings, but I haven't looked in my book for a while. So this may be another variety.
A skipper I saw that looks like the one that laid eggs for me the other day.
I know I neglect the Gulf Frits because they're so common here, so I thought I'd take a photo of this one. Must be a lot of new ones around because they are so dark orange! I'm raising a few of the cats inside with at least one Zebra Longwing. I just pick the eggs and whatever they become is all right with me.
And finally, a Checkered Skipper. These guys must come in waves because I hadn't seen one for months and now I've seen about three in the last two weeks.
Here's hoping those tropical storms blow some tropical butterflies this way!
That's the report from Tampa!
Melanie
Great shots Melanie! You have really geared up on the bf raising since your medical time out earlier this year. Glad to have you back at full throttle!
Yeah, I think I need to cool my engine a bit. I've been taking my Long-Tailed Skippers to the museum so they can raise them. I gotta have my green beans! I've been keeping the Dorantes for myself though, since I never raised one before. That first one is still in its chrysalis.
Fall is a good time for butterflies here and good for me because I can go hiking without sweating to death. I'm so looking forward to it! I usually try to focus on raising a few particular species at one time, but this year I've had so many new ones that I can't help raising them all!
Melanie
Very nice photos and I'm really glad you posted the Gulf Fritillary cause I've never seen one... I've never seen 4 of the butterflies you just posted in fact!
Here is a couple of my shots of Yellow Swallowtail Female
Here she is again only in the front garden...
Beautiful Tiger ST Marlina!
Was out at the ranch yesterday. Saw a couple of caterpillars on what I think is native velvet leaf mallow - not exactly sure though - figured they are probably white checked skippers. Also found an egg. Will keep tabs on them. Here's a photo of one of the caterpillars.
~ Cat
Thanks Sheila, I keep getting hummingbirds to but just can't get a good shot . They move around too much . I think they might be starting to migrate down from here now. See them a lot one day and then not again for a week...
Thanks Sheila_FW,
It looks like this might be the same guy.
GD
This message was edited Aug 16, 2009 4:01 PM
I'm so glad I added this plant to my garden.
Meadow Blazing Star Liatris
Silver-spotted skipper. I'm glad I can identify these, I wish the others I sometimes see were as easy to ID. They are all so cute.
And this old fart loves to attack all the other males.
Beautiful pics! Marlina & Mrs. Ed!!
GD, that is a great picture! Not only do you have the Cabbage White in mid-air, but there's also a skipper on the bloom! Fabulous!
Glad to know everyone is seeing so much action in their yards. Since Florida is like backwards land a lot of the native plants bloom in the fall. With the butterflies moving South at the same time that ensures a lot of action. I just can't wait for it to cool down and for the humidity to go back to somewhat normal levels. Today it was cloudy all day but it was still so humid. Whenever I lean over to look at a plant or a butterfly the sweat just drops right off my face. Apparently, there's a tropical wave over us which is giving much needed rain. Fortunately, it held off until this afternoon; volunteering at the museum is less fun when it rains. It's hard to pick caterpillar food, too.
Well, last week I took my lazy Zebra Swallowtails to the museum since they'd been hanging out in their chrysalises since March. I figured I could put them in the window and guests could check them out, compare them to the other species, and if they emerged that would be awesome. Well, this morning one of them came out! I called him a traitor, seeing as how I'd been taking care of him for months and he's at the museum one week and decides to come out. But I still posed him and got pictures and made sure he was transported safely to the flight cage. It's so hard letting them go sometimes!
I did get another special surprise, although I'm still not too sure how pleased I am over it. One of our Giant Leopard Moths came out. It was cool, but moths kind of freak me out. Something about their heads just isn't quite right. The poor thing was on its back so I flipped him over and let him chill for a while before letting him go. His wings are a little brown from the liquid he secreted.
Melanie
Ms Ed.... LOL!! Guess that proves you are only as old as you feel. The plant you have, Meadow Blazing Star Liatris, did you purchase or start from seed? Looks like they like it as well as they do the West TX Mistflower.
Shelia, I bought that at a somewhat local nursery that specializes in Illinois natives. It's Liatris ligulistylis. I was glad they had it because I was eying it at High Country Gardens (now on sale: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/63745/). I'm anxious to see if any other butterflies are attracted to it, because I only ever see the monarchs on it in photos.
Thanks for the info Marna. Great picture too.
Thanks!
Danny sent me a picture of that Mistflower and I thought WOW, I NEEEEED that. LOL.
PS. that plant is on sale at High Country Gardens
cats devouring my aristolochia fimbriata. I am so pleased.
I also have a question. I got an a. trilobata and want to know it it will grow up a tree w/o hurting the tree. Can it grow as a groundcover like a. fimbriata? thanks for your help.
WOW...look at all those!
They are so scary in that quantity! Hard to believe how pretty they are going to be.
I went to cut a few more leaves for my 12 tiny PVST cats and brought in 4 more! I don't know if I have enough leaves to feed them all. Afraid to buy another plant from the nursery since most of them spray.
WOW Voss! That's a lot of Polys! Wish we got those in mass abundance. Am lucky if I see one or two butterflies a year. Now PVS are here in the hundreds all year long :o)
The aristolochia won't harm your tree. I use mine as ground cover since it doesn't get very tall. I sometimes use small dirt mounds or trail it through small trellises to keep it spread out.
~ Cat
Thanks mellielong,
Here’s a bigger one.
GD
thanks everyone. I have been making conscious selections of host and food plants and dream of swarms flying around my yard. Last spring, I had so many cats that they jumped from the aristolochia to the lawn. It was a sight. In a couple of days they disappeared, don't know where they went.
TXpuddy, you have dmail
Voss....they most likely took off looking for a place to pupate. You can always snatch up the last instar caterpillars and put them into a cage with leaves from their larval host plant. Add some twigs or a wire jungle gym to give them something to crawl up on when they are ready to form a chrysalis.
For ideas of what to put into a cage for the last instar caterpillars to crawl up on - check out the last three photos on my garden blog about cat cages.
OOPS...here's the correct site - thanks for noticing that Mrs_Ed :o)
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/TexasPuddyPrint/12578/
~ Cat
This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 9:53 AM
This message was edited Aug 19, 2009 9:53 AM
Cat, that's your link. for the rest of us it's this:
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/TexasPuddyPrint/12578/
Here's the Summer Azure on Chocolate Mint. I keep trying to get the wings open, but no luck.
And here's a girl who's seen better days…
I know what you mean about enough food. I raised a bunch of black swallowtails and gulf/var. frits. The st's ate all my parsley and had to feed them some organic from grocery store. Frits have demolished my huge passion vine. Not sure what their offspring will eat. Maybe it will put out new growth for the fall. Haven't seen anything on my little a. fimbr. yet. If I had that many cats, it would probably die on me.
EF...I was just in GA last couple of weeks. We visited the GA Aquarium, it was awesome! We also saw the Atlanta Botanical gardens, then went south to the Calloway Gardens and to the butterfly house they have there. Really enjoyed it, and the semi-cooler weather. I was dissapointed that there weren't more botanical gardens between here and there though.
Aww, Sheila, wish we could have gotten together.. We live just south of Atlanta 90 miles. The butterfly house in Calloway is very good. And the aquarium is awesome. It is really most beautiful here in spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming and the peach trees and the azaleas... and the dogwoods.
come again and let me know. Would love to meet you.
Elaine
setting up a cage is on my list of projects. thanks everybody for your helps. I enjoy lurking here.
