Just one Gulf Frit flying around today.
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 73
sighhhhh, I would just love to see 1... well wouldn't want him/her to freeze in all this cold/snowy weather
Happy Birthday, Elaine (EFGeorgia)
I see you got some snow. It's been cold down here, too. Spring soon, I hope. : )
Are ya coming down for Pioneer days?
Thanks, Lucy,
don't think we will make it down your way for a while. Got lots going on here. I belong to a garden club and Ikebana International and we will be getting ready for the Cherry Blossom. Also having a girlfriends weekend.
I am soooo tired of this cold/wet weather. !!!!!! I don't mind the rain/snow so much, just the cold...
I am rooting lots of things in the greenhouse and in back bedroom. Have some tomato seeds just sprouting.
Elaine
Snow still on the ground, even six days later, but this Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) pupa is snug and safe as can be -- despite it's rather odd pupation site: just below the hinge on the door to my shed. Thankfully, I can open and close the door without any risk to him/her. It's a nice reminder that even in all this cold and slush, spring is just around the corner.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
They do make in some precarious places! Yours wasn't easy to spot, unlike this Monarch chrysalis. It was at the top of the door of our shop, thankfully the door that had a stop latch on it, 4 " to the other side and it may have been a goner.
This ones' from last summer.
hey all I think I am almost ready. I have the liatris, Ironweed, and milkweed cleaned up and ready to go, hope to be putting many in the ground this weekend. Parsley dill and fennel already done. Hope to have a good spread by the time the butterflies arrive. Have about 20 more yards of soil left to finish a new bed I am preparing.Still plenty to do!
Cute picture gardenpom.
Viceroy.... Here is a link to a mapsearch for bfs in your area. Narrow it down even further with the county selection. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?_fc=1&x=278&y=186
Look under each bf for the plants that are caterpillar host plants and also some nectar plants on each one. You have a large number of species in FL and you can always plant or plan for the future.
Good luck this spring.
Thanks for the great info Ms. Sheila, I am all about the future I shall do some more research. Bring on the spring!!
Believe me if I could make it come any faster I would. I still have snow on my deck where I shoveled us a path and had piled it up. It keeps getting so low at night it won't melt.
Try putting it in trash bags for garbage day.
ROFLOL!!! Where are the smilies when you need them?
Ill be here all week!
I'm putting fruit out...spotted a Red Admiral today!
Okay, I finally got a picture of it, but it just so happened it was on a native bush that blooms in late winter, Netleaf Forestiera. They really love it because there's not that much blooming yet!
YAY! A butterfly finally.
Due to the events of the past week, Melanie is declaring butterfly season OFFICIALLY OPEN!
I was cleaning up the plants that got frosted when Mom walked out the front door and said, "Ooh..pretty butterfly." I said, "What butterfly?" She pointed to my hanging basket of petunias (purple with white edging - I couldn't resist!) and sure enough there's an Eastern Black ST in there! I was so surprised and Mom was like, "Didn't you put it there?" I had been putting my Polydamas out there to dry, but I told her no way - I haven't even seen an Eastern Black ST in months!
It must have just eclosed, but I couldn't find where the chrysalis was.
It was so cold that day I was gardening in a sweatshirt - and that never happens! As I was weeding I dug up this lizard. I placed him on the rocks in my birdbath so he could sun himself. Doesn't he look fierce?
Then, yesterday I was working in the vegetable garden and it was just a perfect day. Lots of sun, high up around 70. I saw a Phaeon Crescent, an unidentified orangish-brown skipper, two Barred Sulphurs and a Cloudless Sulphur. Here's the Cloudless hitting up the Tampa Vervain (my favorite endangered species).
At first, I thought I was seeing Dainty Sulphurs, but I netted them for a closer look.
I took them to the museum where I forced them to pose for me. I think this is the male because his bar is much darker.
Whereas, according to my books, the female has lighter black markings.
But the best part of the day was when I first walked in the lab and saw that one of the Giant Swallowtails had emerged! Here he is in the flight cage.
Yea for butterflies!
Melanie
Nice! Oh this is so good to see.
And I totally forgot to mention that at the museum I saw a Gulf Fritillary and a Painted Lady flying around the gardens!
Good news! I hope it's a better year here than it was last year. I might volunteer as a butterfly monitor. I'll go to the training sessions to see if I know enough.
Just wintersowed a bunch of Asclepias tuberosa. The monarchs will need all the help they can get this year.
Tattered Gulf Frit at the Phlox today.
Melanie is doing the happy dance I just know. So glad to hear they are reappearing for you.
Mrs ED...If you are speaking of a butterfly exhibit you have the experience no doubt. I will be working as a volunteer at tthe Botanic Garden Butterfly exhibit again this time. We only have it every three years. I would love for them to open a permanent exhibit here. But it is a big responsibility and takes a lot of people to keep it going.
Gardenpom, good to see the bf even tattered ones this year. Hope we can bounce back from the freezing temps and snow in Texas this year.
Ah, no… not an exhibit. It's a butterfly count. You have to do 6 counts a summer. It's one of those scientific things where you have to spend the same amount of time and do the same walk. But there are so many I can't identify without photo. You're allowed to net and release for ID, and you can photograph, but not linger. We'll see.
Oh, that would be difficult for me too.
I have moved all my soil and have my tropical butterfly corner in the works, bamboo,a few Queen palms,Bald Cypress, and some willow will anchor the project. Spicebush, paw-paw, cassia and some passion vine will fill in.Red Pentas, and some strategically placed milkweed and sit back and watch the show! It all looks good on paper now if I could just get past the planning stage I will be ok.
I am afraid of bamboo because I heard even the clumping kind can spread.
B. Oldhamii. sounds a little scary.It is a very well behaved clumper and I gave it lots of room. Wish me luck!
Todays Gulf Frit is better looking than the last one. I also saw my first Sulphur since the freezes.
This message was edited Feb 23, 2010 10:31 PM
gardenpom....That is such a perfect picture that it almost looks like a photoshop pic.
Thank you, Sheila.
sighhhhhh, mine can't be too far behind you. I "think" Dh and I saw a butterfly on the golf course today flying up from the mud, but couldn't be sure.
I saw a shadow the other day, but it was a wren. Still waiting here.