My yard has been alive with butterflies the past few days. A nice variety of species, some of them in great numbers.
Butterflies
The same here Cheryl, I especially have Queens, Snouts, Painted ladies, Buckeyes, Sulphurs and many Skippers.
Thank you a million for the Zinnia grandiflora seeds, I an sooo excited to see if they make it for me.
Josephine.
Same here, it was an awsome week for butterflies. And a couple of them seemed really disappointed when I pulled up my Pentas, riding on the flower all the way to the ground and then coming back for more as the flowers were just laying there before they went into the garbage bag. Meanwhile, four large Monarchs were all over my tropical milkweed hopefully filling up their nectar tanks before continuing their journey to Mexico.
I might have some shoots I can dig and try to grow for you in the spring. They appear to be sending some runners. Honestly they had the most flowers over the longest time period of any perennial I have. I hope they come back for me in the spring. I might try some in more traditional beds but am afraid they will rot. I am trying seeds too so we should compare notes to see if we can find a good way to get germination.
C
Yes we should compare notes, I am planning to winter sow some on my patio shelves and same some for planting in spring just in case those don't make it.
I keep reading to sow indoors in winter or in spring so apparently though don't require a cold period. I am hoping for some volunteers in the bed they are in. I also read that their germination is very erratic and often over a couple of years.
I will try both ways and see what happens.
Yesterday I still had two fat monarch cats on my back porch asclepias. I could not find them today so I hope they hung out somewhere nearby. I'd like to bring them in if there is a cold snap.
We found at least 25 Pipevine cats at the Fielder house garden today they had devoured all the pipevine plants and they were still going.
I found one of those "bird dropping" cats on my grapefruit tree yesterday as well. First one I've ever seen other than in a photo.
I've also had tons of butterflies this past week. I'm guessing it's because of the warmer weather. My passiflora foetida is finally being devoured by gulf frit cats. I've seen tons of Queens enjoying the copper canyon daisies.