vitrsna, they are gorgeous, fresh or old.
DAILY PICTURES # 106
Wow, Vit, those are gorgeous and the photos are so clear and focused. Ive never seen a Polydamas in my neighborhood. Wish I could take photos like those.
Ha! Steady...my best photos are by accident...really. Especially now because my old camera went berserk. Now i am using a new one and have no idea how it works. I'm not sure where in Texas Houston Heights is (o wait, it must be near Houston?) but i'm pretty sure Polydamas Swallowtails get as far north as southwest Texas at least.
The Heights is just North of downtown inside the inner loop, 610.
steady, i think you should have seasonal Polydamas Swallowtails there and other Swallowtails that use Aristolochia as a host plant. They may not visit unless you have an Aristolochia, and if they do visit and find no host plant, they won't stay around long enough for you to get to know them :-)
Polydamas Swallowtails can definitely be found in the Houston area. I've had them in my yard up here in the Dallas area a couple of times. An uncommon stray up here.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
I got aristolochia plants last spring and they are not very big yet so maybe I'll get there this spring.
What variety Marty? There is one that is OK for hosting the Polydamas, but is toxic to the Pipevine ST larva. I took this one out since the Polydamas aren't here often, but PST are. Check in plant files and read the notes.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56130/
Sheila, I have A. fimbriata given to me as tiny seedlings by Patrob at last year's Spring RU. I got them for the PVST so does that mean they wont work for the Polydamas?
Steady, the A. fimbriata will work very nicely for the Polydamas. Don't become discouraged. Sometimes it takes butterflies awhile to find a new host plant, but they are always on the look out so they will eventually show up, usually sooner than later :).
A. fimbriata is a great pipevine to have and it is safe for both. makes a wonderful ground cover under other plants.
That's a cute plant. More zone envy! ha.
Found this guy enjoying my salvia coccinea today.
Monarch!!!! She spent 15 minutes laying eggs on the milkweed. It was like she was on a mission. She showed up and started laying eggs. Ive checked the plant and found several of the eggs. The plant as you can see is just beginning to re-leaf after the freeze.
Steadycam, I am jealous! I started poking around the yard today (nice and warm in Atlanta), but no real planting till APRIL. Am trying the winter sowing to control the itch, but I don't know if I can make it!
I found 10 eggs she laid on this one plant in the photo. I have some other plants and she found them and laid a few eggs there too. Now I have to keep the lizards from eating the baby cats.
I had five species of butterflies in the yard yesterday, including this Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melons) taking nectar from Winter Honeysuckle. Come on, Spring!
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
The first official day of Spring was cool and sunny in the Arkansas River Valley. Butterflies were emerging during mid afternoon especially Falcated Orangetips and Clouded sulphurs . Even the Spring moth, Grapevine epimenis, was out on a early blooming pear tree along with several Spring Azures. Since it was cool, Sulphurs would fly for a short period then lateral bask to warm up.
As I headed for home, I noted several Goatweed Leafwings on roadside scat. With the upcoming warming trend bug activity should pickup as well as this old Gardener's.
1. Grapevine Epimenis
2. Clouded Sulphur
3. Male Falcated Orangetip
4. Spring Azure
5. Goatweed Leafwing
Yaaaaay! Living things again! Nice photos too. What do I have to plant to get goatweed leafwings? Goatweed?
wow, really? That's happening in Arkansas? Yippeeeeeee. Nice collection too.
Steady, you should have Goatweed Leafwings in your area and some Tropical Leafwing strays. Texas Goatweed, a croton, is a farmer cursed invasive plant in Texas. I have noticed females here oviposting on new or recently emerged plants. Nice and tender for the baby caterpillars.
Goatweed leafwings like nasty stuff like scat as well as sap and rotting fruit. But they are gorgeous butterflies with their bright reddish orange above and leaf pattern below. Preferred habitat is wood edges and scattered trees. The males sit in trees and other high places waiting for a female to come by. So if you see an orange flash by your head. it's usually a male checking you out before heading back to cover.
1. Oviposting at wood edge on seedling croton. 1. Female Goatweed leafwing with dark pattern above. 3.Oviposting on new croton in road edge rocks.
Mrs_Ed, it should be Spring in the Mid West soon. I don't miss the New York and Ohio weather but it was unusual here this winter with cold and several snows and ice storms. Thank goodness hibernation is over.
It's lovely here today but it's not supposed to last. Sigh. But sooner or later it will happen. I just hope we have lots of butterflies this year.
I have not seen any , Sometimes as Early as February I will see a Mourning Cloak or such , colder this year , When the bulbs show , so will a few BF's (Hyacinths particularly)
Nice , nice, to see the pics all,,
Rare to see a Goatweed leafwing here , it happens in their better number years .
I saw a sulphur today and a tiny brown butterfly that I could not get a good look at. I have 35 one inch long monarchs! Im gonna be begging, borrowing or stealing milkweed again. I dont have nearly enough to feed all these and I saw 2 more eggs today.
I was familiar with something called goatweed where I grew up in North Louisiana but dont know if that is the same thing. What I grew up with is a fuzzy gray-green plant. The photos in your post dont look like what we called goat weed. Can you possibly save and send me some seeds this year. I'll send postage first if you can do that.
Curious about Goatweed too, it's Epimedium, right?
steady, most butterfly books list various croton as host plant for Goatweed Leafwing. The immature plants that I showed, I call Hogweed. DG has pics of mature plants at http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/67797/ . Since it is considered a noxious weed but common in Texas , I prefer not to send seeds. I'm not that familiar with "Crotons" but the Texas goatweed might be in your area.
It will be several weeks before milkweeds start to emerge here so hopefully the monarchs can find host plants on the way up. By the way, I was told by a caretaker of a butterfly house last summer that monarch caterpillars can be reared on pumpkin leaves. Really ? Is this the case ?
Mrs_Ed , I don't know if Epimedium goatweed is used by leafwings. I expect not since it is not in Croton genus but I can't say from experience. Maybe a plant expert could give some understanding of native "crotons".
Ms_Ed With us ,, It is probably this . Cannot find seeds or plants though , it is a weed
C.monanthogynus) Prairie Tea .
Have to learn what it looks like , I will .
I looked around and found the plant I grew up knowing as goatweed. It's Croton capitatus, wooly croton. And it is a host for the Goatweed Leafwing.
Thanks Juhur, I'll keep an eye out for that. It does not look familiar.
Since we're talking Goatweed Leafwings, here's a couple of shots of the caterpillar. When you find the host plant, look for the leaf shelters that they weave together to see if there are any larvae on the plant. Makes it very easy to find them them.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
lepfarmer ; Thank you for look see ,, I have seen that before , Maybe , I might be able to find a few host plants to add to the garden .
Info says they do not live here ,, but rarely ,as before, they do .
The caterpillar is very well camouflaged...he looks just like the fuzzy green host weed. The "leaf shelter" looks like one of those papoose baby carriers! I love those butterflies. Im getting me some goatweed if I have to drive to Louisiana to get it!!!
Thanks all for keeping those of us in the "middle of the road" warm, so to speak, during the winter months with your chatter and pics. of butterflies and cats. Spring has sprung down here finally or it seemed for a couple of days over the weekend, I saw my first 2 swallowtail butterflies on our Yoshino cherry blossoms, those are my very first butterflies sighting for the season!.
Old-man winter is reluctantly biding us farewell, however, we still expecting another hard freeze tomorrow, ughh! I'm looking forward to warmer days and seeing more butterflies in the garden.
Here come the early blooming spring flowers, and honey bee on camellia bloom. I will share pics. of butterflies as the weather warming back up.
Wow...what a difference a year makes. I have seen 2 butterflies in my yard - both Monarchs. Could have something to do with the lack of blooms I guess. The weather continues to be dreary and I haven't had any photo ops lately. I am seeing some buds on several of my plants, so I am hoping I have some visitors soon. The hummingbirds are slowly filtering in, but still not many around.
Spring is running a little late..but definitely on it's way. Hope to have some pictures this weekend.
Yakmon
Saw a giant swallowtail, a spicebush swallowtail and a sulphur today!
Beware!!! Tigers are out. Warm weather has brought out many eastern Tiger Swallowtails in west central Arkansas. Also saw my first of the year Monarch. It was nectaring road edge vebena, wild rose vervain, but was camera shy. A good sign for this butterfly season.
Yike! Monarch and Tigers!!! Spring is here finally!
Seeing more butterflies everyday. Yesterday, a dark form female Tiger ST visited the backyard verbena. Very photogenic. It has been estimated that in Arkansas up to 90 percent of female Eastern Tigers are black rather than the common yellow pattern.
How wonderful! Pretty!