Plant it and they will come Monarchs and Pollinators

Nice butterfly and moth photos! That male Imperial moth has the perfect coloring for hiding in fall leaves.

CatMint, the pink color in that bud makes me think it is not A. tuberosa.

thanks, Greenthumb! I'm thinking it looks more like the Sleepy Duskywing. :-)

thanks, Muddy! Fingers crossed it's the A. curassavica.

The bees were enjoying 2 of my Asters.

I thought both of these plants, which I bought them from Prairie Nursery, were Eurybia macrophylla (Bigleaf Aster), but the flowers look different to me. You can't tell from the photo, but the flowers on the second plant are pale blue.

There is variation from plant to plant and also due to differences in factors such as exposure. Prairie Moon describes as "white-violet rays surrounding a yellow center". Think you are ok.

Interesting, thanks. The one on the left gets a smidgeon more sun. I have a mystery plant up on the hill that looks like a similar Aster species but I don't remember planting it.

I like them all !

It looks very pretty, Muddy. I'm still waiting for my aster to bloom!

CatMint, most asters bloom in late summer and/or fall.

Muddy, it would not be surprising if your plant on the hill is an Aster too. We have multiple Aster species here and there on the property that we did not plant.

Greenthumb absolutely wonderful serendipity on the Imperial! Was he still there in the am?

Made me think of one of my inspiration books from childhood "Girl of the Limberlost" by Gene Stratton-Porter as I too lived on the edge of a great wild area and collected many of its creatures or at least encountered them as I roamed the fields and woods and ponds and creeks of my back yard. Cecropias were our big moths.

Catmint, your just blooming milkweed is currasavica See Monarch Watch milkweed descriptions
http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/curass.htm
The tuberosa has finished blooming and the tropical is about to begin here. Also. the leaves are to my eye different (See pics below) with the tuberosa having a bend in stem and tropical just standing out from plant.
Edited to add that clicking on the pictures enables seeing the entire leaf and not just a section of each!

This message was edited Jul 29, 2014 10:11 PM

Judy--

Your gifted tropical Milkweed is about to bloom.

It will live in this big pot as long as it can.

thanks, Coleup--I was thinking it was probably A. curassavica and am delighted to have that confirmed! :-)

This message was edited Jul 28, 2014 10:20 AM

So this mating pair from yesterday would be....? A Lady?

http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/frames-2species.asp?sp1=Vanessa-virginiensis&sp2=Vanessa-cardui

I saw my first tiger swallowtail of the season today. It's so late in the season! It lingered on the coneflowers for a long time. I think it was a female since it had blue on the lower wings.

There were also two butterflies that were dancing around each other. One was white and the other one was light yellow. They looked exactly the same except for this color difference.

Here is a yellow Tiger Swallowtail BF sitting on the woodwork under my skylights
on the patio.
There were two--but not all the time. The one just sat there all day....

This is when, usually, the next thing is i see a dead one on the floor.

WHY would they cling for hours and hours to the sky light. What are they doing?

I always find this fascinating....Just looked--they are both still there--in opposite corners...

??? Gita

Coleup, I'm thinking maybe Silvery Checkerspot for your mating pair, although hard to be sure with the photo. (I know how hard it is to get a nonblurry photo of butterflies!)

SSG, yay tiger swallowtail! :-) Sounds like a Cabbage White (most common white butterfly in this area) and maybe a Sulphur, but sometimes the Cabbage Whites can have a pale yellow underside (just to make things confusing--LOL).

OK............

One of the butterflies is dead now--laying on my patio floor.

Picked him/her up and now have a 100% unblemished one to add to my
collection...or give it to August--the budding scientist....
I have lots of these---as my patio Roof seems to be the perfect "jumping off"
place for its Souls into eternity. (Referencing a Maori (NZ) legend here).

Do insects have "souls"???
Maybe the butterflies are laying eggs in the groove between the glass and the wood?

Checked again and again--the other one is still hanging on....Tomorrow....
will have to locate it.

G.

Greenthumb, it's definitely an Aster; in fact, it looks like the one in the photo on the left that I posted above. My Eurybia macrophylla (Bigleaf Aster) plants did not bloom last year, so the volunteer definitely isn't from their seeds. I moved the plants earlier this year and perhaps I planted one up there and then forgot about it.

CatMint, these Asters will be producing lots of seeds if you're interested!

My tropical milkweed is continuing to open!

Muddy, I'd love some seeds from your Eurybia macrophylla! :-) Thanks so much!

Gita, my guess is that the butterflies are attracted to the skylight and, once there, figure out that it's a nice place to rest. Maybe they can't find their way out again and give up. It's also possible that the concentrated heat of the sun up there by the skylight slowly bakes them.

Muddy---

I'll buy your first premise....a nice place to rest....but not so much the second...

There is so much in the way of these windows being in direct sun.
Morning sun at the most....the tree next to my patio shades it a lot....

I think it is just part of their life cycle--hatch....breed...lay eggs...and die.
All this takes about 2 weeks???

Gonna go out and look one more time. If not--by AM the ants will have
chowed down on all the edible parts there are.

Hold on!!!....Nope #2 is still hanging on there...

What a beautiful, cool night out there..... G.

It might be similar to how, supposedly, frogs don't jump out of sauce pans if the water is heated slowly to boiling point.

Just checked--the other Butterfly is still sitting up there....

Gita,
-butterflies don't fly until they are warm enough, so that one could be ok.
-the one that died could have been a male which die soon after breeding
-tiger swallowtails often chase each other in a kind of mating dance with the final move being the female flying up and waiting for the male
-butterflies do not lay eggs on glass and wood or if they did, the baby cats would starve! They lay eggs on 'host plants' so that is not what yours are doing up there
-unfortunately skylights do trap birds and insects that can wear themselves out trying to fly away

As to butterfly souls.....
Many people believe that butterflies in our lives are messengers from departed loved ones as in the stories on this site
http://butterflywebsite.com/discover/stories25.cfm

Photos 1 and 2 show a 3rd Aster with flowers similar to those of Aster #1 in my earlier post. Its leaves are not large, however, unlike those of Aster #1.

Photo 3 shows some seemingly drugged bees hanging on to Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) flowers. Unlike bees which buzz from flower to flower on other plants, they hardly move once they're on a Cup Plant bloom. I shook the flowers to make sure they were alive!

I'm not sure why the other photos didn't stick.

Ugg! One more try

I think it's a beautiful plant, Muddy!

Judy--

The second Butterfly was still there early this AM. By the time i was leaving
for work--it was gone....Did not find h=the remnants anywhere....but it was windy...

Love the stories in the link you posted.....but only read the first 4.
This link's contents seemed to be quite long....so I gave up.
Very touching.....I should read all of them.... g.

Muddy, I think this is a site-wide problem. Others are having trouble posting more than 1 pic at a time.

Thanks, SSG. I hadn't seen the SQL server error message before. That explains it.
Anyway, you all get the picture...the bees are stuck to the Cup Plant like glue!

Muddy, I'm pretty sure that some of the cup plant I sowed in the spring is indeed growing. I'm really looking forward to having it bloom if not this year then maybe next!

You'll get flowers next year for sure; it might be too late for this year. Mine went from 3" to 12" last year but didn't flower.

Post a photo of the cup plant when you're able to, Muddy! :-)

I'll keep trying! Something's very messed up with DG's server.

Well what do you know; I got a photo posted!

This message was edited Jul 29, 2014 9:54 PM

Muddy---
That is a perfect photo! All centered--very in focus--and really pretty. What is it?

I may want to use it as one of my desk top pictures. may I????

G,

Muddy and Catmint, I am reading that the cup plant is quite invasive here on the East Coast

http://laurries.blogspot.com/2013/09/cup-plant.html

"Sylphium perfoliatum is very invasive on the East Coast. The Nature Conservancy first noted along the banks of the Au Sable River about 15 years ago and it has had prolific spread since that time even with attempt at control. It now is over 30 miles from the original sighting and threatens the shores of Lake Champlain. The Adirondac Park Invasive Plant Program and Au Sable River Association are attempting to limit its spread. Please see this report - http://www.ausableriver.org/pdf/Indian%20Cup%20Plant%20final%20report.pdf
This infestation in New York was traced to a gardener planting two Sylphium perfoliatum plants.

I speak from personal experience as well, having included it in a prairie restoration seed mix for 40 acres on my property in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia 11 years ago. After 3 years I noted prolific spread of the plant to the point of domination and started eradication efforts at that time. Each Spring I continue to kill tens of thousands of plants by hand spraying with a crew of 6 to control it and prevent seeding. It has spread to neighbors farms up to a mile away but they kindly allow me to kill it there.

Bottom line, kill it now while you have a chance. It plays well with others in the Midwest but not on the East Coast. Questions? Call me at 540-333-2859 Jeff"

Thanks for the info, Coleup. Looks like I'll need to keep an eye on it and not let it seed.

Beautiful photo, Muddy. Looks like the pollinators love it! :-)

Coleup, your links certainly give pause in thinking of Cup Plant's use locally, and I have passed the links on to Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy for consideration. Thanks

Bees on my 'May Night' Salvia, and a Silver-Spotted Skipper on my Verbena 'Lollipop'. :-)