Great pictures C_A_Ivy! Beautiful captions of such gorgeous creatures.
DAILY PICTURES # 110
Haven't seen any Buckeye or Giant Swallowtail here ,, Thank you also Ivy , it is a treat for me !!!
Another Monarch here this Morning , Camera went dead ,,, next time
Ivy, nice pictures of those beauties! Yes, spiders are notorious here too. I've seen BSTs flitting around in the garden. By galie! This early morning while collecting parsley and dill for the inside cats I found additional 15 of various instars from 1st -3rd instars on the plants. My host plants are running down. I'll have to scurry around for organic source of dills and parsley to feed these guys soon.
Sorry for the blurry pic. Here is a good picture of the little ones.
Wow Lily, you have a bunch of BST babies. Looks like you are going to be busy providing food. I've been feeding Walmart parsley to some BST cats and keeping my fingers crossed that the plants are not genetically modified or contain pesticides.
Thanks Ivy, I wish you the best with those future BSTs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed too for mine here.
Beautiful pics, everyone!!
Ivy ~ it's not fair for any one person to have so much variety...(just kidding)!
Kim ~ your flowers are gorgeous! What are they?
Hi All Always nice to see creation at work .
Here is one of five Monarchs from yesterday far but I got a pic of one , Male patrolling late , this is
5 Monarchs! Ju happy dance for you. Please send some my way. N.A.N. Those are, Plumeria, Lotus, and Blue Butterflies bush. The 1st and 3rd are tropical, which needs frost protection. The lotus is hardy up to zone 6 or lower, I think.
Here is another, brugmansia. I'm equipped with flowers for nectars awaiting for the butterflies to arrive. lol
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BSTs nursery progress : 9 chrysalid, half dozen actively wandering about for suitable sites to spin their silk. Smaller instars are supplied with fresh food and bedding.
Lily , I am really enjoying your cat scenes ,, Great !!!
rainy cloudy day here ,,
Ju, thanks. Has the rain gone away? Nice cool weather today? It's rather warm here still. I went out and looked at my parsley this afternoon. And I saw a female BST flitting about, then she wasted no time to come to the parsley. She laid eggs right in front of my eyes! Yes, I get to see the freshly laid eggs on the parsley flowers, then one thing happened, which I have never known before. She laid her eggs on nearby cypress vine! Look!
The first two pictures are the 2 eggs the BST just deposited. 3rd is a second instar on another branch of parsley outdoor. I brought that one inside too. 4th picture is a plumeria photo. :)
Lily , sunny day here , Saw a Monarch this morning , no camera though , I am enjoying your cats ,, bunches of chewed on host plants here , but I must be missing the larvae .
Plants like Black cherry , Spicebush , all chewed ,
BST's are such a pretty little creature ,, close up and new wings they are Beautiful ,!!!
Lily. I'm always amazed that butterflies recognize host plants that are unique to them. Of course I think they occasionally made a mistake in there hurried drive and excitement of laying eggs. Or is it a distraction for all the egg eating predators?
Good luck on your cat rearing.
A few from today
A Monarch caterpillar
Tiger Swallowtail
Pearl crescent
Monarch patrolling from a tree ,
Thanks Ivy for the well wish. Like you those butterflies continually amaze me. Ju, fabulous pictures. Love them all.
BST nursery update: Beside these wonderous instars. I currently have 18 chrysalid awaiting to emerge!
Lily. Have not seen any here this season , , I will enjoy yours .
Awww Ju, I wish I can send you some. Do enjoy mine at the meantime. :)
Lily These today , Monarchs three at least two pics , a red spotted purple , brand new wings
I cannot complain , 3 to 5 Monarchs a day now is pretty good , Good thing Bad thing , right , lol
Saturday or Sunday I saw 7 Monarch's. I have LOTS of zinnia and seems all the butterfly enjoy the zinnia. I think I saw a zebra strips today (not in the zinnia). That surely isn't too far out of line? I didn't get a really up close view, but sure looked like a zebra. I'll have to be on the lookout for sure.
Wow I just have to share; how tiny a newly hatched BST cat is.
Lily in this case , Things Small and Great ,, works to mind , lol Delightful Lily !!!
brendak654 Next year I am going to reset my zinnia ,Nice to see you have Monarchs too !!!
So you talking about a Butterfly with zebra stripes ? Or did a Zebra escape from the park near you ?
Here is early this morning , my garden , Butterfly life . lol
Wish we had zebras in a park. This is the one I was speaking of
Thanks for sharing those thine BST cat photos.
paw paw or Sassafras Zebra Swallowtail , I have never seen one here , Thank You brendak654
BST no.8 and 9 eclosed today. No. 8 is a female and no. 9 is a male. More due anyday.
Saw a Monarch oviposting on the backyard tropical milkweed. Hopefully some chubby cats soon.
I'm thinking about moving some paw paw trees from a lightly wooded area to near my pond - would that be an add-a-boy for butterfly?
In Our Garden: The milkweed Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) is going to seed.
Will be happy to send seeds to anyone interested in overwintering seeds outdoors in pots.
Works great! Exactly how we got ours started! We overwinter seeds every year in small pots,
then give them away! They need the cold stratification process.
Many monarchs this year/rearing many caterpillars. Postage would be appreciated!
I'm guessing here.... $1.00?? Dmail me your address.
grannyh - I have the swamp milkweed blooming in several places on the place. I like how you said you overwinter seeds every year in small pots. Tell me the purpose of the gravel in your pots? Do you think the Orange Butterfly Weed could be planted the same way in the small pots?
granny, lovely photos of your garden! Love the pink color of the swamp MW. And yah, the Monarch chrysalis -- ooh so beautiful! Ivy, your BSTs success! Thanks for refresh my memory on how to differentiate the males and females BST. I released my No. 2 BST today. Apparently it's a male? Shortly after I released the BST, a female TST came to visit. :)
Wow...you guys sure have a lot of activity! Love all the pics and stories about all that's going on.
Kim, thanks for the info on your beautiful blooms! The Brugmansia looks like it would also draw hummers.
The shots of the tiny BST cat are amazing! Have you added any of those to BugFiles?
Ivy, your comment about the females recognizing host plants piqued my interest since I'd never really thought about it before.
I just found an article that said once they find a plant based on leaf color and shape, they "beat it with their feet" to scratch the surface which releases a characteristic scent...fascinating!
I was going to upload a pic, but for some reason it says "Upload images to your reply, but there's no "Choose a File" button. Oh well.
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Okay, now the "Choose a File" button is back. Weird.
This female TST has a lot of wear-and-tear on her wings, but I still think she's beautiful.
She's back. The female Monarch showed up again today and revisited the Topical milkweed. Nectared for a few seconds after laying eggs. Seems to be searching for more milkweed but only about 15 plants in my yard.
Lily, the male black ST has large yellow FW spot band with little if any blue on HW whereas the female has small yellow spotted FW band with considerable HW blue which mimics Pipevine ST. The images that I posted are good examples of the markings and blue color of each sex.
brendak654~ Hello! I put rock in the pots to keep the squirrels & cicada killer wasp from digging down in the soil. It kind of acts as a mulch against the hot sun, also, and when it rains hard the soil doesn't get all splattered out.
I've never grown butterfly weed, so all I can say on that is just give it a go and see what happens! :) That's what I would do, anyway!
grannyh - Thanks for your info. That all sounds pretty impressive.
N.A.N. the brugs seem to attract a lot of bees and especially cucumber beetles -- beetles eat and leave holes in my brugs petals. Grrrr!
I released my No. 3 BST today. She was a girl! :)
Beetles not so good a thing BST Female a great and Beautiful thing .!!!
This Morning
#5 they did a fly by yesterday
Hey Ju, the fly by....hope they are heading my way. I'm so ready to receive Monarch in my garden. Those flowers, are they Mexican sunflower. They seem to be monarch magnet!
