Has anyone noticed a bumper crop of butterflies this August. There is so much traffic in the back garden I can scarcely keep up with all the butterflies! Not to mention their off spring is riddling a million holes in the leaves. I think everyones effort of planting butterfly friendly plants , and using less harmful sprays is starting to pay off!
Rj
Bumper crop of Butterflies and Catipillars!
That's good news, Randy! It's been an especially bad year for my garden, but I was heartened to see a butterfly in the garden this evening.
Looking forward to visiting your garden in Sept. We'll forgive all the caterpillar holes. :-)
Thanks, I'm looking forward to it to. I will start my vacation on Sunday and will be getting things ready for fall. I have to start early - a bit at a time. Have lots of replanting, repotting.
The butterflies have been amazing, and more humming birds too. Perhaps they are starting to remember there are goodies in the yard when they pass back through.
Hope your feeling better. I know how it goes. This time last year I was having my left hip replaced. The bright side is I got to sit out in the garden and watch all the things I usually miss while at work.
Rj
Made it hard to go back to work, huh? :-)
Amidst all the chaos going on this week, it's nice to take a break and watch butterflies & hummers. Nature's way of getting us to slow down a bit, relax, breathe....
Exactly! I take this week off every year for that reason!
As sad as I am about winter, I do believe I'm getting a wee tired of watering daily!
There are all kinds of butterflies in my yard this week! We're also getting a good, slow, soaking rain. Yippee!!! Rain water is so much better than resaca water(salty).
I've been hoping for some- You can tell such a difference between rain and watering. I can see showers from the building I'm working in downtown- they keep missing my house!
It is a great butterfly year for us. Between the humming birds, butterflies, and these green beetles flying around - it keeps the view busy!
Yes, it's great to see my hard work paying off.
Several hummies have continually frequented my yard for most of the year...and now new ones are starting to show up.
Got lots of gulf frits, monarchs, sulphurs, skippers, a few swallowtails and lots of other I haven't identified around my yard. They really flock to the duranta purple sky flower bushes and the firebush hedges for nectar.
It's a wonderful sight to see everything in bloom.
~ Cat
There was an article in the paper this week about butterflies. We are having some rare ones this year, a giant day flying moth that hasn't been seen since 1998 and a night moth with a 7 inch wingspan. Plus a bunch of American Snouts, lots of Monarch, sulphur, Gulf fritilary, giant swallowtail and pipevine swallowtail butterflies.......they said conditions have been just right. Our main butterfly time is October thru January.
I think I've had that giant day flying moth in my garden. I wondered what it was doing out in the daytime!
Maggiemoo, the one with the big wingspan is the Black Witch moth, there is another rare one that was spotted called the Sunset moth which looks like a black swallowtail.
We got more rain today. We needed it. Everything is so green after two weeks of rain(not steady all day rain, just thundershowers).
Tough I would like to take credit for this event, I think it has been Mother Nature. Yes, I have seen more butterflies and hummer than ever. The mornings are beginning to be pleasant enough that I can eat my cereal outside and it was a veritable parade.
Other observations: because our weather was so freakishly dry, no mosquitoes! also no ants and no june bugs.
I'm thinking of putting up traffic signals in my backyard for the butterflys and hummers. It is funny to watch the hummers wait for the frits to move before they go in for the drink. Two of the hummers were batteling for the firebush and feeder this morning. And, while I was watering, I had 2 REAL CLOSE Hum-bys. Can kinda startle ya.
On my walk with my dog, we went past a passion vine, and there were so many Gulf fritilarys flying around laying their eggs I had to take a double look. !
I just planted a couple of passion vines 2 weeks ago, one is starting to get buds! Should I expect to see butterflies?
Maggie, if you plant them, they will come, lol.
There were pipevine swallowtails all over my pipevines yesterday and little cats in all stages of development! The sulphurs found my cassia bushes, the Io moths found the clitoria vines, the monarchs are on the asclepias......now if the agrivating army worms would leave my elephant ears and brugmansias alone, I'd be happy.
I don't use Dipel or bacillus thurigensis in the yard because of the butterflies, I'm afraid the "good" cats will get into it by accident so I just hand pick the ones I don't like. I need to spray for spider mites but I'm afraid that it will drift onto the caterpillar food plants. I have been cutting back the badly infested plants(mostly brugs). I am thinning out my brug plants, they're too high maintenance.
I've been doing the same thing- Thinning out the brugs- They've been so high maintenance this year between the scaly bugs, spider mites, I'm sure a fungus will insert itself somewhere!!
The bright spot is all of the butterflies! 1 small butterfly with tails, (some kind of skipper?) likes the pea vines alot. I call him a peavine fritter, then the sulphers are loving my candestick tree. I notice that the catipillars have the ability to change their color from green to yellow when they go from the green part of the candlestick, to the yellow blooms. They match rather well. Then the fritilaries love those passion vines! So far the squirrels have claimed my passion vine buds- which are covering the pear tree (also a squirrel claim), although I nearly fell over when I saw a big pear tucked in the vines yesterday.
I feel like I've been given the highest compliment when I see butterflies come into the yard, and settle down for a bit of a rest stop with their wings flat soaking up the sun.
I am going to have to look up the names for some of the butterflies
out here. There was a yellow one today but I had to run to fax something before DH went to work so I did not get a really good look. I know he was a lemony yellow.
And of course a giant grasshopper. YUCK. He bit the dirt fast.
A few weeks ago our 4 soon to be 5 year old grandaughter was here. She saw one in the driveway and would not get back out of the truck. I killed it, on the way in the house she looked over in the direction she saw me kill it and said...Bye Bye Sucker. She knows
that is a bad bug when it comes to Nonnies flowers.
so today when I killed one, I said Bye Bye Sucker......and chuckled remembering her saying that.
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^