Sharing photos of some butterflies that frequent my duranta. Duranta is also known as duranta repens, duranta erecta, golden dewdrops, pigeon berry, saphire showers.
Duranta has proved to be an excellent nectar source!!!
~ Cat
Duranta bush butterfly photos
Guava skipper on duranta
~ Cat
Monarch on duranta.
~ Cat
White Peacock on duranta.
~ Cat
Titan Sphinx Moth on duranta.
~ Cat
Gulf Fritillary on duranta.
~ Cat
Long-tailed skipper (urbanus proteus) on duranta.
~ Cat
Giant Swallowtail on duranta.
~ Cat
Polydamas swallowtail on duranta.
~ Cat
and another butterfly...
~ Cat
...painted lady
~ Cat
...a Julia heliconia
~ Cat
..and still more...
~ Cat
still another...
~ Cat
...and they still keep coming.
~ Cat
...rut roh...there's still more...
~ Cat
...and a Queen
~ Cat
...a pale sicklewing..I think...
~ Cat
I lost count...mournful skipper?
~ Cat
...a ray of sunshine...
~ Cat
and still more...
~ Cat
lots of skippers...too many to post...but I liked this one.
~ Cat
...and the first little caterpillar that made the news...rekoa marius butterfly caterpillar.
~ Cat
...and yes...even this little guy...which I have to watch like a hawk!
~ Cat
...ps...and there are many butterflies and moths that frequent the duranta...many small skippers that are too fast and just never stay put long enough for me to photograph them.
I highly recommend duranta for any butterfly garden!!!
OOOOOO, your photos are gorgeous!! I now have a severe case of "duranta envy" LOL! I think the closest thing I can get in zone 6 is the buddleia butterfly bush. I have been doing the same kind of thing here with my camera on the other side of the country. We have a lot of the same things but you have a lot more variety! Boy would I love to see a giant swallowtail! I took a picture of this one the other day and wondered what it was. Thanks for solving the mystery!
Here are a few from Tennessee
and this one
and another
this winter I figured I'd spend some time identifying them - afew have been identified for me at Tinkers but I have to find the piece of paper I wrote the names on LOL!
one more
oh, can't leave out this guy
Lily,
Excellent photos! Love that long-tailed skipper photo - the turquoise on it really stands out. You might want to look up urbanus evona photos and compare your butterfly - the proteus and evona are extremely similar - I believe the last check spot is supposed to be pentagonal on the evona. I find it hard to tell them apart.
You have photographed some gorgeous swallowtails and that little bitty hairstreak too! Excellent!!!
I have several butterfly bushes, two lavender, two white and one wild lindleyanna that blooms a bluish purple - I rarely see butterflies on them :o(
Then again, could be because they are all frequenting the duranta bushes and the firebush (hamelia patens) hedges.
The NABA representative that has been fostering the marius hairstreak cats came by this morning to release butterfly #1 that emerged yesterday. It stayed on my duranta bush for about 20 minutes before it flew off. Still got four more to go :o)
~ Cat
This female marius hairstreak decided to nectar from the highest branch - I never could get a good photo of it...and another butterfly kept getting into the picture :o)
This message was edited Sep 27, 2005 11:25 PM
Some fantasticly awesome shots .. from ALL of you guys !!
And dingus here .. (ME) .. went off to play in New Mexico for 2 1/2 months .. returned home to a completely overgrown jungle of a yarden and many junkey certifiably unidentifiable flower beds! ..hee..
So, I have no flowers to offer to the beauties. Welll, other than a mite plenney batch of thistle flowers, and two orangey colored Mum plants in pots. (had to go out and buy them, jes to have some 'color')!! ..
Yall are jes out & out rude and crude and ruthless .. ya heifers you! ..
( .. merely luvinly teasin' all of you ..) .. LOL ..
Again, some wonderful shots of many a beautiful flutterbye!! ..
Thanks so much, for sharing them !!
- Magpye
Thanks for all the great information Cat! I do plan on organinzing and labeling all these butterfly pictures on a picturetrail this winter. I saw another new one today which, thanks to you, I now know is a Gulf Frittillary (sp.?) I also have done a litlle "study" this summer of a praying mantis that has almost reached pet status with me - lol! I call him Count Olaf but now I'm thinking this could be a countess due to the incredible size change its abdomen has gone through. I was wondering if it could have laid eggs.
Thanks for the compliment Magpye - I can't tell you how often I have been enchanted by all of your nature photos. Especially during the winter months last year when you posted some many wonderful bird photos.
Here is the Gulf Frit. from today...
No, lilyfantn .. thank YOU! .. Mitey kind and most sweet of you, for sayin' such. It's made my day a good bit brighter, to boot! Caintcha hear my heart gigglin' (?) .. hee
That .. is another wonderful shot .. of one flutterbye beauty, of which I've failed to see visit my yardens here. ( < that, or I jes flat out miss 'em when they're around, one!) .. lol ..
Regrettably, Lantana won't survive here .. at the elevation we're at.
Last fall, I cut back and moved .. my Butterfly Bushes. Seems to be a bit too shady where I poked 'em at too. They grew up lanky and no flowers (or leftovers) visible !! Oh well .. maybe jes need more time to adjust ...
Now ...TexasPuddyPrint's Duranta bushes .. is certainly something I'm gonna hafta take a bit of a closer look into, real soon ...
As many of you can tell .. I sortee favor the hummers and butterfly pitters! Absolutely love tryin' to see every one of them that are posted here on DG. But, it's sure provin' to be a mite bit more difficult, each day .. to try to keep up with all of the photos folks post - but, I eventually get around to it - jes don't/can't always post some sort of 'proper' reply or response to them all !
Thank I'm gonna start workin' on the use of a simple .. " I'm awestruck !! " .. to get my message of acknowledgement across .. but, that's not quite my forte' to be sooo 'short- worded' (brief)! .. heehee ..
- Magpye
You know, my butterfly bushes are lanky too. My Ruby Red one is lankier than the shorter pale blue one I have but the pale blue doesn't seem to attract as many butterflies. I actually considered pulling it out until butterfly season started. I am paying a lot more attention to the insect life in my yard since getting my digital camera this past christmas. Cropping and enlarging the pictures illuminates a whole new world that I am finding absolutely AMAZING! So I'm paying more attention - lol! Just call me "nature paparazzi" Look at this fascinating little scenario I came upon one day a few weeks ago...
I found out that it is a robber fly with its favorite prey, a bumble bee. It let me get really close and then turned its head and gave me a very angry and loud buzz and flew off very slowing with its booty so I wouldn't try and steal it for myself - lol! (one more and then I'll get back to butterflies)
Thanks Magpye - your posts make for good reading :o)
...and Lily,
Great photos again!
I'd say poor bee...but bees are all over the place out here. It must keep my hummie feeders real clean and not spill any nectar because the bees will be on them in a flash! I also put out bait for butterflies...and don't ya know...the dratted bees hog everything!
But leave it up to Mother Nature...I saw a HUGE spider had woven it's web between two of my citrus trees...right next to one of the bait stations...there must have been a dozen bees caught on that when I stepped out into the yard for a look around before work :o)
Now considering that spider was HUGE to begin with...am wondering how big it will get after it gets done with all those bees!!!
~ Cat
This spider's abdomen was the size of a penny! And there I was standing on a step ladder trying to get a photo and not end up with it in my face! EEEK!
ps...That's the last time I'll forget my camera has an LCD screen!
OMG! It looks like a gingerbread cookie with a head and legs - lol!
...ah, and got this photo today of a black swallowtail on my duranta.
~ Cat
