I'm raising 13 Black Swallowtail cats of various sizes. Then I found a newly hatched cat on the fennel I brought in, so now 14. The fennel is getting low and I'm trying to get them to eat Rue. A few actually like it. Oh, and I released a Giant Swallowtail today. Hope it can tolerate some cold nights...another low in the thirties last night, but I THINK the nights are going to be warmer for a while.
Awesome, Linda! Love those Giant Swallowtails! Great photo of it on your hand!
Wow, 14, he's beautiful! They're one of my faves too.
yea Linda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Those are great!!! I still have some that went into the diapause stage...and with this spot of cool weather we are having...no telling when they'll decide to make an appearance!
I found two more tiny BST cats...on Rue, this time! Hope I have enough food for all these. Fortunately, 4 are pupating and another one just did the pre-pupation dump a little while ago. Why are these mother butterflies laying eggs so late? I've never seen the Black Swallowtail cats this late! Oh, and two more giants emerged! I saw 2 Queens outside today and have 3 Queen chrysalides waiting...those don't overwinter! We had a warm holiday. I had gotten tired of pain and limping around lately from Plantar fasciitis (heel spur), so am taking steroids and doing exercises, but sure am feeling much better. My two Queen visitors today (looks like one, but they are side-by-side):
Great shots Linda! Love those GSTs!!
I had Fritillaries, a few Sulpher fly-bys, and a few Snouts. One Fritillary went to every kind of flower and laid some eggs on the PV. She was really digging the new Pin Cushion Flower, Scabiosa Columbaria I bought yesterday.
I'm enjoying all the photos. So lovely!
Linda, I keep thinking the same thing. A lot of butterflies late in the season! And the cold front we had really threw my plants for a loop. I was outside today and noticed some burning on the leaves from the cold temps over the past several days. It's now warming up again! This weather is confusing the plants and creatures.
Deb - I had a blooming Pin Cushion plant in early summer. Which I planted in the ground, but the heat pretty much killed it by August. I was told they were heat tolerant, but mine weren't. Loved them while they lasted, though.
Becky I bought 12 of them and mine didn't even last until August ;-( I really believe they should give a cold and heat hardiness on plants. Almost everything they sold here this year I bought died and it was 100's of plants since I was starting over in a new place. The things that survived are what my fellow DG'rs sent to me. I have had a few GF, Long-tail and other skippers and Sulphurs around too, especially today it was so warm
Donna - I wonder if plants grown in an area from seed do better than plants purchased from who knows where? I like to think so. Ironically, for me, most of the plants I lose are because I overwater them and kill them from root rot. I am always trying to compensate for the heat here in the summers. But some plants just die no matter how careful I am. :-/
I've got what I believe is root rot in some parts of the yard. There's only problems when it gets extremely hot over a longer period of time than usual. Maybe I also water too much when that happens...don't know. I lost a passionflower vine and a Mexican Flame Vine came close to dying this year from that. Of courses, as many passies as I have, that one dying didn't have that much impact.
I don't have a pic of the only GST I raised this year. I was using the cage for BST's and put the stick the GST had pupated on up on a shelf on my entertainment center. I had all intentions of putting it in a small bug hut but forgot about it until my husband was walking thru the living room and let out a yelp then started yelling at me "butterfly in the house! butterfly in the house!" LOL... I quickly captured it before the feline cats saw it but no photo ops.
Isn't it weird how you can kill a plant that has no problem somewhere else? I still believe it's because of my theory that "you care". If you didn't then it would thrive. Before they get too bad you have to go out and threaten them. Tell them if they don't shape up you are going to just throw them in the compost. Mine usually start blooming soon after!
I've got several Scabiosas and have never killed any of them. This year one almost did tho because the Mistflower covered it up and one only had one little rosette left after a Caryopteris layed on it. But I took both of those and put them in the ground in open areas and they are healthy now and one is fixing to bloom.
I'm notorious for overwatering so this year I tried to be a little more organized and not just water because I felt sorry for them. I would say that they are fairly drought tolerant because all of mine are in my front bed, except one, and it drains quickly or dries quickly in certain spots. They are in morning shade then full blazing heat the rest of the day. I have one in my back bed that is in that gets a little more shade sometimes. I frequently dump the water fountain on it but it's on a slant too.
I love them because they never die (here) and constantly bloom. This is a lone little bloom on 1-2-06.
Nice one paige!
I loved the GST story... all the commotion of a bull in a china closet lol. Nice to know about Pin Cushion. I have always thought they were beautiful, and see the Butterflies love them. Ya think i could plant it near the Texas Mist flower as long as it is about a foot away? I was wondering where to put it. I have to stop buying flowers, i am runing out of room.
Ya know I neglected a few at times and see what ya mean. Maybe we fuss over some we favor too much..
Yes, it's always something I really want that fails because I am constantly watching it.
I'm running out of room too, but that's when you just cut out more grass!! What I did first was remove bushes that were just for landscaping. Throughout the season I decide to get rid of things and I tell them "you are taking up my valuable dirt". Like I have ornamental grasses that I do like, but when I need a space for a flowering bush, someone has to concede. I did find some odd places to put some of my grass tho so we both are happy.
I'm fixing to go out and do some cleanup and put up Christmas decorations. If I get to it, it's the Cannas that are going to be thinned out. The red salvias have taken over again so I'll be thinning a lot of them out but leaving the majority because they provide good late season nectar.
I've got spring bulbs coming up and a second batch of coneflowers starting to bloom. Weird!
Some little Grape Hyacinths I planted have come up too, I hope they hold out a while.. Also planted some larger ones too that haven't, thank goodness!
Yep Linda, I have had some things rot before though from the drainage, I guess. I have worked on it through the years, little by little. Still lost some Balloon Flower, and some Painted Fern. Those are weird plants anyway,
