Look at this lovely one.

I had never seen it before, Funereal Dusky Wing, in my coneflowers, isin't it adorable?

We are also having lots of Tiger Swallow Tails, especially on the Texas Thistle and the Coneflowers.

Wowie Josephine! What a beauty!
The Echinacea just bloomed here too! I will have to monitor.. Liatris coming out right beside it. Looks like it's going to be a big butterfly day.
That is a male.. The female has more blue on the lower wing.. Then there is the dark form female. You can see the tiger strips through the dark transparant wing on her.

:-D

Deb, there are many of the TSTs but I guess they are all male, they are all yellow and black, I hope those females get the word soon or we maybe Catless.

Some of the yellow ones can be female.. there are 2 forms. One like the male only with more blue on the top of the lower wing, and the other like in my pic there. :-). I have noticed that the females are a little outnumbered lately, though.

:-Deb

Frostweed,
Lovely pictures! Can you tell me what coneflower that is? Did you start from seed?
Thanks! :)

Adrienne

Beautiful butterflies!

Beautiful pics, frostweed. What kind of swallowtail is your white one? Our tiger STs don't seem that light....

I am wondering which would be the best coneflower for the butterfly garden, too. There are so many kinds on the market now, I wonder if some bred for fragrance would be the way to go...

Hi Everybody, the swallowtail id yellow and black, but the light was very bright and it looks lighter in the picture.
I just bout some seed of Purple cone flower, Echinacea purpurea, a few years ago, and have been using my own seed since then.
They vary a lot in color and shape, but they all have a scent.
You should see my Texas Thistles, they are about 7 feet tall, and they love them too.
Josephine.
Here is a different looking one.

I love the Tx Thistle. I'll need to figure in the space before I plant them because they will need it, and in full sun too.

I had some I started from seed about 4 years ago that keep coming up. I even splitted some out at the Arlington swap.. This year I got a pack of roots with Liatris, Rudbeckia, and E.purpurea. Getting them in root form they bloom the first year,
Judy the roots would be the way to go on them. You don't have to wait until next year to get nice blooms. Some of the pics I have taken of TST have come out looking like a lighter form. I have seen some lighter white and some darker yellow too. I think it's like that over their whole distribution area, there will be variations. Butterflies of all kinds love the E. purpurea for sure. :-)

Here is an old pic I have with a female TST, note the greater amount of blue along the lower wing.

These 2 pics were taken the second summer after planting the Echinacea seeds in 2002, (I think..)

With a Pearl Crescent on top. :-)

Josephine and Deb - Beautiful photos! I'm growing some of those plants from seeds this year. Can't wait to see the flowers on them. I've had pretty good luck this year doing the seed beds for the first time ever. And I'm getting hooked on Morning Glories ..... thanks to Cat! Since this is the first time ever I've actually had flowers in my yard ...... I'm in awe of it all. I love to go out in the backyard every morning to see what is blooming! Almost all the seeds that I sowed are plants I've never grown and some I have never even seen before now. It's really exciting!!! And I've got more seeds to plant once school is out. "ONE" day left of school, then LOOK OUT!!!!! You'll see the dust cloud floating above my backyard fence. lol

I know what you mean Becky. Many of the plants I am growing this year for the first time too! I've always been a big fan of MGs. Very refreshing to go out in the morning and see brand new blooms, so perfect. The way the light shines through them, as if the light is coming from the flower. So willing to die to make 6 more flowers in it's place. I have really enjoyed my mornings more since growing them.

Your gonna love the Echinacea. The blooms last over a week and as they mature they get darker. Also the center protrudes a little more each day as the seeds get bigger.. Then the centers look like 10 gal. hat. The nectar inside ripens well too. Very healthy butterfly food.. The flowers and roots have super immune properties.

:-D

This message was edited Jun 2, 2007 10:23 PM

Those duskywings are so cute. Love that daint white fringe. Ahhh, and the Tiger...sighhhh...we don't get those this far south.

~ Cat

Deb - Yes, I knew that about Echinacea having antioxidant properties. Do "all" butterflies like them?

The craziest thing I've got going in my garden right now is the small water pond/container. I have probably over a 1000 Cuban Tree frog tadpoles in this one small above ground pond. They have been eating my water lily pads (which makes me VERY unhappy!!!!). Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to feed them to distract them from eating my lilies. I was told to try romaine lettuce and raw frozen spinach. So I did! Oh my goodness! You have never seen a feeding frenzy over spinach like those tads do! You can actually see them attacking the spinach. Now my big concern is that the CTFrogs eat anything they can get their mouth around...... so how big and strong are they going to get eating spinach???? Remember Popeye? LOL! Yikes!!!!

If I should disappear ..... remember what I wrote in this posting! LOL!

LOL I will remember that Becky,
What in the world are you going to do with 1000 cuban treefrogs?? Won't they outnumber your cats/bf's?
Okay, maybe not 100% of all bf's love Echinacea, but nectar lovers, yes, and a great majority of fruit and dung bf's will drink from them too.

:-)

1000 gonna grow up to be Cuban treefrogs!? ...AND they eat spinach?!!!

I was out watering the plants today and found a green anole climbing up the rain gutter. I sprayed it with the hose and grabbed it when it landed in the grass. Tossed it over the fence into the neighbor's yard :o) heh heh...

~ Cat

Here is a picture of Cone flowers with Coral Bean Erythrina herbacea.

I have been following along the Coneflower threads in the perennial and cottage garden forums--finding out there are so many new and interesting kinds available now.

I was not a great purple coneflower lover (you could even say I 'hated' them) before my interest in BFs but last August I purchased a few different seedlings and we'll see how the BFs like them here.

Here's an interesting article from Paghat's Garden about coneflowers which also covers some of the herbal remedy aspects of them... http://www.paghat.com/echinacea.html

Lovely photo Josephine! I am growing some Echinacea from seed in my garden beds. I look forward to their blooms and what they attract for their nectar!

Here's a photo taken last Fall of one in my water pond/container.

Oops, sorry ..... I think I kinda hijacked this thread. I mention about the CTFs because they are very invasive and are being found in many southern states. I believe Texas is starting to see them now, too. They do eliminate native frogs and other small creatures .... possibly butterflies and caterpillars.

This message was edited Jun 3, 2007 7:13 AM

This message was edited Jun 3, 2007 7:15 AM

What a beautiful flower the coral bean is Josephine! Great picture too:-)

Judy, I love the other colors of Coneflower too...The peach color looks really nice with the purples. The white is lovely too. They all attract the butterflies and feed them very well.

Haha Cat, Yes spinach!!, all kinds of insects!, and each other?... Yep they are really cute!!

:-) http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/cuban.html

>and this piece I found at: http://www.florida-outdoors.com/wwphoto.htm

I have only seen the purple flowering Echinacea. Does anyone have a good seed source for the other bloom colors?

Deb and Cat - Interesting about the frogs, huh? I started a new thread just about them. Keep an eye out for their spread to Texas. You do NOT want them in your state!!!!

You read my mind Becky.. I really don't want them. Boy they are really cute though,..(in pictures). lol

I have purchased seed from Specialty Perennials in the past and they seem to have a long list of echinacea seed varieties although I haven't grown them--

http://www.hardyplants.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SP&Category_Code=Echinacea

And a couple of other sources with pictures...

http://www.sunriseseeds.com/ECHINACEA%20SEED.0.html

http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/echinacea.html

Thanks so much, T! Will check into those!!!

Nice assortment Judy..
Thanks!

Had to throw this in I took about an hour ago....

Gorgeous Deb!!!!

Gosh, they sure seem to like your plants, Deb! I think I need more of the same in my garden beds! :-)

I'm sold on Coneflowers now! I went to the garden center and purchased a few pots of them, got home and unloaded the car and within minutes had 2 swallowtails flying around me checking out my finds. I think we've had just one swallowtail visiting before today this spring.

I bought 'bravado' and 'prairie splendor', both rosy red, from Home Depot (nothing special).

I guess you could say mine are the generic kind, but they sure work. If you are ever brave enough to plant Texas Thistle you will be amazed too.
Josephine.

Texas thistle?

I did plant echinops, but probably not as sexy to the BFs. Will look it up.

This is the one I was talking about,
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62786/index.html
Josephine.

Thanks for the link. I will see if I can make a space for it...very interesting looking flower...

Yes Josephine, that's the one I do love, and I am brave enough. Just need a space in the sun.. Got any seeds of that TX Thistle?

Deb

Just a few left from last year, and I can let you have them.
Josephine.