Can y'all believe, I'm actually getting more Monarch now?!! I am loving that! As I said before, 'didn't grow this Milkweed just to raise Aphids', LOL!
This one has been here for a couple hours this morning while I sat here on my deck replying to all the other great threads I have been watching. Yaay!
~Deb
Wish Monarchs would come back around here. I do get TST so I shouldn't complain.
I guess we always want what we don't have! LOL!
Right now I just want some butterflies! ANY BUTTERFLIES will do as I have NONE! Not even a Skipper. I did see another Sulphur this morning. Checked out my cassia, but didn't stop for very long. Just a fly-by. I do have tons of bees, beetles, and other insects .... just NO butterflies! It's the absolute weirdest thing to have a butterfly-less yard. And boy! do I have the nectar and host plants growing gang-busters! :-(
This is one A. curassavica that branches more than any other of my plants. It's just hard to believe this was one tiny seedling in April. Maybe it likes the pond better than I thought. Anxiously waiting the Monarchs to find it.
Deborah - What a pretty view! My A. curassavica grow easily from seed. In fact, I now have it popping up in other flower beds in my yard. Probably from some of the floating seeds during the winter when I missed gathering a few pods. They are all big plants now. Amazing how fast they grow, isn't it?!
It is amazing how fast they grow! The one in the picture is the only one that branches out so far. The others grow more tall than out.
If you prune them back (to about 4-6" from the ground) at some point, that will help them branch out. Mine are all bushes because I prune them several times a year. :-)
Deb, my turks cap and flame acanthus started blooming 2 weeks ago, they are late bloomers.
I didn't know you could prune milkweed plants. Thanks Becky, that's good to know. Josephine, could you post a picture of your turks cap and acanthus?
Thanks Josephine, And I would love to see both of those plants also.
Deborah~ Such a lovely arrangement you have... Is that Texas Star in the background? All of it looks great girl! Way to go!
Yes it is, Deb. You sure know flowers too! LOL Course TS could easily be mistaken for wacky weed. LOL I can't wait for it to bloom. Forgot if it's white or red..
O.K. Girls, here is the Turk's Cap close up.
And the shrub, they love to put their beak into the little hibiscus.
The Flame Acanthus close up.
And the shrub, those long tubes are great for the hummers.
Lovely blooms Josephine.. I can see why hummers like them so much! Thx for taking the pics and sharing them:-)!
Glad to say, I have seen a few more Bordered Patch the last few days~
This guy came through as well...Giant Swallowtail
Zooming out....
Beautiful Deb, I saw some Bordered Patch butterflies at Pappy's they were going crazy on the Dogweed. they sure are pretty.
Good Lord made those flowers with the hummer in mind. Enjoyed looking at your pics, Josephine. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Hummers are so much fun!!!
Yellow Swallowtail on bee balm.
early_bloomer
I went on a butterfly count today and added a new butterfly to my list. A Mimosa Skipper (cogia calchas).
We had a good count...64 species for today. Not bad considering the day started out with a drizzling rain then that stopped and within an hour the sun came out and baked our brains!!! The temps hit 100!!! UGH!!! Even the butterflies had more sense than to be out in the burning heat...they must have thought us thoroughly batty!!!
We decided to traipse through the forest's shaded footpaths - the Giant Swallowtails had the same idea as we must have counted at least 100 of those flitting through the underbrush with us. Will say we didn't see the common butterflies though. Black Swallowtails, Pipevines and the dark duskywings eluded us. Am sure with those black wings they decided to snooze off under some leaves instead.
Also will say, if we had been counting mosquitoes we'd have hit at least a gazillion! They were out in full force and swarmed around us as we hit the forest. I love DEET!!! :o)
~ Cat
That sounds like a wonderful outing despite the heat, Cat.
Got a question for y'all. Will a Monarch cat exist on milkweed plants invested by aphids? I was checking my milkweed plants and found several teeny tiny cats. I don't know if they are Monarchs or not but they are lime green with a tiny blackish to redish stripe going down their back. Maybe 1st or 2nd instar? If I'm not mistaken, one was eating an aphid??!!
Deborah
.
Is this a Monarch?
That looks like the one I had, and thought it was a cat. It is actually a Syrphid Fly Larva, and they eat aphids. Look here, http://www.whatsthatbug.com/flies_3.html scroll down to about the 9th picture, and see if that doesn't look like yours. : )
~Lucy
Also, a way to tell is look for legs. A cat has legs, a syrphid fly larva does not. Or so I read somewhere when I looked them up. : )
~Lucy
It's a hover fly larve then? I'll go put him back on his banquet table of milkweeds. Thank you , Lucy!
The bad news is they also eat small caterpillars.
http://www.homestead.com/ipmofalaska/files/Syrphid.html
Maybe you could relocate him and get rid of those nasty aphids with a glove or a sudsy spray.
Yes, a hover fly larva. They love doing the aphid chomp :o) Their pupa/cocoon looks like a teardrop shape...brown to whitish in color.
Here's an old photo of one sucking the juice out of an aphid. You can see the skeletonized aphids around it :o)
~ Cat
Here's the cocoon/pupa of a hover fly.
Sorry..bad pic...but it's several years old and from an old mavica.
~ Cat
I've seen those cocoon things too, Cat. From the looks of my milkweeds you'd think I was breeding aphids. I still haven't seen any Monarchs. I'm just wishing too hard I guess.
If there's a chance they'll eat Monarch cats, they'll all get the sudsy spray.
Go for the spray Deborah....if those larvae eat 400 aphids......they aren't going to ignore a few little cats that are in the way. That's the down side of beneficials, they're predators and eat meat. I'm not saying I'm against the beneficials...just not on my host plant, and not on my watch lol
Fly_girl, Thanks! Yes siree, I'm heading out first thing in the morning with my dish deterent and sprayer.
You go girl!
Don't forget to rinse the suds off!
Tabasco, Nice shot of the red daylily, is there another flower behind there? I don't see what it was nectaring on.
C-Dawg, That photo of the pond is gorgeous! Boy, is it GORGEOUS!
Deb, That photo of the cat eating the aphid is super -- that is some steady hand you have there!
Lots of butterflies here at my place, FINALLY! -- a Frit, a yellow EST, a Black ST of some kind with a bunch of bright blue on the bottom, a Monarch/Viceroy (I can't tell them apart when they are flying, only if I have a photo to study and I couldn't get my camera fast enough) and lots of sulphurs. Now the only problem is I only see one of a kind on all but the Sulphurs, and I want Noah's Arc twosomes flying around getting kissy faced!
Suzy
LOL, you keep me in stitches, Suzy.
Love that pic of larvae eating the aphid Cat, and the theMimosa Skipper is beautiful!
Early_bloomer, nice pic of the Tiger Swallowtail! It is a female for sure too!
Deb, Glad you posted that larvae pic, I think I have 2 pupas of those, I have them caged to find out.
Suzy!! I'm psyched that your finally getting some butterflies!!!! Yaaay!
I released one small Black Swallowtail this morning, she flew to my neighbors rooftop to catch some rays..
Wouldn't ya know it, a few minutes later 2 male Black STs flew into the garden.
Just closing shop for the night now, and almost forgot to post a couple pics of my wee hummer I took a while ago. I really have to stay caught up nowdays, lol!
