DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 14

Continued from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/758535/

Today was quite a productive one here in Watauga TX. From what I've been seeing in the Daily Butterfly Thread it has been productive for many of us lately!! Some of you have begun raisisng butterflies along with us, and some just wanted to see more butterflies in their garden. Since I started posting in the threads it has been better and better. Before that I was hard pressed to find anyone else so 'into' the conservation of these marvelous creatures.Lerkers feel free to chime in any time too, we want to know you better too for whatever your degree of interest may be.
I am enjoying all of your pictures and stories so much!! Thank you all so much for sharing!!!

This moring 4 more Monarchs eclosed inside of the quick and easy cages, there are about 20 more on the way. Most of the Monarchs are still cats of all sizes now. One Black Swallowtail emerged from his chrysalis as well. Then to top it all off a brilliant orange Gulf Fritillary. Still over a dozen more chrysalids of GF, and at least a dozen cats. Three of the dozen or so Giant Swallowtails have just made their chrysalids.

Here are 2 of this mornings Monarchs which I finally got to let go of my hand and rest on one of the Duranta erectas, (Sweet Memory)>

When I opened the cages they just sat there, lol.

Here they are still in their cages>

THAT picture needs to be entered in the annual photo contest!

Composition, color, contrast and clarity....the 4 'C's' of photography all are present.

Looking at it from a photographer's standpoint....nothing else can be said...

That's when I decided to pick them up and carry them out into the garden. Two flew off with just a little nudge, these two would hardly let go of my hand, lol! So I set them down on the Duranta where they lingered for their photo shoot close-ups.

Did I say all 4 were female?

Very good pictures, Deb. : )

Mine usually hang around after they enclose, well, except for the Sulphur. He saw me crack the door, and away he went. : )

~Lucy

Thank you Mel! I will!
Thanks and Yes Lucy, I find the Sulphurs are a bit more skiddish... spastic even, LOL!
The Black Swallowtail was ready to fly, but he did linger to grab some nectar and rest in the Zinnia & Black and Blue Salvias before leaving the yard..

Then this deep orange Gulf Fritillary decides to join all the fun. There were about 4-5 other Frits flittering around out there, but this one was pretty laid back and calm.. so I let it finish drying on the new Passionflower I have on the patio.

A couple Pipevine Swallowtails flew through too. This one is a male..

The other PVST was a female... They had just missed each other. They will most likely return, and I am open for another brood of cats with several pipevine varieties. From now on out I will probably opt to leave them on the plant if I get eggs. They do much better in the wild and are poisonous anyway. Their mimikry will help to deter the many predators so they might avoid the other cats. Let them eat webworms instead I say!! There are plenty of those to go around.

I'm going to need to go back and re-read page 13 all over again. I've missed the concept of your quick and easy cages, Deb. Those small ones there in your picture hold one 5th star cat. Right? You don't feed him in that particular cage, right? What does he pupate on?

Here are a couple of the Cloudless Sulphur cats I took in as eggs last weekend. Most are hidden there in the sprigs of Cassia alata.

Sorry Deb... I should have posted the link for the when I re-mentioned it.
Quick & Easy Cat Cages>
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/747907/
I use see through Chiffon fabric with the sparkles now, it doesn't unravel as much as plain Chiffon, it's very thin, and much easier to work with.

;-d

This message was edited Aug 18, 2007 3:31 PM

Here I am switching a batch of Monarch Cats to clean the cage and put in fresh MW. Looks like a lot of cats for one cage, but they do very well up to about 8 cats. When they begin pupating I start separating them out to 1 - 2 cats per cage.

This is my wee hummer where she often sits in the back corner on a branch of Privet. It's a little dark and overcast from the Gulf storms. We are over 300 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico here, but we do get the tail spins from those storms.

Got her and the Sulphurs a new plant the other day too, but it's very close to the deck.. I know it's just drivin' her nuts to get at it, LOL

Mexican Firebush

I second Melody, Deb. That is one awesome photo. As soon I opened the thread I went "Oooh...lookit the pretty colors!" But then when I opened it and saw the full size thing I was blown away. Very, very nice. I had a few bf visitors today and bought a few new plants. I'll post some pics after I take a much-needed shower (so hot and sticky outside, not to mention the dirt). Try not to go crazy with anticipation while I'm gone! : )

Melanie

LOL Melanie! I will try to wait patiently... hehe.

I had this volunteer Brassica/Cabbage type plant pop up in the garden this year. Not sure where it came from, but there are two of them. Their placement was very even so I left them to grow. The Brassicas are hosts for several butterflies, so there were 2 good reasons to leave them.

Here a Cabbage Looper seems to have found it first, LOL! That's ok by me bc it shows the plant to be a viable Brassica host plant. Maybe Whites will come and use them too, these plants are big enough to feed dozens of cats.

What a day, and it's not even over yet! Whew!

:-Debnes

Ahhh...the only thing I like better than gardening is taking a shower when I'm done. For those hot days, I highly recommend mint shower gel.

Well, Mom and I started our day going to Pinellas County to visit Wilcox nursery. Adrienne had told me they can be a little pricey, but I figured if they have hard-to-find plants it would be worth it. Unfortunately, despite what their website said, they did not carry any pawpaws. The lady there gave me a line about how they went to a conference on pawpaws and the botanist said they were hard to propagate and had to have the perfect conditions and blah, blah, blah. I advised them not to put things on their website if they don't have them or plan to have them. Arrgh! On the plus side, we did see some bfs flying around, including a White Peacock. Mom has decided she likes the big yelllow sulphurs.

We left empty-handed and Melanie was sad. : ( On the way back across the bay I said to Mom that maybe we should check out Hollie's nursery back home in Lutz. I had been there once years ago but I forgot until I saw it again. So we stopped in and they made me much happier. I got two pipevines, plus the caterpillars on them! They even said I could take some off their big pipevine trellis, but I just took one really big one because I didn't want to run out of food. The one I bought already had eggs and so does my one at home.

Hollie's was really cool, because unlike most garden centers, you could tell they must not use pesticides. There were so many different types of bfs! Mom kept trying to get me to identify swallowtails flying in the distance. She did manage to ID a pipevine ST (she calls it "the blue one"). There was also a White Peacock there, many yellow sulphurs on the cassias, monarchs, and I even saw a Gulf Frit flirting with one of the Monarchs. I tried explaining that just because it was orange didn't mean they could be "special friends". Hollie's even had their own hanging butterfly cage with several kinds of cats and chrysalis in it. They had a yellow sulphur cat, monarch chrysalis, some kind of hornworm, and Polydamas cats! The lady told me how she had seen the yellow sulphurs, but hadn't seen their cats until recently - and she's been there over two years! Once they knew I was a butterfly gardener they pointed out some of the different plants and cats they had. Like she showed me some dill that had come in clean yesterday, but today they ALL had eggs on them. And they had a different kind of pipevine (I need to look it up on the PlantFiles). They said they kept trying to propagate it but the cats always found it first. She showed me the poor little sticks in the ground. The people there are very nice and whenever they find cats they move them to their bigger plants or the ones they have growing permanently in their land. I thought that was nice.

So I got two pipevines, two "Mystic Spiral" salvia ($3.99 each!) and five more porterweeds for $3.99 each. I think I've mentioned I do the landscaping for the front of our street - my side I'm turning into caterpillar corner with mostly larval plants, while my neighbor's side is mostly nectar plants. I have quite a spread of blanket flowers but I was thinking I needed some blue for contrast. Since porterweed has been a hit, and I'm also focusing on natives for that section, I decided they would go there. I had just started watering in the sage, when my usual visitor came to visit the porterweed I already have, proving yet again what a great plant it is.

By the way, one time when I was walking around the preserve, some pawpaw seeds fell in my pocket. Of course, I decided to try and grow them. Nothing had happened, and it's been a couple of months, so I was thinking maybe that lady at the nursery is right. So I started brushing the dirt away from the pots to find the seeds and see what happened. Lo and behold, all but one had germinated! I'm not sure if they'll continue to grow, but I could see where the seed had broken open and a little plant was coming out. I think maybe I buried them too deep, but they are pretty big seeds, and you know the rule about twice the depth and all that. If they go kaput, I might have to try again. There are literally thousands growing in the preserve and in somewhat different areas, so I didn't believe that stuff about them having to have the "perfect conditions" and the seed having to drop exactly in the right spot. Hmph! While I was in the backyard, I saw another White Peacock. My book says they would be strays this far north, but I saw three today. Hmmm...

When I went to pickup one fo the salvias, I saw something fly off and I felt bad that I disturbed it. However, it found the other salvia and I recognized the bf as a hairstreak. He stayed on this salvia until I picked it up to plant it several minutes later. Who knew they liked it that much? I like how his head is totally in the flower, lol!

The Spanish Needles are still a hit although I think I'm going to thave to trim them up a bit. Their seeds hurt! I guess that's where they get the name. I had about three of these orange skippers flying around. They sure are fast!

The duskywings also appreciate them. They're on the corner next to the blanket flowers so the bfs pretty much just fly back and forth between them.

I never saw a Tropical Checkered Skipper until I let the Spanish Needles bloom. They're considered a weed here, but the bfs love them. They're a host plant for the Dainty Sulphur. The White Peacock I saw downtown yesterday was snacking on them, too. They really attract a big variety; I think they really bring in a lot of the smaller butterflies.

Deb, your first picture is simply gorgeous!! It took my breath away. And I love your flutterbyes too, Mellie. :) I've seen tons of skippers in my garden, but never seem to have the camera ready.

I know I've posted a lot of pictures of the TS, but this one, was just amazing. After taking tons of pictures of it nectaring on my butterfly bushes, it decided to catch some sun while resting on a brugmansia leaf of all things!!

One of Dad's mail route customers received a large wooden box with a computer in it (Dad didn't deliver it, it was too big for the post office). He wanted the plywood on the side (Dad's a woodworker) and once he removed that he used the frame for the bf house. He finished the screen and added legs to it. I'll decorate later, but for now I just set the two pipevines inside to keep my cats safe. I also took the eggs off my pipevine in the yard and put them in there today, too.

here he is delicately stepping on a lantana

Tiger STs are always worthy of photos. : )

Here's a pic of one of my new cats. This is the one I took off the big vine; I'm hoping he'll be a bf soon!

and one of the hummers (not the "boyfriend") that has been divebombing me lately... such cute feet!!

Lily, Love the TST pics and your lil hummie with the cutie feet!! Precious!!

Well Mellie! Dad did a bang up job on the cage, it looks fantastic!!! WTG on getting the bonus cats at Hollies on the trip back from Wilcox. Sounds like somethign I'd do.
I have to say though, the lady was right about the Pawpaw. They have varieties that can do alright there in FL, however selling them there is another thing entirely. Especially if they have a money back guarantee on their plants. The Pawpaw has a long tap root, and can be damaged in transplanting. If this happens the plant will die. Also, *I'm not sure about your FL varieties*, but the ones that grow in US need the dormancy thing to do well.
Those are just a couple things I thought of, but they shouldn't advertise something they don't carry. They will probably change the website after your repremand, LOL! That's a good thing, I hope you made enough of an impression that they will. I so don't like the bait and hook gag. That's a long way to drive for bupkis.

D

Mel, love reading all your adventures with your mom at different nurseries. And your dad did a great job on your BF house. : ) Nice pictures, also.


Lily, you might need to wear a hard hat when you go outside. lol ; )
~Lucy

Thanks everyone! Dad also appreciates the kind words. He's really getting into the woodworking thing. He made me compost bins a few weeks ago. Mom always supports my gardening habit. She really can't grow anything except gesneriads - but she does that really well. My parents are really good about getting behind whatever I do. I volunteer with the local invasive species task force, and I had both the parents out there helping turn Brazilian Pepper trees into mulch! My grandma (Dad's mom) has always loved hummingbirds and always had plants and feeders to attract them so I guess he's used to us crazy gardeners. Plus, he said my great grandma was really into begonias. She would store them all winter in one room of her house, and my dad loved going in there because he could breathe so much easier (he has bad asthma).

The lady at Hollie's did tell me that there's a guy at the USF Plant Festivals that sells pawpaws. I'll have to pay attention at the fall festival in October. They've been growing and having so many vendors that I sometimes miss stuff. Plus, I get distracted by the bromeliads. I have heard about the dreaded pawpaw taproot, but I still won't give up hope! Mailordernatives.com (a great company by the way) sells a variety of pawpaw that is native here; it's just not the one I'm used to seeing. But I think I'm going to order some and see how it goes. My grandma has the pawpaw tree in her yard (no cats - I checked when I was up there last month). The ones that grow in my area of FL are all little shrubs, so I'm hoping to buy a bunch and do a row of them out front.

Melanie

Be careful what you wish for.

I've been monitoring all my larval food plants for awhile- nothing. :( However, today during my morning check today I found 36 black swallow tail larvae. Yikes! Not sure I have that much parsley and dill. There is lots of wild dog fennel in my pasture- will they eat that do you think? Good thing Deb reposted the link on how to make cages...

I saw a couple monarchs and queens zipping around yesterday- maybe it was too hot the last couple weeks even for the butterflys.

Jenny

How can you tell the diff. between male and female monarchs?

chris

The last Monarch chrysallis I had is the one that looked like he had a real hard time pupating. He didnt close up the top real well, it is also the same one that got bounced around and fell then had to be hot glued back up.
Well it did eclose yesterday and had a tough time getting the last piece of his body out of the chrysallis. I pulled the last piece that was stuck off with tweezers. The bottom of the body looks weird and discolored. (pic) After a few hours it manages to fly but only short trips. I brought it back in for a few more hours and let it go again late afternoon. Hopefully it will survive.

chris

Chris your first pic there is a male, see the two black dots on the lower dorsal wing? The males have thinner veins too. The second one right above this post is a female. Broad veins and no scent gland dots on the lower dorsal wing. The two in the photo at the top of this page are females.

:-)

This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 8:20 AM

Here's a new visitor to the garden, a Painted Lady....

one more view...

I'm so envious of your stories of (mostly) success!!!! My 23 BST's are still enclosed in their quiet little chrysalids; I brought them all in in their first instar stage way back on July 13th! By July 27 they were all chrysalides, and on August 3, one eclosed. Since then, no activity! This is very frustrating!
So then I brought in 17 more BST cats last weekend, all in different stages. One is now in the chyrsalis, 9 pupated yesterday, and 7 are still chowing down the parsley in a seperate crate.
Just wish these guys followed a stricter schedule!!!

Love all those pics and stories, guys, keep it up! Here one of the beauties I saw today...I think it's a dark female TST. Also saw a pretty male PVST, but he wouldn't wait for my camera to be fetched.

Yeah Linda, The PV are very hard to catch being still..lol! I'm figuring you have hosts for TST.. since you have hosts for RSP. I'm still waiting for a batch of eggs any size of TST to raise all the way up. I'd be happy with just 1-2 eggs. If anyone gets a lot of them, send me one, no kidding!

One Gulf Fritillary eclosed this morning, and this lone male Monarch. Three more Monarchs due to open tomorrow, and probably more frits.

D