Still lots of GF - and still lots of Zinnias.
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 22
Firery Skipper.
Some type of Lady..... :^)
These G.F. cats. are getting ready to pupate any day now...I haven't seen many butterflies in my garden the last few days....
Some little type of Hairstreak.
Paul, those are so lovely!
Kim - thanks. I'm debating whether or not I'd like some passion-fruit.
I've got tons of GF butterflies, but obviously no cats......
If I do get the plant, I'm thinking about putting it in a big pot.
Vines are kinda scary to me -- I don't want them taking over my little bitty yard..... :^)
But - I can just see it now.... If I had a vine, I'd have hundreds of GF next year.....
Hmmm - what to do - what to do.
Wonderful pics and posts today! Gorgeous!
I still have a few butterflies visiting, but not so many. Still sunny and warm though.
Wow, it's been busy up north (yep, AK and AL may be in the south, but everyone is north to us Floridians, LOL!) It was still very cloudy, rainy, and windy today so no real butterfly sightings other than a swallowtail flying over the road. It was so windy I was holding my skirt walking to and from work today. I even saw a bird that was fighting the wind so I imagine it would have been tough for the butterflies. My G.F. cats will hopefully pupate soon as they are eating sooo much. Mine are in the critter keeper and last night three of them molted at the same time. It was so weird. I've been picking leaves for them; I'm sure I look silly all dressed up for work every morning going out and picking food for them to eat. At least it's dark outside!
Again I ask, why do everyone's echinaceas look better than mine? I have one that's about to bloom so I'll try to enjoy it. Maybe the butterflies will enjoy it, too.
Melanie
I am sooo jealous of all the amazing butterflies y'all are getting. Awesome photos! It's been so butterfly-deprived here. The White Peacocks are the only ones I can count on seeing daily. And the Sulphurs because they like my blooming Senna Alata. But other than that not much else except for a rare sighting of a Monarch or a Queen. :-/
Gorgeous butterflies y'all! Great Work!
Paul~ A couple things for ya.. a) If you are getting a PV for the fruit there are certain ones to plant. I know most of the ones we get here have real skimpy fruits, and so far no seeds in them either.
b) As far as being concerned if it will grow out of hand, the frits will take care of that for you.
The ones that grow in tropical regions and never die back are the ones that bear good tasty fruit, and thats where it would get invasive. If you get Gulf Fritillaries at all, it doesn't take time for them to find your plants. The first year I had them in pots and the frits ate them down to sticks in a matter a few weeks. The plant grew right back and the whole process went around another time before cold set in. In fall I moved the plants to the back fence and wove it through some lattice. I covered it with clear plastic and it stayed green even with the cold winter we had. :-) The one I grow is fairly hardy. Passiflora caerulea. I have some others, and they haven't fruited yet, but they probably will next year if they survive the winter.
Meanwhile I will get the names of the ones that are said to be good fruit.. back in a bit.
debnes
I don't know how tasty these are, but I finally had to break down and prune the Passion Flower vines on the east fence. I had to prune back both sides of the fence. Now granted ... I have 8-10 vines planted along that area which would explain why mine are outta control. But we've had so few butterflies here to take care of the growth. No GFs at all! :-(
I thought that mine were Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) but after seeing the blooms for the first time recently (since I grew them from seeds 2 years ago) ... I now think the vines are Hardy Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) like yours Deb. I was so hoping they were Maypops because I liked those flowers better. (The Maypops had more purple color to the blooms.)
I had to trim them back and they still had ripening fruit on them, so I have them in water trying to grow them a little longer to get mature seeds. The ones laying on the table broke off the vine when I was pruning. I was so happy to see some flowers and fruit finally. Two years seemed like a very long wait. There is still plenty of flowers and fruit on the fence. I just tidied it up a bit. :-) Now if the GF and Zebra Longwings would come south and visit me ... along with the hummers ... (lol)
This message was edited Oct 29, 2007 8:54 PM
debnes - thanks for the info on the passi plants.
I'm not interested in eating the fruits myself. I believe I've tried them before, and I didn't like them.
However, I do LOVE the flowers.
So, my interest is in pretty flowers, and lots of cats on them.
Also, however, I've had a lot of wasp (the big red kind, and the yellow and black stripe kind) and they were stealing my Black Swallow-tail cats left and right before I made a cage.
I don't want to see that again, so I'm thinking of how I can grow the plant outside, and then put a mesh net around the plant.
I'd like recommendations on the passi plants for pretty flowers, and cat food. :^)
thanks for your help. and the great post
Glad you posted Becky~
So you finally got fruit, very cool! They have to ripen on the vine for the seeds to mature, from what I hear. Mine produced 2 fruits this year, both were small, hollow, and mealy. Yours being in a tropical zone might be better, but I hear they have to be crossed with adulus to make good fruit, and then it isn't anything to write home about.
It is so weird you didn't have any frits this summer Becky, maybe they will head your way soon.
I'm with you Paul, I mainly grow them for the great flowers and the Gulf Frits.
I left all my reference books at the swap and I am trying to track them down now... sheesh! I can't believe I did that!
debnes
Paul, I've 4 different type of passi. vines. The native Maypop seems to be the vine of choice for the G.F. as I've noticed. My 3 others (all are hybrids), have more attractive flowers, but for some reason, I don't see cats. on them. I've plenty Maypop vines to share for SSBE. If you've figured out a way to contain these vigorous grower (they do tunnel underground, and pops up anywhere, and everywhere ~ if you're not careful with them in our zone).
Lily - "they do tunnel underground, and pops up anywhere, and everywhere ~ if you're not careful with them in our zone"
Hmmmm ..... I'm not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from hearing this and I am sure my neighbor won't either. How can you tell if it is doing the tunneling?
As much as I would love a Maypop, I think I have my hands full already with the 10-12 Passiflora caerulea I have growing vigorously all over my fence! LOL!
Becky, that's the problem...you don't. Until it "pops" in our climate usually in May. lol. I enjoy sharing my gardening's joy. But, I try to refrain myself from sending those problematic plants to others.
I grow tropicals, even Ficus Benjamin's roots will escape pot's culture and travel into the ground by foot long. I knew, because I've to dig them up today and repot the rampant grower and put it back to its place. lol.
Suppose another way to contain certain plants that do runners might be to get some bamboo stopping material that goes in the ground as a partition...
http://www.bamboofencer.com/s.nl;jsessionid=0a0002491f434f05bc1777a64f7fb627a92ef2b3f7c8.e3eTaxmKbNaNe34Pa38Ta38Pc3f0?ctype=KB&it=I&id=2390&KB=76
It probably doesn't need to be more than 1-1/2' deep for the vines, unlike the deeply rooting bamboo, which requires a 2-3' deep barrier......... just a thought.
debnes
Well...if anyone wants to share those problem maypop vines...I'll glady accept seeds or work out a trade. I'd like to see if they'd grow along the barbed wire fences back at the ranch. We get lots of Gulf Frits and Variegated Frits out there. A few Zebras but haven't seen a Mexican Frit yet.
~ Cat
It's not over! All the Queens and Monarchs were gone, the ones that I raised pupated, eclosed and left. but here's a straggler that came along. And guess what? I wasn't looking, but by coincidence I saw an egg on the milkweed, then found another one!
Congrats! Linda. It's here I afraid. One zone colder, and those babies have def. left us. :(
Here's a few more from today....
Clouded Skipper on Marigold.
Black Swallowtail cat on Carrots.
Firey Skipper on Zinnia.
This one is surely worn-out.
Oohh! PF nice shots, I bet that BST cat is cold up your way. No doubt it will overwinter there.
Sheila -- no doubt, It better pupate quickly.
I've still got about four chrysalis ? hangin around the carrot-fennel plants.
I suppose that they will wait until Spring.
We still have wam days, and the butterflies are zoomin all around.
Probably won't last but just a few more days.....
And then we've got to wait until next year....
Oh -- Here's an ugly bug just in time for Halloween. Boo!!!!
This message was edited Oct 30, 2007 7:21 PM
Paul, lol, perfect shot of the ugly bug in time....what I like best was the BST cat. Hey, send it my way, I've perfect home for the thing. Just kidding. My G.F. are munching away, a few more is getting ready to pupate....I hope they would hurry along. It's getting colder here too....
Great pics Paul!! Lot of activity there for this late in the season. Your BST looks well fed.:-). Wish those predators would just cool it!(lol) Seems the more cats one has, the more of those guys show up for dinner....
Becky, it would be great if you could get some seeds from those fruits your PV is bearing.
Cat, http://www.easywildflowers.com ....John will send you seeds by the pkt or by the ounce. All you have to do is email him and he sends them out with a bill you can pay later. You could probably package what you don't need for trading lots of other great plants too.
Sorry we kinda sidetracked your super duper Forbes thread for a few posts.. eeek! You sure have some good pics over there. The cats are really special with all those knobby yellow spots.. they almost resemble some ST cats in a way. What plant did you say they are eating?
Last Sunday there was a Dragonfly that came to the Round up. He was pretty friendly. Trois and I were able to take several pics of it. Trois with his new Pentax..:-)
Me with my little ole Cannon S3, hehe
debnes
I sure had a lot of Giant STs this year. I lost count after 4 dozen... Here is one I have on some potted Rue on the back deck. One of them crawled off to pupate. I hope he found a good place to hide.
debnes
Cool Linda,
Your still getting a few Monarchs.. Is that Frostweed it's on? My FW is turning brown on the blooms already. Still the butterflies seems to like the aged nectar in them. American Ladys have been coming by in their migration south too.
I had a GF chrysalis in the hamper and she eclosed on Monday.. I thought I had posted the pic, but guess not..
Here it is... my last captive fritillary . There are still more out in the yard I didn't collect. Still seeing the butterflies every day between 11-6.. Coming your way Linda & Trois..:-) Then to you Cat..
debnes
Oh my .... it's Halloween! I think we are getting the tropical storm and lots more rain here today/tonight. I might just have to eat all the candy I bought for the kiddies! lol NOT! :-)
Paul - Your bug looks like what we call "Stink Bug" here in Florida! I have them everywhere in my garden. I probably need to read up on them. They like many of my plants ... large seeds to eat.
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/hemiptera/stinkbug/brown_stink_bug_adult.html
Cool photo! I don't think it's in it's Halloween costume though! lol Nice butterfly and cat photos!
Deb - I sooo miss the Giant Swallowtails that I used to see here. Haven't seen any in a while. I miss ALL the butterflies that have been away for months and months. I don't think all this rain we have been getting for the past 2 months is helping matters any. :-(
Love your little dragonfly. I've had plenty of those in my garden with all the standing water! :-) Interesting that the insects rotate visiting around here! :-)
This message was edited Oct 31, 2007 8:57 AM
beckygardener - My ugly bug IS a type of Stinkbug. I believe it's called a
Leaf-footed Bug (Acanthocephala terminalis) -
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/824/
I've got tons of them right now - sucking on a stray Sunflower plant....
debnes_dfw_tx -- I had a dragonfly-type bug earlier this year like yours.
After looking long and hard at mine, I found that it was actually a Damselfly.
A Spread-wing Damselfly. Here's mine:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/3044/
Notice how then it's waist and abdomen are - they just sit with their wings spread out at an angle.
Dragonflies wings are more 90 degrees to their body, and most Damsel flies wings are folded together over their abdomen.
VERY COOL PICTURE - thanks for sharing.
I guess all these pics will soom come to an end.
Deb, that was a large bushy White Mistflower (Eupatorium havanense) that the Monarch was on. I go outside every day when it warms up and check to see what is on those and some of the other fall blooming plants. My frostweed patch by the creek is mostly going to seed also. But thank goodness for fall blooms! Whether they are migrating or not, they love the nectar plants!
Hey Pford...I looked at that link and saw a new hatchling - that bug photo looks like what came out of my "99 Bottles of Beer" eggs!
Cool photo of that dragonfly. I still haven't gotten into learning about those. We are supposed to have something like 100 (I think) species of dragonflies and damselflies out here.
The forbes' silkmoth cats are feeding on privet and Rio Grande Ash. They sure are slow growers...or maybe it's like that 'a watched pot of water never boils' syndrome :o)
This is a new one for me...a Mantid Fly? Was out blacklighting and it came to the sheet. If it's as carnivorous as the Praying Mantis the creatures of the night are midnight snacks to this guy!
~ Cat
This message was edited Oct 31, 2007 8:26 AM
...creatures of the night! Cat, you've another candidate for Holloween! Great pics. everyone.
TexasPuddyPrint -- Wow!!!! I think you win the scarey picture prize.
That bug is a nightmare. ugh. Haven't seen one of those before, but I think I'd freak out if it landed on me and I saw it long enough to see what it was. I'd probably run around in circles trying to get it off me. I think you're right - "Bugs beware" Looks like it can snatch bugs right out of the air.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/4796
As soon as you figure out which one you've got, please add it to the bug files.
Looks like we don't have one of these listed yet. :^)
YUCK!!! I don't know which species that mantid fly is...if I remember I will email John Tveten and ask. He was out there that night we went blacklighting and was naming lots of the moths and critters that came to the light.
~ Cat
I can't quite match up this little butterfly in my book. He was difficult to photograph, he kept turning away from me. He kept his wings closed while he was on the sunflower. The orange on his forewing is a deep egg yolky colour. The closest I can match him in my book is to a Dainty Sulphur???
I love finding interesting bugs, but that Mantid is TOO ghastly looking!
Not sure either - but very pretty and thanks for sharing.
Pretty little sunflower too.
I'm surprised that you didn't have to fight off any bees before sticking your hand up so close. ha.