Awww, I miss dandelions!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 28
Chased one of those sulphurs through my neighbor's yard again. It's funny you guys should mention the ZLW. I hadn't seen one in a few weeks, and today when I was taking a break I saw one fly through my yard!
Melanie
It is trying to blend in for sure with those leaves!!
Great pictures Mom took of the GF Mellie!! She is getting super at capturing the moment!
Can I assume everyone in FL has a pipevine? Mine is enormous and, in a couple months, the black swallowtails will literally swarm it, 10 to 15 doing their mating dance above it at one time.
Ah...had three lifers today!!! We had our first NABA South Texas Chapter meeting today at the NABA IB Park. The day started off cool and cloudy and we were all fixing to head home but decided to take a walk around the park before we left. No sooner than we stepped out from under the palapa the sun came out and so did the butterflies. Gobs of Reakirt's Blues were about...but the great finds were two female Chestnut Crescents and what we think were also two male Chestnut Crescents...very rare for us...and to see three to four in one day was outstanding!!!
Here's one of the females...a tad beat up...but a lifer for me none the less!
~ Cat
The White Scrub Hairstreak. Also very uncommon...more so for this time of the year. The ventral view...it's missing the tails though...
~ Cat
...and the dorsal view of the White Scrub Hairstreak. What an unusual coloring! I thought someone dipped this bugger in bleach!!!
~ Cat
Trudi, I have a pipevine! I bought mine late last year so this will be my first year with it fully grown. The botanical gardens at USF have a big one and yes, those butterflies are always hovering over it and doing their thing. Oh, and one of the nurseries I shop at has a big one on a trellis and it's generally covered in caterpillars. If you plant it, they will come!
Melanie
...and the other lifer for me...a Variegated Skipper.
~ Cat
I saw the prettiest gold butterfly today,,, small about 1 and 1/2 inches. I went to get camera and when I came back, it was gone....of course. It was on my crocuses. Will watch again tomorrow. We had 2 beautiful days of 60+ temps.
Elaine
Cat - Outstanding photos! Love the white dorsal coloring on the White Scrub Hairstreak. Most unusual.
Trudi - No pipevine here. :-( I have tried twice to germinate and grow seeds to no avail. Am trying again. I am just north of you in Sebastian! You are in my neck of the woods! Glad to have another Indian River County butterfly lover here on the forum! :-) What cultivar of pipevine are you growing?
Melanie - Which pipevine do you have?
I am just wondering if a particular cultivar grows better than others here in Florida.
Elaine - You have the same luck I have when I go to get my camera and the butterfly is GONE!!! :-( I keep trying to remember to have my camera on me when I am out in the yard working. You just never know when an opportunity will present itself!
Becky,
I believe it is suppose to be the common Dutchman's pipe, Aristolochia elegans. However, mine is much larger with bigger flowers that the discription states. You should never underestimate our FL growing season :) After hunting all over for one, I actually bought it from a Sebastian nursery. If your seeds don't work, I would be happy to give you cuttings to try. I was going to try rooting some myself. Trudi
Ooooh, Trudi! I would love a couple of cuttings to try and root! :-) Is there anything you are looking for?
Trudi,
I've had a huge aristolochia elegans for a couple of years now but not a single Pipevine has made use of it. How odd! Do they root from cuttings? I've not tried that. If that works I'll transplant some to the ranch.
This will be the first year the white veined pipevine is big enough to sustain caterpillars...should any PVS make use of that one. Time will tell.
Back at the ranch they use aristolochia erecta (a native swanflower)...but it is so small with leaves that resemble grass...I can never find it out in the back pastures. No idea how the PVS find it...but they do as we get PVS by the hundreds out there.
Elaine...any idea what the butterfly was? Anytime I see something small and predominately golden or orange I think of crescents.
Melanie...how nice to see a Gulf Frit!! I haven't seen one in months!
Becky...thanks :o) I am eagerly looking forward to next month's butterfly club meeting. Things should really be looking up in March. They park workers were cutting back all the shrubbery...not much blooming just yet...a handful of eupatoriums and lantana...which made looking for butterflies so much easier! When everything is in bloom there are hundreds of butterflies flitting about it's hard to know where to start :o)
~ Cat
Becky and Cat,
Courtesy of Plantoftheweek.org
Propagation: Aristolochia elegans is best propagated by cuttings, but it can be grown from seeds. Take cuttings in fall when flowering is nearly completed. Softwood cuttings should be 4 to 5 inches long. Treat with rooting hormones and place them in a fast draining propagating mix. Put them in a warm place, preferably with bottom heat. Softwood cuttings must be kept moist. Start seeds by soaking in water for 48 hours and surface sow them. Seeds need light to germinate.
Becky, have you been surface sowing your seeds? ( say that one ten times fast :)
I have some of the rooting hormone. I had a very successful experiment with rooting cuttings of Rosa "Louis Phillippe" last year. I will do up an extra pot for you and we can see about getting together sometime to pass it along.
Cat, butterflies are a mystery. I grow several varieties of passiflora, including what is suppose to be our native, passiflora suberosa, and yet I never see a zebra long wing. Go figure. They say the exception makes the rule and my general rule is: If you plant it , they will come.
Going back to the Hummingbird thread. I have an overgrown Cape Honeysuckle hedge, big time nectar source. Never actually saw a Hummer until after the Hurricanes of Sept. 2004 when all foliage was stripped from everything. I saw one on a porter weed plant that was protected and some flowers had survived. When I went for a closer look another one dived at my head. When everyone else was inspecting the holes in their roofs ( I had one of those too), I was out spreading fertilizer trying to get the honeysuckle back in bloom. We all have our priorities.
Trudi
Trudi - LOL! Oh my! YOU had the same priority as I did when my home was damaged in 2004! LOL! That is when I got into gardening for hummingbirds! LOL! Though I didn't see my first one until this past November! LOL!
I hadn't seen my little bird at all this weekend. I keep thinking it's going to head out and go north. I have this little trick. I have a 4-hanger shepherd's hook that my feeders hang from. I go out in the morning and move them around if I am not cleaning and refilling them. Sure enough! The hummer showed up the minute I walked into the house and turned around to look out the windows of the french doors. LOL! I was glad to see it still here. It's perching somewhere nearby. It was in my Oak tree, but I think it has found a different place now.
Trudi - How long do your hummers stay? Or are they year round residents?
I would love some Pipevine. I had not been surface sowing. I bet that is why I haven't gotten any vines to take off. Do all the pipevines grow that way? Do you get Pipevine cats on your elegans? We had the discussion about the Pipevine Swallowtail and the Zebra Longwing cats using certain cultivars of Pipevine and Passion vines. I never find any GF on my huge Passiflora vines. And I rarely see butterflies around it. Though I do know for a fact that the cats eat it because I have raised cats from my school on the leaves. So strange, isn't it!
Thanks for that info about the Pipevine surface sowing. I didn't know that! :-)
This message was edited Feb 10, 2008 11:29 AM
Becky,
I didn't know about pipevine progagation either until 30 min. ago when I looked it up :) Thank heavens for google.
And yes I get tons of caterpillars on the pipevine. When I am patient I can watch the swallowtails lay their eggs and then follow the progress right thru to when the hungery little buggers chew my vine all up. Never actually seen a chrysalis though. The vine is planted next to the Cape Honeysuckle hedge so they have lots of places to crawl off and hide. Trudi
I'm on my third sowing of Aristolochia fimbriata. My first & second batches both germinated quickly about 4 days just fine, but I left the container on the heat mat and the whole pot dried out too fast. The little seedlings died of thirst. :(
http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/viewbystatus.php?status=13931
Cordele, what a bummer about your A. fimbriata. I don't remember where I originally got this one, but I think it may have come as a volunteer in another plant. I don't remember buying it or ever planting seeds. Last summer I decided to move it from the big pot it was in and discovered it had a huge tuber under the soil. I've since transplanted it and it was situated where a rain torrent washed away some of its soil, now you can really see the tuber, it's gi-normous!
Cathy
To the Florida people on this thread. HELP.
I've grown the purple porterweed for several years here in East Texas. If I leave them out in the ground during the winter only about 20 per cent live to grow the next year so I've been putting them in the greenhouse and no problem. They normally get at least 6 feet high and the hummingbirds hit those before anything else in the mornings. I also have no problem with the salmon color porterweed. My problem is with the red one which is a lot smaller than the other two. I bought 4 two years ago and they all died. I figured I waited too long to bring them in. This year I bought 18 and I bought them all in when it was 35 degrees and they've been in the greenhouse ever since. I think at least 8 to 10 of them are dead. All of the other 8 have new leaves growing. Is it something I'm doing or is that a very sensative plant. The only other plants I put in my greenhouse are pentas and I never have a problem with them..I've had those same bushes for about 5 years.
Jameso
Porterweed to my knowledge is very hardy in the south. Why yours are dying in the greenhouse, I have no idea. It could be the red cultivar of Porterweed. Maybe it just isn't as hardy.
I have dug up the purple and orange colored blooming Porterweed and moved them. We are talking about LARGE bushes! And both made it in their new location. I know they aren't real cold hardy if it gets to freezing temps for too long. Sorry, but I honestly don't know. That's a bummer!
Jameso,
I also have had little success with the red porterweed so don't feel too bad. I decided it wasn't worth the disappointment when the purple is so easy. If you really want to keep the red, maybe you need to collect seed and just plan on starting new ones all the time. Good luck.
Thanks Trudi3
I'll think I'll just give up.
Cathy - Love your Pipevine! Beautiful leaves! I'm jealous! Do they grow fast or slow?
Well, decided not to whack the Mexican Flame vine back after seeing a host of butterflies all over it today! Yep! That vine is definitely a good nectar plant!
Here's a Zebra Longwing enjoying a tasty sip!
And in this photo you can see a Monarch and a Skipper. There were at least 4-7 butterflies on it at one time today! Then they would chase each other all around. Then stop and sip some more! LOL!
Here's a close-up of another Skipper.
Let's see, I have two Pipevines. One is a. gigantea and it's the largest. I've attracted Polydamas cats with it. I've seen some PVST in my backyard, but no cats yet. This fall I planted a. tomentosa; it went dormant but is starting to show some growth. I don't know how fast it grows so I don't know if it will get used this year.
The USF Botanical Gardens have a huge section of fence covered in Mexican Flame Vine and the butterflies do love it. The day I was there it seemed like it was mostly Monarchs and Gulf Frits.
I didn't get outside too much today, but as I was driving around I saw a bunch of little sulphurs, one larger sulphur, and a Gulf Frit. Oh, my cherry tree has broken dormancy and has little leaves all over it now. I hope the butterflies find it this spring!
Melanie
Becky, nice pics of the Flame Vine, it sure is a magnet for those bf's. The cute little White Veined Pipevine is slower growing and smaller than the A. elegans (which thankfully grows like a weed so it can support all the Polydamas cats that will be here soon) and likes more shade. It seems to grow to about 3 feet, then another shoot pops out of the tuber. It's really kind of dainty.
I saw 4 different bf's today, a Skipper like the one in Becky's pic above, a Sulphur way high up, a GF, and this beauty of a Monarch.
Oh,,, Becky those are wonderful photos. What a good camera you have. Wish mine would quit so I could get a new one..LOL I saw that butterfly again today,, then gone again. He was definitely almost solid gold and smaller than a sulphur. Maybe an inch or so. Will try to get a pic tomorrow,,,again. And looking at the butterfly website too. have to get some pipevine too.
Elaine
A little closer view. It was flapping its wings at the wasps also vying for nectar, and wouldn't back down.
Cathy
Melanie, please keep us posted on the A. tomentosa, that's next on my list of Aristolochias for the garden.
Trudi, thanks for the propagation tips of A. cuttings. I'm going to try some A. elegans cuttings this week.
Cathy
Will do! In all honesty I thought I had killed it. After I planted it I kind of forgot to water it on a regular basis and we weren't getting much rain. I was over there planting last week and remembered it and sure enough, it had a few little leaves on it. So it must be pretty tough. Another reason to go native - they don't mind a little neglect from a scatter-brained gardener!
Melanie
Wow Becky! '
Your Flame vine is outrageous!! I love it! I hope the one Paige gave me comes out blooming like that!! Beautiful butterfly pics .. Glad to see your ZLW!!
Cathy! Nice job on your pipevine too! Beautiful pics of your Monarchs!!
HI Trudi!
Glad you joined us here.. I have several plants of 3 different pipevines; fimbriata, macrophylla, and elegans. Right now only the elegans is peeping out after dying back for the winter here.
Here are a couple examples of what PVST chrysalids look like.. Sometimes brown and sometimes green.. The green one in the second pic came loose in the middle and is hanging without the halter, but it eclosed just fine. They look similar to Black Swallowtail chrysalids except they are a little more bowed out through the middle:
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/debnes_dfw_tx_1179113544_698.jpg
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/debnes_dfw_tx_1179196447_115.jpg
Had several Cabbage Whites flitting through here yesterday. Hoping to document a couple this season...
Another shot of Cabbage White
Well, just rub that in will ya Deb!!! ROLF!!! You know how wide spread and common the Cabbage White is...well, that is the one butterfly we do not get this far south...now how did that happen?! :o)
~ Cat
Deb,
Thanks so much for the pics. I will try to keep a closer eye out and maybe I can recognize it, but, boy, I bet it blends in well.
The butterflies must find FL and TX around the same time. Today when I was driving home I saw the first White butterfly I'd seen in months! I don't know which White it was (I was driving) but it certainly surprised me. Funny how they're so common for most of the year and then they just vanish. I also saw a Gulf Frit this morning when I was out for a walk on break. Oh, and I collected two more eggs off the passion vine. Just when you think the caterpillars have taken a break...here they come again!
Melanie
I, too, have been seeing some Whites. I was worried as I just planted seeds for Nasturtiums (one of their host plants). I have small seedlings sprouting and don't want the Whites to lay eggs on them until these plants get bigger. I had some gorgeous plants last year, but had to move them to another location when we were making our patio and they died in the other location. So I am back to growing more from the seeds I had collected.
LOL Cat, and how many do YOU get that I don't???!
YW Trudi!
Ah Becky, Nasturtiums come up pretty quick, and with the way things grow there in FL you'll be in business before you know it, :-).
Another thing to plant for them is cabbage. I found some seeds for Dutch Round Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)today and planted it., now wishing I had done that last fall too :- . The Mustard Green, also (Brassica spp.) seeds were planted last fall, and already have some good leaves going. Time for me to plant Nasturtiums too.
Cabbage Whites are usually the first butterflies I see in great numbers here. I also see the Checkered Whites which also eat Cabbage... We will see what we get with it. I put all of this in a raised bed with the Plantain and some Cowpen Daisies. No telling how thats all going to turn out. I will just have to keep a sense of humor and a lotta faith... LOL!
I found some Crocosmia Emberglow at the 99 cent store today also and planted about 8 of them in a few end spots (Pks of 2 for .99, not bad). Hummers really liked them last year.. It was the first thing they hit on their rounds. Says not to plant them in the same place every time, that they must be rotated.
Here's the ones from last year just beginning to bloom.
Oooh, Deb! Beautiful Crocosmia! How lucky you are to find them for sale. I've never, ever seen them here for sale locally. They are on my list to try this year. I wonder why you have to rotate them? Would Mark know?