Thanks Cathy,
Cat made 2 of the bumper stickers and I made the one on the right..
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 30
Here are all Cat's things:
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find?qs=TexasPuddyPrint
Here'smine:
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find?qs=debnes_dfw_tx
One of the sulfurs that was happily nectaring today on a spiderwort.
Oh, speaking of littering, I saw a rancher on TV the other day complaining about those balloons people love to let go that are filled with helium. That stuff can kill livestock (or any other animal) that doesn't know any better than to try to eat the balloons. Not a good idea. And plastic bags are everywhere. That also is a no-no for the environment, for animals and anything in the oceans and waterways.
My rosemary has some blooms and butterflies are finding them. I tend to see smaller GFs in the wintertime.
Linda, so pretty! I still have not been able to catch a pic of a Sulpur. Someday, one will have pity on me and sit still long enough.
I remember some years ago, when I had a big herb garden, with huge rosemary plants, that the bfs, I think they were GF's, would sleep in the rosemary at night. About 20 of them would be all folded up in the branches. I put a rosemary bush in the front bf garden, hoping it will happen again!
Debnes, thanks for the convenient link to the Zazzle site. I've been meaning to get Cat's "I Brake for Butterflies" and found all 4 four of yours and Cat's bumper stickers together- SO convenient that I ordered all four! My car will be stylin' like yours!
Cordeledawg mentioned the Monarch Way Station and I had to check into that. While browsing their shop, I came across this cute sticker too:
http://shop.monarchwatch.org/default.aspx
The direct link to the sticker doesn't look like it will work, so you can click on Poster and Stickers on the left bar and see the "Got Milkweed?" sticker at the bottom of the page.
Very reasonably priced too!
Cathy
Ooh! Mom got me the "Got Milkweed?" stickers for my birthday. Since they come in packs of five, I'm going to put some on my garden cart. That way, when I'm roaming around the plant festivals at the USF gardens, I can show everyone I'm into butterfly gardening. Hopefully, it'll be a conversation starter and I can educate some people on butterflies.
When I was cleaning up the park, I definitely tried to focus on getting the plastics. We found those plastic things that hold six packs of cans together; those things strangle our animal friends! I also did find some of the deflated balloons that I suppose were associated with that helium tank. As I kept picking up all of those beer bottles, I couldn't help but think if I got even a 5 cent deposit for each one, I'd have been buying lunch!
Love the sulphur on the spiderwort. The spiderworts around here have really been blooming up a storm. Today on the side of the road I saw some mixed in with our native coreopsis and the blue and yellow looked so pretty together. Kind of cloudy here today but Dad said the sulphurs were visiting him outside as worked on his trailer. He also said, "They sure are fast!" That's one reason I wanted to raise them so badly - I want to be able to stare at one up close so I can fully appreciate it!
Melanie
Woohoo...love that black cherry color! WOW!!! Is that one of those chameleon paints? The kind that look one color from one direction and change to another as the car goes by?
Is it the glare that makes the "I Brake For Butterflies" bumper sticker look like it is missing some butterflies? I had to double check zazzle to make sure I put the right design on there!
Thanks for the promo on the zazzle designs :o) and many thanks to all who have ordered products :o)
I'm a tad upset at them...or rather myself for not paying attention to their size chart. I ordered a butterfly circle t-shirt and it was too small for me. Grrrr!!! I gave it away to a fellow butterflier. She was tickled pink over it! She always wears t-shirts with butterfly designs when she goes to the park. Her husband had been after me to fork over a Frass Happens bumper sticker...so I gave him one too. He's supposed to bring dessert to our next meeting as re-payment :o)
Will order another butterfly circle t-shirt for myself and pay attention to what I am ordering. Hope I get it in time for Saturday's meeting!!!
~ Cat
Another lifer for me!!! Woohoo!!!! Went to the NABA park today and a buddy and I were getting in my car to go eat lunch. Just then a winter tourist came up to me and my partner - telling us we'd been pointed out as the butterfliers who could answer her questions. She described a butterfly that was medium sized and black with red and whitish bands to Tom and myself.
We're thinking...eh...probably a Red Admiral...so I show her a photo of it in my Kaufman Guide. She says no. Okay, Tom and I think perhaps it's a Red Rim...so I show her a photo of that. Nope, she says.
Okay...I'm flipping through the book thinking what could be black, white and red???? I see the photo of an Erato Heliconian and show her that (Tom and I are thinking, she's going to say no to that too...after all it is a very very rare butterfly for us). She says, yeah...it looked a lot like that!!!
Tom and I look at each other and think...nahhh...ain't gonna happen...but we look at each other again and both grab our camera and binocs from the car and tell each other...let's go back up to the canal area to have a look around.
Well, lo and behold! We went to the spot she said she saw it and it flitted by us within a couple of minutes! Unreal!!!! That dratted butterfly would not stop though...it just flitted along the canal from one end of the park to the other. I got on the phone and called our other butterflying friends and they all showed too. The butterfly was most cooperative as it kept reappearing for the four hours we were standing around the area...but it just would not stop. We're thinking it was a male and he was trolling the area looking for a female. He kept flitting the same path back and forth all the while we were there
Nobody was able to get a good photo of it though. We got photos of it on the wing...fly-byes as we call it. What can I say...my terrible photo was the best from the lot of us! It turned out to be a lifer for several other folks too. There was no question about the positive identification either. It is a very striking butterfly.
Finally gave up after four hours of trying to get a good photo and let my rumbling stomach take the lead. We'd not eaten breakfast and were heading to lunch when we got sidetracked by it :o)
Here's the elusive bug!
Erato Heliconian (Heliconius erato)
Cat - You are on a serious roll there with finding those once-in-a-lifetime butterfly sightings! Congrats on the Erato Heliconian! Looks like a pretty butterfly in the photo!
Wow cat, he's pretty. Lucky girl, you. : )
UH OH,, I am in trouble now after checking those zazzle links. Will come back and look at them tomorrow. I will be looking for those butterflies you girls are releasing and sending my way. I will have lots of flowers for them. Have been starting seeds and will do more tomorrow. I have hyacinth bean vines up about 4 inches (in 3 days time). I told them they better slow down, because it is too early to plant them yet. LOL
I was fussing today about how sorry people are throwing trash out along our roads.. My DH was commenting how he could not understand it either. I am going to call the county tomorrow and tell them to get those prison guys out to work..
Deb, love that car and the bumper stickers.
Congratulations, Cat on that beautiful find.. I caught a glimpse of a small butterfly today. Brown, I think.. but he flew away and I couldn't find him. He must have been on my hyacinths or daffodils,,or rosemary, because nothing else is blooming yet. I did see some pear trees starting to bloom down the street.. and some Kwanzan Cherries.. My Yoshino Cherry should be pretty this year.. The Tiger Swallowtail likes it and my azaleas.
Elaine
Elaine,
Do you get butterflies on your hyacinth vines? I've grown them before and the butterflies out here don't go for them. They are such pretty vines too. Sure wish I had a couple of cherry trees out here...am curious to see what they would attract!!!
* * * FOLKS: Don't forget you can customize any of the Zazzle products to suit your needs and tastes. You can easily change the color, size, style etc. * * *
I'm in trouble too...I just ordered three more t-shirts!!!
~ Cat
Right on Cat!
Thanks everyone!! I am at my limit for bling on the new truck... I think people will get the point LOL! One final thing though, my daughter came over yesterday with a butterfly license plate holder.
I had the "Got Milkweed" sticker on my old car along with a "Frass Happens" (which I had 3 of). Little did I know that Magnes was going to ask me if I wanted to go get a new truck!!
Glad I bought 3..:-)
Yep I found out that the designs had to be much larger than you'd think. For instance on the bumper stickers the jpg has to be 2200 x 600 px!
Congrats on the lifer Cat! Great capture! I bet your lunch tasted much better while reminiscing that!
Sweet pic Linda. The pretty butterfly and the spiderwort... Beautiful plant!
tiger swallowtail on a pink azalea
another view
Deb...thanks!!! Took me a while to get that "I Brake for Butterflies" bumper sticker the right size to make use of all the space available. Had thought of re-doing the "Frass Happens" one but I like it the size it is...I just cut off the excess white space before I put it on my car.
bsharf...great photos of that Tiger. One of the few species we don't get here - rats! :o)
~ Cat
:-) Cat
Gorgeous shots of the female TST ~ B!! Incredible creatures! That is probably the largest butterfly I get here so far... and most numerous. Yep even larger than the Giant Swallowtails.
Hope I can successfully host some this year. It really knocked the wind out of my sails when I lost the 3 babies I had last spring to some kind of vampire stink bug.
This year I am a lot more prepared to get the job done. :_ Thanks to our Georgian friends "Cordeledawg" (Deb) and "chris_lcf530" I have plenty of Wild Black Cherry and Sweet Bay Magnolia. I am just hoping we had enough cold this year for the Cherry Trees.
OK,, now I have to 'sweet talk' my friend Deborah (Cordeledawg) about one of those wild Cherries. Do the TST like the large old magnolias too? I know I saw the hummingbirds on my hyacinth beans. I really can't remember if the butterflies were on it. I grew them year before last. Will keep an eye out and camera too. Has anyone grown the 'white' cypress vine? I grow the red ones and my hummingbirds and sulphurs love it. I just got some seeds and will plant them and see what likes them. This is a sulphur isn't it??? Ys'll be sure and correct me if I get one wrong.... Still learning...
Elaine
This message was edited Feb 25, 2008 10:38 PM
bsharf, that is a gorgeous TST. Palm Coast is beautiful... lots of those beautiful golf courses. Of course, I only play golf so I can go out and look at the birds, butterflies, and see what flowers and plants I can ahemmm,, cough, cough, borrow.
Elaine
Elaine - Beautiful photo of the Sulphur butterfly on the Cypress vine! :-) I've never tried the white blooming vine.
Elaine, I may have some white cypress, if I can remember where I put it. I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about covering that old stump in my back yard with the white and red. What do you think?
Deb, I didn't know the Tiger was bigger than the Giant! Well whatdaya know. Never ceases to amaze me what I learn on this thread.
Elaine, Chris was the wild cherry giver and I was the sweet bay magnolia. Teach me how to take cuttings and you can have a limb.
I didn't know cypress vine came in any other color than red.
Lucy covering a stump with vines is a great idea.
Lucy,,, YES, your butterflies will love the cypress vine... Now,,, some will consider it invasive. But I just pull it or mow it... like I do the passion vine. You DO have the wild purple passion vine, don't you???
I just bought a pack of white cypress vine seeds at Lowe's day before yesterday. They just jumped in my buggy...
Deborah, I'm not sure about taking cuttings from trees. With shrubs, I just take a stem, put rootone on it and stick in sandy soil or potting mix. I also just received a rooted cutting in that green florist brick stuff (not the crunchy kind).. great idea. I didn't realize the TST is bigger than the Giant. Need to study more.
Thanks Becky for the compliment.
Elaine
Yep.. The Eastern-TSTs are ginormous.. The Westerns are about half their size and the GSTs are rarely as big as the ETSTs, usually at least 1/2 inch or so.
The Cloudless Sulphur is beautiful Elaine! And it is a 'she'... The males are bright yellow. They seem to like most of the same flowers that Hummers like, however I have never seen any butterflies on the Hyacinth Bean Vine though.
Speaking of HBV... Does anyone have seeds for them? I could use a few. I have some Red Cypress Vine seeds and lots of other things to trade.
To compare...
Female ETST:
Male ETST:
GST....
Deb...I tossed all the seeds I've harvested and ones I've received in trades into a big plastic tub. I'll dig through the packets and see if I find HBV. I do remember harvesting some last year. If I find them I will mail them out to you :o)
ps...Jeff Glassberg is town this week. Our NABA IBP director retired and he brought down a new director to show her around. I think she's from New York. Ooooh, if she's not used to south Texas...she's in for a big shock! Culturally, temperature wise, language and food-wise too. She should be very pleased with the cost of living though :o)
Go figure...we had beautiful temps and sunshine this weekend and even yesterday but today we have a cold front coming in! UGH!!! Oh well, temps are supposed to get to the 40's but I think the newscasters lied. I see the sun already peaking out. Must say we've got some 30-40 wind gusts though!
~ Cat
Deb - Sneaking on here from work! (hee, hee) I have just a few of the purple (and also white blooming) hyacinth bean seeds left. They are yours if you want them. D-mail me!
You guys are making me envious with all your butterflies. I'm not sure how long we'll have to wait here, but it's cold and rainy today. I received a fat packet of seeds from Beckygardener and plan to start them this weekend. It's been a long time since I've grown anything other than basil and fennel from seed and I'm really looking forward to it. Becky, I think you sent hyacinth bean, and I've never grown it, so expect the hummers love it too? Best wishes and keep those butterflies flying!
Deb... do you believe I was in class today and looking for smiley stickers in my purse... guess what was in there?? Hyacinth beans,,, I will be glad to send you some. Mine in starter soil are about 4 inches high already..
Elaine
Elaine, do you have the white? I have some purple already up, but no white.
No,,, these are purple. hmmmm white ones..
Elaine
Very sweet you guys, Elaine and Cat... (((everybody who offered)))!!!
I have some already being sent now. Thank you, thank you all!
debnes
A little too cold and windy for the butterflies today, so I'll give you my caterpillar update. One of my two Giant ST eggs has hatched. Here's the cute little guy. I'm feeding them leaves off of Mom's Meyer Lemon for now.
The cassia dries out too quickly, so I've got it in the floral foam now. Check out the cat on the lower leaf!
Here's a closeup of the sulphur for you. The Gulf Frits are still munching away and I'm perilously low on passion vine. Luckily, the USF Botanical Gardens are having a quilt show this weekend that Mom wants to go to. She's going to be my lookout while I pick leaves. They recently put in a new bathroom (so everyone would stop tromping through their office) and they planted lots of passion vines near it so you can make it look like you're waiting for the bathroom. It's kind of sad that I've thought this much about it!
Melanie
Forgot to attach my pic, arrrgh!
Melanie, you are a bf super-trooper and we completely understand. You get an A+ for precision planning and tactical decoying with the bathroom ploy!
Those sulfur cats are neat. I have to sow some of the Cassia alata seeds so I can offer the sulfurs and their cats a buffet here too.
Cathy
I'll be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box to assuage my guilt. One time, a bromeliad pup "broke off" and I had to rescue it. Mom makes a good lookout! Seriously, I spend a lot of money in their plant shop and that's actually where I bought my passion vine. Their big butterfly festival is in June so I'll be saving up some money to go crazy!
Melanie
I've never been to one of their plant festivals, but I have the dates in April marked on my calendar. I'm sure I've been missing out!