Washington Butterfly/Hummingbird Season Begins

I admit that here in SW Washington state I'm green with envy reading about all the butterflies out and about this time of year in the south. We've only had a couple of nights without frost this year so far and have reached 60 degrees only once or twice. But I had my first butterfly sighting this year today, so I'm suddenly not feeling so green anymore. This California Tortoiseshell came to visit me in my greenhouse. Took me forever to catch him (her?) to put him back outside. Those nibbled on wings didn't seem to slow him down at all.

Rufus hummingbirds should be back in another week or two. I can't wait! We had an Anna's hummingbird hang around during the winter, but we only saw her 4 or 5 times. One of our neighbors has had 3 Anna's at her feeders daily this winter.

Sounds like you're getting the season off to a good start!

And how is your garden growing?! Have you started a lot of Hummingbird and Butterfly plants in the greenhouse? Anything new and interesting for us to ponder on this cold day?!

Nectarplants - Welcome! Love your screen name! :-)

Oh! I am so envious of you getting Rufous and Anna's Hummers! I wish we got a larger variety of species here in Florida besides the rare sightings. How lucky you are! Do you get a lot of hummers in the Spring/Summer months? Do share! And what butterflies do you normally see?

I'm so glad we have people from all over the country to share their butterflies with us. I've never seen that one before. I like the bfs with the fuzzy little bodies - it makes me want to pet them (but I don't think they'd like that).

We Southerners try our best to provide a "butterfly fix" for everyone throughout the winter. I'm glad the butterflies are starting to spread around and visit everyone again. Keep sharing and educating us about some of those Northwestern butterflies!

Melanie

Tabasco, my garden is just starting to wake up. I love this time of year, when I walk around the garden and nursery and check to see who is starting to show new growth. My greenhouse is full of plants, too many to list here. I just got back this evening from the Seattle Flower show, so will be adding another dozen or so plants to the greenhouse tomorrow. Most are for hummingbirds, including a quince, and a plant I've not grown before: Dicliptera. Some are more for the butterflies, like Thalictrum 'Thundercloud', perennial Nasturtium 'Ken Aslet', and Flowering Ginger 'Tara'.
Susan

We have the Anna's and Rufus here all spring, summer and fall. There are a couple Rufus who nest here in the yard, or at least near by. By the late summer we see the offspring, who are a little less steady with take-offs and landings on the plants around our deck and on our wire dog-run fence. So cute. I've no idea how many hummers we actually have. If you walk through the yard you'll always see or hear a hummer or two, but I expect it's only the two or three females and a male or two.

Here in the yard I've had western tiger swallowtails, anise swallowtails, gray hairstreak, common wood nymph, red admiral, painted lady, california tortoiseshell, chalcedon checkerspot, skippers and a few others. The western tigers, skippers, and chalcedons checkerspots are daily visitors for much of the summer.
Susan

Susan - Your garden habitat sounds lively and exciting! You are so lucky to have several hummers and all those gorgeous butterflies! Do share photos with us! :-) I am amazed at everyone doing all these seed starts in a greenhouse! What fun it must all be! Lots of work though too, I would imagine!

Very very interesting list of plants from the Flower Show!

Especially the 'climbing nasturtium' 'Ken Aslet'

Here's a photo from Heronwood:

http://www.heronswood.com/perennials_vines_tropaeolum/tropaeolum-tuberosum-lineamaculatum-ken-aslet/

Looks like the hummers would like that one too.

I'm just getting interested in vines and climbers this year...started a few from seed...so we'll...

I expect much of what I picked up this weekend will appeal to both the hummers and the butterflies. I'll be sure to keep an eye on all the new plants this summer and see who likes what.

Ooh! I like that nasturtium, Susan! Rather unusual looking! Looks like a good hummer attractor too!

I've been looking at 'Ken Aslet' for a while. Glad I found it this weekend. So glad that I bought two of them!

Has anyone had any experience taking cuttings from this plant, or Tropaeolum tuberosum in general? This is definitely something I'll want to propagate big time! All of my experience with nasturtiums have been the annuals that you just need to collect seeds from.

Before your posts, I was not familiar at all with these pretty vines so I am happy you mentioned them, nectarplants. It seems like they would be ideal for the hummers, although it might be too sultry of a climate here in Cincinnati for them...I wonder...?

In any case, for those who aren't 'in the know' on these, I googled and found this nice write-up about the different unusual nasturtiums that are so popular in the UK (and some even consider them weeds!?) http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/plant/nasturtium.htm