DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 35

Continued from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/832885/

Well, Butterfly Season is getting off to a great start! It's been wonderful seeing all of your pictures from across the country (and other places).

I took in a few Gulf Frits the other day and they are coming along.... One is already making a "J" now, and looks like the others will follow suit in a day or so.

I SAW MY FIRST HUMMER THIS MORNING!!!!!!

Keep on sharing everyone!

Space saving tip>
If something spectacular and outstanding happens which requires many pics (say 8-10 pics), make a new thread for it so we can save room for everyone's dailies here. Then PLEASE post the url here so everyone here can link up and see your special happenings!

This message was edited Apr 21, 2008 10:40 AM

Martha, I don't know what those bugs are(previous thread), but I have them also. Hundreds of them, they like to hide in my leaves under my azaleas. Maybe someone will know, if they are good or bad.
~Lucy

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4725/

Normally, I think these are considered beneficial insects, but not if you're raising caterpillars. Others, please feel free to chime in!

Melanie

Forgot to share my picture of the day. Yesterday, Dad and I were talking over by the plumbagos and I leaned forward to look at one of the blooms. Sure enough, I found a Cassius Blue caterpillar! They are extremely small, as you would imagine for a small butterfly. Someone in the previous thread mentioned seeing one of the blues; yes, they are that small! They also fly around like maniacs. I always have some flying around my plumbagos as that is their host plant. In the photo, the cat is that green thing in the middle that's sticking it's butt out of the flower. Why was it head first in the flower - I don't know. Cats are crazy. But one good thing I noticed was that because the flower is shriveled up, it kept a bee from sticking it's face in there. I watched the bee hit two other flowers on that cluster, but the little cat was safe.

Melanie

Ooooh, Melly, I'm going to look check on my plumbago today. Your season is ahead of mine, so hopefully I'll be able to follow the blombago's progress this year. I can't wait until I'll find myself some of those mentioned cassia blues.

Deb; on the header pics. I recognized the passi. to be an evergreen passi in my zone. However, most of the g.f. that've have spotted they favored my P. incarnata. But they use the blue passi. as you've demonstrated! I thank you for new information on these butterflies, I'm excited with the new knowledge.
Kim

Kim, they lay their eggs in the flower clusters, usually on the little green "stalks" below the flower itself. So don't bother looking elsewhere on the plant. They like the flowers, those blues.

Well, I'm preparing my talk for "Bring Your Child to Work Day". I've got two Zebra ST chrysalids that are turning dark and I've been talking to them and telling them they have to wait until Thursday. There will be two groups of ten or so kids and I get each group for half an hour. It'll be jam-packed but I hope they enjoy it.

Melanie

Melanie,
Post your Orange-barred pics of the female (prev-thread) on the BF forum. They don't have a female there yet.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/407

Monarch with a rival for the flower heading in.

Cool shot there, Gardenpom. : )
~Lucy

Thanks Lucy.

Lucy, you just took the words out of my mouth. lol. Scool shot there Gardenpom. :-)
Kim

edit to correct. I meant to say COOL. oooops, sorry.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2008 8:00 PM

GP, I LOVE that picture of the Bee and Butterfly.

What are the chances of getting a shot like that? I could be out there all day, and never get one like that. : )

The Red Admirals were out today. I have no idea what they wintered over on, but I had two of the this afternoon.

No pics...too early to take pictures.

Suzy

All the Monarch had to do was quickly open and close his wings and the bee took off! Thanks for the nice comments.

Speaking of Red Admirals this is the first year I have seen them in my yard. I was wondering why until I went to pull out an unsuspecting weed in my lawn and suddenly felt like my hand was on fire. Apparently Stinging nettles have started growing in my yard LOL
She comes by daily now and she looks as if she is laying eggs all over the Nettles. I am just afraid to touch the darn plants to look for the cats :(

Also I had another Monarch start visiting yesterday. If you saw my post about having Monarchs everywhere I still have 15 monarch cats in my cage. Yesterday they started pupating. I was lucky enough to find nice bushy Milkweed in Home Depot the other day and picked up 6 plants. My Milkweed was starting to thin down from feeding all those hungry cats. I knew it was a matter of time before a Monarch would spot the new plants :) So I may have more Monarch cats very soon!

Yesterday I had a Gulf Fritillary hatch! I haven't seen any around yet so I hope she finds a mate somewhere. My passion vines are ready to go!

Lisa

Lisa, thanks for posting pic. of beautiful Red Admiral, I saw it at a local nursery couple of days ago and was wondering what the beauty was. My Maypop isn't "popping" up yet. I've major zone envy here.
Kim

Here is the Gulf Fritillary that hatched yesterday.

Lisa

Mellie - way cool on the blue cat!!! Do hope you raise, release and rake rhotoraphs!!! :o)

Awesome photo of that monarch and bee!!!

Lisa...it's lovely to see that RA. Don't ya just love that salmon color on the underside of the GF's wings :o)

Unfortunately my yard has been quite barren lately. We have too many days of strong gusty winds. It's a good thing the hummies can fly backwards!!! ROLF!!!

Deb --- so many GFs!!! I brought in a lonely one a couple of days ago and it started to pupate this morning. Here's a photo of it halfway through the process :o)

~ Cat

This message was edited Apr 24, 2008 9:35 AM

Your Welcome Kim! It took me a couple of days to get that pic of the Red Admiral. She wouldn't stay put for anything! I was going crazy as I wasn't sure what she was at the time.

I've had 1 pot of passion vines on both sides of my garage door for 5 years now. They each have 1 Maypop & 1 Lady Margaret in them. (not on purpose as I thought when I bought the Maypop it was another Lady Margaret) The Lady Margaret blooms year round with the exception of maybe a month. For some reason this year one of the pots died down to the ground when we had a short freeze. The Maypop is starting to come back though but no sign of the Lady Margaret. I did plant what is suppose to be a purple passion vine in there though so we will see what happens. The other pot is full of leaves on both plants. So now it looks uneven out there :)

Lisa

Sweet shot of the Red Admiral Lisa! And good on the Gulf Frit!! :-)

You too Cat!! I hear you about there being so many~ They are most prolific here too!

Congrats on the Blues Mel!

Yep Kim! The Blue Crown PV is an evergreen here too. The other kinds of PV have more trouble recovering from the winter here, although I do have a P. incense that is coming back up now.. and I have planted some P. incarnata which will probably show this year and I will give it a good testing.
For the most part I recommend the Blue Crown very highly, especially for those who get freezing temps in winter. There's nothing like being ready with a full vine in spring when the Heliconians arrive. :-). It has proved to be a very reliable staple in my garden, and the fragrance of the flowers are better than any of the other PVs that I know of.

Guess you all noticed that I used the quick & easy cage for the Gulf Fritillaries up there. They have a quick turn around and I didn't need to tie up any of the larger cat/butterfly cages for just a few frits. Anyway... Monday they all made their chrysalids one by one... so I removed the plant and put a paper towel on the bottom to wait their eclosing next week.

Here is a picture reference of what that looks like now for newbies and lurkers :-) :
(On top is the cage securely closed, and below it is a view of the chrysalids attached to the top end... they have no problem silking themselves to the gladware plastic. When they eclose they can hang on to their chrysalis casing to dry, or they can grab the chiffon fabric just fine. The paper towel at the bottom is if they happen to fall, and to absorb the blood or water that comes out when they eclose which would otherwise pose a hazard.)

I had been watching the Cabbage Whites all over the back garden for some days now... oscillating between the Mustard Greens I planted last fall and this Canola plant the birds planted... I decided to take several branches into the cage where I can document them more closely. The cats are also called cabbage loopers, and they move like inchworms.. I have other poses of them all bunched up, however they do blend into the plant very well. Best way to find them is where you see the holes... :-). A magnifying glass really helps too. This one is only about a half inch long now.

There are lots and lots of eggs on the underside of the leaves shown here. I wrote the date on a piece of clear tape to keep track.

Love everybody's pictures. I'm not sophisticated enough to raise them, but I find your stories fascinating. I just took a few pictures of a Texan Crescent.

This picture is not as clear, but it's a better view.

Today we saw a Mourning Cloak along the woods edge.

This week we also saw a Zebra Swallowtail sunning herself on a rock in the garden and a Giant Swallowtail flew into my car while driving.

Lots of cabbage whites fluttering around the daffodils. Very cute, but not rare, and often a pest for the vegetable farmers around here.

I've got lots of asclepias sprouting in my Wintersowing containers. Coneflowers, parsley, tithonia, buddleia, and zinnias, too! It's going to be a great season for the butterflies!

And the hummingbirds are here in force. So fun to have them back!

debnes, what size gladware is that? My caterpillars are getting large, so I need something for them to "hang" on. Is that large enough for a butterfly to spread it's wings? How many do you put per container?

A happy gulf fritillary stopped by today grateful for all the passionvine. She seemed to love my careulea and nectared quite a bit on the yellow lantana.

Here she is laying eggs.

And here on the yellow lantana...

Okay. I'll ask this… even though it is going to make me look stupid. How do you know when a butterfly is laying eggs? Is it as simple as being able to see them deposited?

Mrs_Ed,
That isn't a stupid question. You can tell if she is laying eggs when you watch her land on a leaf and her (I know this isn't the right word for it) abdomin bends forward. You can see it in the picture above that blue_eyes sent.
I hope this helps!

Lisa

Super! I'll be looking for it this year. DH will think I'm crazy. well he already knows that, now that I think of it.

Good thing you're crazy Mrs_Ed b/c normal people are so boring! When I think I see one laying eggs, I go and look after it leaves. That's my technique!

Blue_eyes, your Gulf Frittilary shots are amazing! I especially love the one on the passion flower -- very pretty!

Does anyone know what this moth is before I start my internet search?

Here's one more pic of the mystery moth.

Mrs_Ed...Here's another photo of a Gulf Frit laying eggs. You can see the eggs inside the passiflora vine curl :o)

~ Cat

...and another of a Mallow Scrub Hairstreak laying eggs. You can see her tucking her booty into the flower buds of waltheria indica.

If you have larval host plants in your yard sooner or later you going to notice females flitting around them and before you know it they've laid eggs and the cycle will continue.

~ Cat

This message was edited Apr 25, 2008 6:42 PM

Wow, if _I_ were a butterfly, I think I'd choose a broader surface!

Thanks for posting that. I'll be scoping out my butterfly weed with my macro!!!!

Neat picture! I DO have host plants and got even more seed from Critterologist! I've always planted stuff for them, but never really paid much attention. I work from home, so i can just see myself running out of the house every time a butterfly lands on a plant.

Wow, haven't been here for a few days. I gave my butterfly talk to the kids yesterday for "Bring Your Child to Work" day. They ask millions of questions! They loved the stinkhorns and they all wanted to smell the leaf he smeared with his chemical. Their reactions were priceless. They also liked the spikes on the Gulf Frits. Some of them touched the Zebra ST cat and were surprised that it was soft. Don't they look squishy? They even asked me if the cats were dead! I said, "No, I wouldn't bring you dead caterpillars!" Some of them got grossed out when I talked about how the cats eat their egg after they hatched. One of the ladies I work with thought that was strange - why would that be gross? The adults were just as interested and people from other departments were asking who I was. Even some people from my own department were saying how I was "like a teacher" and an "entirely different Melanie". It was a lot of fun!

Well, Mom emailed today to tell me that she didn't have her contacts in, but she saw a large orange and black butterfly that was either a Gulf Frit or Monarch. When I came home Dad said he saw a Monarch flying around for 20-30 minutes and it liked "those orange flowers over there". Well, I went out to stake my beans this evening and the first thing I see is a Monarch flying around! I checked the milkweed (which has been in my yard for exactly two weeks now) and I have eggs. I picked seven and only checked two out of the four plants. So now I get to raise Monarchs. Mom is excited.

And for those of you who think you can't raise butterflies - you can! One of the girls yesterday asked how I got into raising them. I told her how I liked native plants and I read that some were hosts for certain butterflies. When I started last year I thought I would just plant their hosts and it would be fun to watch them fly around and see the caterpillars. But then I got the urge to see the whole process so I brought them inside. Then, you raise one species and you want to watch another species, and another...and it goes on.

Also wanted to mention that the Frits seem to prefer my p. caerulea as well. As for the laying eggs question - here's a picture I posted a while back of a Giant ST ovipositing. See how they curve their abdomen?

Melanie