We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/890292/
Man, we keep filling these threads up fast! I guess it's peak butterfly time!
This picture is a few months old, but it's of a Giant ST in the flight cage at MOSI. I thought it would look nice as a thumbnail on the forum. : )
Melanie
These giant swallowtails are absolutely stunning. Are they only in the south or can I try to attract them? They are so beautiful.
They are in Iowa, but use this link to see if they come to your county. I love the GST, and plant their host plants in my garden.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1366&chosen_state=39*Ohio
Very nice.
Velnita, they are up here too!!
Continuing the GST conversation from the last thread. Most of the time I find them flitting crazily, but I saw one land on clover and then it just STOPPED and posed for me. That just made me so curious as to why. A minute before it was flitting on the thistle.
Velnita, about the hummingbird moths. In my yard they seem to go to butterfly bushes, any type of phlox, any type of monarda, petunias, salvias, and verbena bonariensis. I think they are one of my best pollinators! I can't remember all their host plants but yours looks like the same ones I have and they are supposed to use lonicera sempervirens as a host as well as some others. I think viburnum?
Be sure and check the map...I did when I saw mine and found there had been no reports of sightings in my county. I contacted the person for my area and made a report! :)
Saw this ugly thing on my walk this morning...any ideas on what it may be??
Thanks for the heads up on that ugly thing, nanny. I'm four counties west of you so something like that may show up at my door. I have no idea what it is.
Enter it in Bug Files. People should be warned something that ugly exists. LOL
I find that true for my county too (on butterfliesandmoths.com). I just sent a list off yesterday. I can't believe no one had even reported a monarch! So, that county by county thing is kind of a wash for me.
THat cat looks like a brushfoot of some sort…
aw, it's not ugly. it's pretty. love the colors
Yup, the giant swallowtails have been sighted around here. I'll plant and they will come. Maybe. In the meantime, I'll enjoy all of the pics that everyone posts.
Thanks for the info on the hummingbird moths. I have about half of those plants. Unfortunately, the scrub honeysuckle trees need to come down. They're awful and growing into our wires. I'm going to research to see if they can use another host plant. Hopefully, they can use viburnum---I have seven of those.
Silly question---is there a milkweed that isn't considered invasive?
velnita please do not confuse the wonderful native lonicera sempervirens for the horrible invasive bush honeysuckles. This is it http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2013/ I have an awful invasive bush type in my yard that I am planning on destroying so I know how awful those type can be, they grow all over the place around here.
Here is a picture of my native non-invasive honeysuckle. AKA Coral Honeysuckle
Edited to add - They are also in the ruby throat hummingbird top 10 native plants. : )
http://www.rubythroat.org/PlantsNativeTopTen.html
This message was edited Aug 20, 2008 11:36 AM
I need to get a coral honeysuckle....
Now that's a pretty honeysuckle. Does it have a fragrance? I'd still want it either way.
You're right---it doesn't look anything like my bushes/trees. The trunks on my honeysuckle are about 4" in diameter and the flowers are white without a scent. But the birds like it and yes, there's a hummingbird that likes it too. Still, it's gotta go.
That cat's kinda cool!
I found this one this afternoon...I know I have seen it before, but can't find it now!!
And only got 1 lousy shot of this BF...:(
nanny, Black swallowtail!
I have two of them getting ready to make their chrysalis right now
Yours looks close by the size.
Had a monarch on my butterfly bush. It's a girl, right?
That's who I thought it might be!! I wish I something to put it and bring it in!!
Hey, you just need like a shoebox with some mesh tulle or something over it. That's what OPBirder uses in her classroom.
Easy peasy to raise!
Like I have have mesh tulle on hand ????? You don't know who you're talking to missy! LOL :)
To answer about the fragrance....I have never noticed a fragrance on my honeysuckle, even putting my nose right up to it, but it is listed as being fragrant in the plantfiles. I suppose it may vary, if you can find one in a nursery sniff before you buy - lol.
Nanny - what a pretty red spotted purple!
lol nanny. You are a nut! well you know, run right out and buy some. that's what I did. or got an old screen? Put it over a box. or do none of the above.
Hey I just went a raided the girls dressup box...this to little and fits nobady now. Would this work??? OMG can I find it again???
I was thinking about using an old aquarium, next year though, my little ones, planting and making new garden beds is keeping me too busy this year. And if I'm going to do it I want to have the time so I don't mess it up! : )
I dont' see why not! duct tape that baby down to a box, put in a tapeable door and your'e set.
I have my little guy in a box now... my first attempt at this...any tips for me!!
Is that Black ST cat on Queen Anne's lace? Just curious since most of us plant parsley and fennel and such. I need to find me some wild Queen Anne's Lace - I know there's a patch of it out there waiting for me somewhere.
Even a bad picture of a Red-Spotted Purple is better than no picture at all (sniff, sniff).
And maybe a blurry picture of a Giant ST is better than none? I went in to get my camera because the Zebra Longwing was flying around and when I came back out this Giant ST stopped by. One good thing about Florida - we have plenty of citrus plants to host these guys. One of the volunteers at MOSI was talking to me about Giant STs and said his Dad owned an orange grove and that they didn't spray their but their neighbor did. I thanked him for not killing off all the beneficial insects. It seems like the Giant STs get the most "oohs" and "ahhs" from our visitors.
The Cassius Blues live in the plumbagos (their host plant) but they seem happy that I've planted other nectar plants below the plumbago. This one likes the pentas, but I've also seen them hit the milkweed.
So I was checking my beans and found more eggs again. Found a Monarch cat over on the milkweed, too. Anyway, my beans are in a raised bed, and laying on one of the wooden edges was a Checkered Skipper. I hadn't seen one in a while, and then I noticed this one was really still. I think he was a butterfly senior citizen as he couldn't fly very well and he seemed happy to hang out on my finger - and a healthy butterfly does not want to play with people!
I left him on the pentas where I hope he passes on to the big garden in the sky. Nature is often cruel, so I like to think of a butterfly peacefully dying of old age. It must be rare.
Here's another skipper that was hanging out in the plumbagos.
Here's another look at a Zebra Longwing with its proboscis covered in pollen. This one just wanted porterweed.
In other news, three Zebra Swallowtails hatched! Oh, and the Zebra Longwings hatched, too. I've got caterpillars all over the place, lol!
Forgot to add that I had a Black ST in my yard today but I couldn't get a picture. Of course, it probably didn't help that I was shooing it away from my fennel!
Melanie
This message was edited Aug 20, 2008 7:25 PM
oh, it will be fun to see the zebra swallowtails!
I've already posted this one on the Texas Forum, but here's the Queen I saw today. I just love these, glad to see another one...had a male here a while back, but it finally left. And DH saw a Monarch in the yard yesterday!
Hey Nan, I looked through my book and the Bug Files. Do you think it's a Question Mark caterpillar? http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/2780/
Oh duh, I keep forgetting to say that Mom saw a Red Admiral yesterday! Dad saw three a few weeks ago and now Mom saw one. They're pretty rare around these parts so we get excited when we see them. I'm going to have to stake out my plants this weekend.
Mel, That's what I was thinking because it really had the same spikes as the ones I saw on that caterpillar ID thread posted in the sticky. Definitely a brushfoot. Maybe you can put it in with your BST!!
Well, I would keep them in separate areas, but it would be really cool to raise one. I've never seen one in my area although my book says they do come to these parts. I knew I'd seen that caterpillar in my book so I just kept flipping until I found it. Book says they use elm, hackberry, and less often hops and nettles.
Saw some new ones for me today. LMK if I've got the id's right please.
Variegated Fritillary
Red-banded hairstreak. (Sure is a tiny little thing.)
