Thanks :-).
Cat, great pic of the Mockingbird bellying up to the feast. What can ya do, huh. That Malachite is so pretty! Those greens are actually some of my favorite colors anyhow, and to see them on a butterfly...wow!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 55
Not much action here lately the weather has been...uhhhh, Crappy!!!
But it's supposed to be nicer so hopefully some friend will come visit.
Cat...your post reminded me I have some tangerines in the frig. that are probably getting pretty old...but good for BF's so will put some out.
I've been hanging out on the seed/plant trading forums in efforts to collect plants/seeds for my BF/Hummer garden.
Question: I have an Orange tree that the graft died on and a lemon tree that thinks it's on steroids. I am definitly going to take the orange tree out it's too close to the house. But I saw "somewhere" that lemon trees were "host" and necter for "some kind" of BF but I don't remember which one. I can prune it down to a reasonable size and will, but can anyone tell which BF's like it.
And danged if I can find a spicebush anywhere that's a small plant, not a seed.
mj
The Giant Swallowtail uses citrus plants as host plants. They like some more than others, but I guess someone else could tell you more on that. I know they're sometimes called "orange dogs" because they use orange trees. Not sure about nectar.
Right Linda!
MJ~
Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum spp.)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=hercules&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
and Ruta graveolens
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/312/
also make great alternative hosts for GST. The R. graveolens will also support Black ST larvae.
Seems that Sunday was the last Summerish day for a while, and the Gulf Fritillaries were out and fluttering. I had one GF chrysalid that was still alive, so i set it out to see if it would eclose, but it didn't. So I brought it back inside the mudroom.
Ben and I drove up to Shawnee OK for a Poultry exhibit on Saturday... Had a blast! We brought home a friend too.. For more on this click the thread here...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/932613/
Debnes
It was humid outside and about 80 degrees today. Even though the chrysalids are inside, they seemed to know it was a good day to be a butterfly. In a big surprise, Mom called me at lunchtime to tell me my Palamedes had come out! I thought it was going to wait until spring! And yes, the black on my fingers is scales from the butterfly. This is why you shouldn't touch them unless you have to (like to let them go outside). Mom really liked this butterfly. This is the first one I've raised, but I told her we'll have more this spring. Then she says, "We have to wait until spring?" Silly Mommy.
Then, I get home and there are two Polydamas waiting for me! One is still hanging out because he wasn't quite dry, but I let this one go.
Melanie
Quoting:
It was humid outside and about 80 degrees today.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaa
It was snow out and about 15 degrees today.
Nice work Mel.
Pretty visitor today.
Second pic.
Darnit GP, you have all the cool birds AND butterflies.
Mola, Polydamas eat pipevine - and lots of it!
Mrs Ed, we Southerners are just trying to help you all cope through the winter. It will be your turn again, soon enough. Just think, I've never had a white Christmas. But as a native Floridian, it's not Christmas unless I'm wearing shorts, LOL!
GP, great to see someone else has White Peacocks. I saw one last week and was kind of surprised they were still around. And surprise - it's on purple porterweed! I think that stuff must be like crack for butterflies. My mom watches them chase each other away from it all day long.
Melanie
Melissa~ I do believe they will like that one just fine, if you're talking about the A. elegans...
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/942/
Aristolochia is the botanical first name you will be looking for.
Well, the weather warmed up today to mid 70s and the sun even came out for about half hour, so I took my lunch outside and saw the usual suspects;
Monarch
and the Longtailed Skipper.
WooooHooooo!!!!
I got a treat today!! And by a stroke of Luck got to see my first Zebra Heliconian BF...laying eggs!! The weather was soooo nice out and I was out potting up some cuttings. I had bought a new passionvine 2 days ago. Still in the pot. I saw this BF and I've never seen one like this "in person". Kept fluttering around the new passionvine...
Take a look........
It was luck I had my camera. I had been chasing some little birds around and never did get a good shot of them. I went to the Butterflys and Moths of N. America site to identify cause I had no clue as to what she was.
Lovely pics today! Ah...plant it and they will come, mjsponies. And now, cute little babies, too! We had a dim and foggy day. Funny, very severe drought here....and even when there's moisture in the air, it stays in the air. Arggghhh!
Great pix guys! SO good to see them!
mjsponies, you have to know that one! The Zebra Longwing is the official Florida state butterfly! I make sure to tell that to everyone that comes to the museum (MOSI) where I volunteer. I love spreading knowledge! We actually found a few of the cats inside the flight cage last weekend.
You know, as lazily as they fly, they're number one at escaping the enclosure. Our flight cage is like a screened-in patio inside a larger screened-in patio. The larger enclosure is a demonstration of how a wetland works so there's water flowing through and we have koi, tilapia, and minnows. Plus, we have turtles (visitors love the turtles). And there's lots of plants to feed the fish and turtles, too (and filter the water). So sometimes the butterflies get out into the larger enclosure and I net them and put them back in the smaller flight cage. This summer the Zebras were forming their own colony in the ginger plants. After I saw one laying eggs through the screen I advised my boss to put a passion vine in the outer enclosure. You know they roost together at night so I like to come in early in the morning when it's cool and they aren't active yet. You can walk right up and grab them with your fingers.
Melanie
Well, I've got more Passionflower cuttings started and seeds coming and I ordered 50 pipevine seeds. D's SO won't be happy if they eat all the passionflower!! How long before the eggs "hatch"....I have alot to learn. I marked the spot on the passion flower where the eggs are so I can keep track of them.
Great shots mjs!!! Here is a website that gives the egg about 4 days. It also has a lot of other good info on the ZLWs.
http://www.lamproductions.com/Zebra_longwing_site.htm
Shelia,
Thank You...a very helpful site. But...I wonder now, my passionvine is a hybrid and the site says their not suitable. I have the plain variety in some small cuttings, and w/ seeds coming. 4 days till the eggs hatch? I need to find a regular ole passionvine some where!!
I haven't been fortunate enough to have experience with the ZLW myself, but maybe Melanie can give you a better answer on that. I am of the opinion that where you are with lots of PVs growing wild that if the female chose to lay eggs on your plant, it will be suitable.
I know here someone has said the Gulf Frit will not do well on the PV that has the red bloom.
Sheila, I have a red passion vine. Winter has set in here yet the vine is still green. I have nearly cut my plant to the bone feeding my GF cat I brought in from the winter cold several weeks ago. Just today the cat went into a J-shape. So far, so good. That is not to say, however, the cat would not be better off having fed on a plain old passi. I have no way of knowing.
Martha
Wow Mjs! Great shots of the ZL. Good luck with those eggs! I have a new passion vine too and it's also the wrong kind for butterflies or so they say.
Martha, a long time ago on this thread, I heard tales that the red passionflower vines killed GF cats. My new vine is a burgundy one. I hope I have your luck with it as a host!
I've emailed a lady I just met that is part of a local plant swap group to see if she knew where I could get the " caterpiller" friendly version plants!! All the nurseries around here have the hybrids. Hopefully she can point me to someone who has a few reasonable sized plants ( with a reasonable price) that I can buy. Also, it's supposed to go down into the 40's this coming Sunday night. Should I carry the plant inside w/ the eggs?
Ahhhhhhhhhhh, I feel like a new mother....panic!!
I've got the Incense Passionflower, P. incarnata x cinnicata. And it's fine for cats...I guess because it's a mixed that contains the wild Maypop. Do you know what kind you have?
No, it was a NOID. Just Passionflower on it. She ( or maybe a different one) was out there again this morning and there's more eggs. I know someone who has a big passionflower that is overtaking the guidewire by her house and she said she could cut me some, but she is about 30 minutes away. Can I just stick a huge cutting in water? or does it need to be fresh cut.
Here is the one I have....it is more burgandy than red. The little hairs have white on the ends which doesn't show up well in the picture.
Ooh, red is the color to avoid. The cats tend to die on most red passies.
Okay, that's very interesting, does anyone know why?
Nope, don't know why, but I did have an interesting finding on a pink one. GFs rarely lay eggs on my pink passionflower and I never see cats on it, so I assumed they died when they ate it. I gave some of the shoots growing up from the ground to a friend. She said that GF cats covered the vines that I gave her and ate them down to the ground and that the cats were huge. I can't explain it!
Today, sulfers big and small all over the place. Only got one photo on guess what? A penta! This is a purple penta from the front yard though, so it's totally different from all those other penta shots I've shared!
Yes, another Monarch. Can't resist taking pics of them. This one's on the same tiny, half dead purple penta!
wow, those pentas sure are popular.
I almost got the Monarch on an azalea blossom, but she didn't stay long enough. That's why most of my shots are on pentas. They'll go to the other flowers, but they don't hang out on them long enough for a photo. When they get to the pentas, they park for a while!
you azaleas are blooming already?
I gotta move south!!!!!
Some of the Encores have flowers, but the regular azaleas aren't blooming yet! I went outside to see if this encore had a tag on it because it blooms all the time. It didn't have a tag, but I realized that the azalea next to it was the same variety and it doesn't bloom all the time, so I've just been lucky with this one.
I believe this is the White Checkered Skipper. On what's left of the White Mistflower.
ooo, cute.
So when does stuff start blooming again around there?