I wanted a new too but just had other things to get ...I am a confessed camera junkie!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 59
Folks - I've posted this in a couple spots, just to get some ideas. I'm planting a
BF veggie garden in a 1/2 whiskey barrel. What kind of planting mixture would
be best? Garden soil, potting mix, what? And should I use any additive besides
compost?
Don't use Garden Soil, it is designed to be mixed in with your soil, not use on its own. I t will burn your tender plants. I would just use potting soil. In my mind it is a container like any other.
I like to use those mixes that are for containers as they seem to have more peat or something in to retain water. Mix in some of those soil moist crystals too.
American Lady? Have I got an American Lady, or a Painted Lady?
?
Lily...looks like you've got a Snout :o)
~ Cat
Here is a swallowtail I saw today, the pic is lousy cause I had my shutter speed set to slow. I can barely make out which one its is, whadda ya think? Pipevine?
Thanks Cat~, Dat. Your phlox is lovely....
Datura...looks like a male Black Swallowtail - papilio polyxenes. If you have rue, dill, fennel, parsley or queen anne's lace and such you might get some females ovipositing. You can then raise and release butterflies or at least watch their cycle of life :o)
~ Cat
I have everything but rue and queen anne lace planted just for them! Love to take pics of the lifecycle too. Thanks for the input.
Peg
The TST is back and it checked out this red Azalea. :-)
That is so perfect it looks like photo shop! Nice Lily!
To my surprise today one of the V Frits emerged!!! It went into full chrysalis on 3/13 and that was only nine days ago!!! This was the underside just before release. Wanted a pic in case it flew too fast when I released.
Fortunately it posed briefly. This was my first VF. Anyone know if it is male or female?
This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 2:16 PM
Congrats Sheila! How exciting that's!!!
What a lovely VF, Sheila! Probably it can't wait to get going.
And here's just a few of my Polyphemous cats. I put four of them out on an oak tree today and got one more container out...time to give them a bit more space. They're all doing good, except for one little one that died.
And here's a tiger cat, one of the two older ones.
Thanks Lily!
Linda....your Poly's look like they have been lifting weights and have that upper body strength! LOL!
The TST looks so much like the GST! I don't think I could tell the two piles of bird poop apart!
LOL, about the bird's poop thingy. I'm heading out and plant my parsleys for those. Oh yes!
I figure the head end is bigger because it takes a big pair of choppers to chew up those live oak leaves! Most of the time I can tell the difference between the tiger cats and the GSTs. But knowing the difference between the TST cat and the Two-tailed Tiger cat when they're in the bird-dropping stage...now, that's hard! Just about all the tree host plants are leafing out now. And I've got milkweed seedlings growing. I'm curious about how the Asclepias physocarpa will do. Very odd milkweed!
Oh I was thinking of BST, instead. Sorry I was off on that one. I saw two different types of butterflies in the garden today, wasn't quick enough to take pix. I also was surprised to have discover a passy incarnata coming up, that's way too early, but that will be okay by the G.F. I'm sure.
Sighhhh...we don't get any polys, TST or TTT here
It's been so dratted windy lately I haven't seen a butterfly...not even a skipper! No fair!!!
Oh well, had a yard guy come in on Sunday to help me clean up my back yard - since I'd injured both knees I've been unable to kneel or bend down to weed or push the mower. Anyway, am doing much better now :o) I found one lone Monarch last instar caterpillar on a wild pepper plant. I put it into a cat cage and it started to pupate within minutes. I do hope it remains viable. I saw another dead caterpillar and a wasp flying around the area.
On a good note...I found several aristolochia fimbriata and aristolochia elegans seedlings that sprouted from fallen seeds :o) Got about ten a. fimbriata potted up and only potted a couple of the a. elegans...there are way too many to dig up!!! Also found a corky stem passion vine seedling too...yippee!!! Have no idea where that came from but it was in my yard!!! Also had several mist flower plants growing throughout the yard. Amazing how well those do when left alone.
Ah...and here's a couple of photos of the area behind the ranch house that I tilled up two weekends ago.
~ Cat
Another view...
~ Cat
...oh and even though I thought the deer wouldn't venture close to the house - I was wrong. Here's a photo of some deer tracks with a snake track to boot!!! EEEK!!!
~ Cat
This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 10:46 PM
One more view....the ranch house is way to the right behind that palm tree. My uncle's house is to the left. The local church is to the far left where the other palm trees are.
You can see the tractor shed as well as numerous flat bed and cattle trailers and an old school bus Dad bought because he wanted to convert it into a mobile deer camp shack :o) Needless to say that thing has been sitting there for at least a decade!!! I laugh because when I use google earth to view the ranch you can see that yellow bus from the satellite image!!!
The semi-dried grass path you see to the bottom right is the road I take to get to the back forty so to speak. Will have to take photos of the rest of the place later on.
Will have to see if any seeds sprout. It hasn't rained and Mom told me last week Dad had gotten on the tractor and scooped up some soil to thrown down in the yard around the house. We had a metal roof put on and the workers left ruts in the yard when they backed up their trucks with equipment. Mind you, some of the soil Dad dug up was from where I'd tossed out wildflower seeds!!! Oh well, maybe we'll end up with wildflowers in the front yard!! ROFL!!!
~ Cat
Hi there Cat,
Wondering if you have recognized me in this forum from the Butterfly Forum at network 54? (winks)
As I mentioned in that forum, I'm adding several new host plants this year...can't wait!
Hi Susan,
Welcome to this forum...I post here a lot as it is easier to maneuver around and upload photos without having to link to a photo site :o)
Gosh...I haven't visited the Network 54 Butterfly forum in ages. I guess I need to catch up :o)
~ Cat
Hi Susan! Welcome!
It's a Two-tailed Tiger! One of the older ones turned green and has Two-tailed Tiger eyespots! Yea! Gotta go, pic later!
Hi everyone, my first BST for the season. Oh yes!!!
Congrats on the TTTST Linda, and your BST Lily!!
I just spotted a weary faded Monarch that was just drifting over my fence into the neighbor's yard!! Never saw if it was male or female but it was the first one I have seen this year. Hopefully there will be more to come!
This Monarch had a damaged wing, but had no trouble flying.
I'm gonna stick my pic here since it's not worth creating a thread for it. In the past 2 years I have focused on planting for butterflies and hummers. Looks like it's finally paying off...
Here's my green cat, Two-tail #1. #2 cat was doing its instar today, changing color, so I left it alone when I cleaned the cage.
Great Vossner!!! Thanks for helping out our future bf friends. Are you bringing any of them inside? It is so facinating to experience the changes first hand.
Linda, that is a cute green cat!! Wish we got those in this area!
I am really getting anxious to start seeing some BF's flying around here. Nic epics you guys!
sheila, no, not yet. I do have a hamper thingy that I got at the resale shop specifically for that purpose; however it is still sitting in the garage.
I found another varg. frit on the pansies and brought it in. That makes 6 total that I have taken to raise. I have 3 in chrysalis and released 2 that emerged already! I am so thrilled to get something different this year.
Oh....a funny thing happened the other day. I had told a neighborhood boy, about 9yo; that when I started bringing in cats I would give him one to raise. He remembered and asked the other day if I had any yet. So I brought these out and explained they were my first of this kind but I would give him a BST or Monarch later. As we talked Montrey and his friend touched the cat and etc. Then I saw it began to poop and told them look it is pooping. About the time they were looking closely...a ball of wet frass flew out and toward them. I had wondered why the frass was all over the sides of the plastic cage, unlike other cat's that just falls. I now know...the VFs have "moist projectile frass"!!
Wow! I've seen cats that "throw" their frass a little bit because supposedly they'd rather not have it on themselves or the leaves they eat...or maybe frass would attract the attention of predators. Slowly I'm growing more kinds of milkweed now. So far A. viridis and A. physocarpa are doing pretty well from seed. I just got two A. tuberosa plants, which was from a mail swap, long story there. Should be interesting to see how these do. I have a couple of other kinds planted that I'm waiting to see if they come up from seed also.
Linda, do need some asclepias incarnata? I will be happy to send you a pack of seeds.
Well, right now I've got more seeds of various kinds of plants than I can possibly plant this spring. Just one of those "what was I thinking?" moments!