DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 79

LOL!!!....I am with you Mrs. Ed!! Yesterday was the first time I have handled my BF's...and I was very careful!!

Just got back from a walk and I brought home 3 monarch eggs. I hope I do better than last year...which would take much! There was a female flying around being very busy laying eggs! ^_^


Oh......I forgot all about this guy......he was on one of my plants and I need to ID it!!! Appears to be some sort of sphinx moth maybe????? Looked like a hummingbird moth in camouflage...cool!

Butterflies are fun to have on your hand/finger. So far I've had a Monarch, BST, a Painted Lady and this Gray Hairstreak become friendly with me :D

jlp....Jennifer...thanks for sending the torch flower seeds along to me. I got them yesterday and was thrilled. Now...when and how should I plant/sow them?

Sheila,

You'll love the 'Tithonia Torch'...a work horse in the garden. Ours never disappoint...usually reaching between 9-10' by the end of the season. Currently they are about 8'...
Here's a pic I just took early this evening :)

Sheila, sorry I didn't send instructions! I plant mine the same way sa I do Zinnias, Marigolds, and most of my other seeds. Sow them shallow, maybe 1/2" and water. Thin them out to about 8" apart. If they start to get crowded, either transplant them out or thin further.

I'm pretty tough with my plants. They have to be able to take a lot of abuse! These have been really easy to grow and keep going though. Good luck with them!

Oh, and they grow fast, so you should still have time to get them into the ground this season. ;-)

ooo, and Sheila, I've got an envelope ready to go out for you. You'll have all kinds of Torch Flowers.

Those Torch Flowers are quite impressive everyone. It's much fun when you share the joy of gardening with one another. Here is one of the BST that hung around my garden the past few days.

Don't miss my pic of our 8' Tithonia Torch' above Sheila (winks)

This message was edited Aug 7, 2010 7:05 AM

Hello Lily,

Lovely pic!
That's a "Black Form" Tiger Swallowtail...not a BST! :D

This message was edited Aug 7, 2010 7:26 AM

Oh, thank Susan. Boys I need to go back and do some homework. Thank you for pointing me back to the direction. You're a pal and I love you! It's the counter part of this 'purdy'? How can we tell their gender? Male and female can be in yellow tigers as well as Black forms?

Hello Lily,

I used this site often...and just plug in the butterfly I'm interested in to the search area on the left side.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
Here's the info of the TST. Read the info under the "identification" title under the pic. After you read that, click on where it says "more images" under the pic and you will see various pics of both forms and the sexes :)
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1372

A couple of Monarchs at the top of our Tithonia...

You are a jewel Marna, I appreciate that. I have a large yard and will definately put more to good use.

Yes Susan I did, and can't wait until I get them going here!

Yesterday my DH came and told me there was two black colored STs out front on the phlox dancing with each other. LOL! I got the camera and found that it was Pipevine STs and indeed it was a male and female! I stayed out there for 30 min or more trying to catch them if they hooked up. It was getting dark because of glorious rain moving in and the wind had picked up too. I deleted about 93% of what pictures I took, but managed to get these.

Then when I almost gave up...here comes another male.

I thought surely I will get a mating pic now. But alas...the two males flew off together (hmmm) leaving the female still feveriously nectaring ..... the dark closed in and she took off too.

I'm loving all of the butterfly pictures but I still can't get over the Thritonias. They look amazing !!!! I've got some seedlings about 3 inches tall or so and can't wait for them to reach blooming size. I love the plants as much as the butterflies.

Sulphur convention

first time observation of a Bronze Copper

courting Coppers

Monarch out in the country...

Boy, lot so great pics!

Lily_love. thsoe dark ones are hard too learn!! I have spent 2 summers now trying to get them straight and finally have photos of all of the to tell the difference. Though I am still lacking of really good shots of the Spicebush!

Hoping to spot some Coppers sometime!

Buckeye looking pretty on the Ironweed...

I couldn't help but wonder if this is one of the Black Swallowtails I have released....

HBM last night

and another

Nice shots nanny and jmorth! I love the buckeyes and that HB moth is a super shot.

Sulphur

Grey's Hairstreak

open wings

Those hairstreaks and blues have some really subtle but lovely iridescent coloring on their wings. It's always a treat to watch them warming up in the morning or trying to catch the last warmth from the sun before they settle in for the night!!!

~ Cat

So this morning I went to Fairchild Tropical Gardens like I do on Sundays and there were sooo many more butterflies than I had seen before. Here are some pictures of the ones I got today. The first one is a Zebra Longwing

Followed by a Peacock. I think that I wasa told it was a White Peacock

Then I got to see a Julia standing still

Then something new to me in the park. A Mangrove Buckeye

After which I met to with the lady who does the buttefly tours and we spotted a Denna (not sure what the spelling is) Everyone is happy because this butterfly had been absent for the past 2 year in South Florida.

This message was edited Aug 8, 2010 1:06 PM

Followed by a Queen who decided that she would let me take just one open wing picture before flying away.

And last but not least one of my favorite little ones. The colors are just WOW!!! An Atala. They seem to be making a good comeback after the coontie stopped being harvested.

And here is it's brightly colored caterpillar

There were Orange shulphurs, Cloudless sulphurs, a lot of skippers, Giant Swallowtails, Polydamas Swallowtail and of course lots of Monarchs but the monarchs I've taken pictures of and the rest were moving way to fast. Those Polydamas don't stop flapping their wings not even to drink some nectar.

Oh Roly, what a great collection. I love those white peacocks, but truly all of them are awesome because I never have seen one of them. Agree the colors on that alata are awesome

Roly,

Fantastic photos! That Mangrove Buckeye is great - gives me something to compare to our Tropical and Common Buckeyes. And that Atala - awesome!! I have coontie in my yard - in the hopes that those will make it to south Texas and find my yard!!! A long shot - but with the strange weather and hurricanes - anything is possible :o)

Is that a Dina Yellow? Not sure what you meant by Denna.

Queens we get by the thousands - you can keep those!!! HA! HA!

I've raised Julias and Zebra as those frequent by yard - but have yet to get a White Peacock to lay eggs on the ruellia. Might have to get some bacopa in the hopes of luring a gravid female.

Again...wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing them with us!

~ Cat

I am being lazy today........but did grab the camera for a few shots........
Giant Swallowtail...........