Daily Butterfly (etc.) Pictures. #95

1. American Lady
2. Longtail from last year Dorantes?
3. Question Mark in flight
4. Hummer on the approach.

Happy Mother's day!

Russell

I'm dismayed somewhat. My MW crop is dwindling in ways I can't explain.

Some (I think are poke from seed last year) are turning yellow. Too much light? :/

Others have been cut to the ground, tops cut or gone completely (rabbits?).

I'm almost afraid to plant anymore out. That reminds me I took a broken top from a poke MW and was going to try to root it. Now back out in the rain to find it!!!

A.

LEW, in the picture of the Question Marks, you have a different kind of butterfly on the table. It reminds me of a Southern Pearly Eye I once saw, but I don't know what kind of butterflies you get in your area.

Russell, I hope you enter photo contests - that hummingbird photo is great!

Melanie

This message was edited May 13, 2012 6:39 PM

Thanks Melanie and Lew. I haven't entered any, but have thought about it. I just enjoy seeing them and I am happy to share them with others. My kids and I picked 2 bouquets of butterfly plants for my Wife and a good friend of ours. Thanks to all of you who have shared your seeds, plants, pictures and knowledge. You have helped me and countless others learn how to attract BFs and other visitors to our communities.

Pic of the bouquets.

Russell

Hello everyone!
Glad to see the usual suspects here on this thread. Great pics as usual. Not much BF action in my area as we have had rain for 2 days.

Not sure if this is a good place for this question: I just got 2 Buddleia Plugs from sale bin at Walmart.( the kind in the paper bag w/ handle, they only have 1 stick each also dried out) These are sold as Bulbs for spring planting. Nanho blue and Pink Delight. If I hurry and get this in the ground, will they give me any flowers this year?

Thanks all!

Yes they should, scarletbean. They grow pretty fast. I think nano is a dwarf, I believe, but the pink delight can get up to 5-6'~ so it might need more room.

Yowie! Russell! What gorgeous bouquets!

Yeah Dale, I remember 2007! It was an amazing year indeed!

:-Deb

Kinda blurry from my iPhone pics:

#1-3 Datura opening yesterday... They had an amazing lavender edge on them, i suspect from the cooler weather we've had. I saw a hummingbird moth attempting to come take a drink, but it fled before I could get a pic.

#4 I worked in floral at Kroger yesterday making arrangements for Mother's Day... Here is one I made with Alstromeria, Roses, Asters, Wax Flowers and Green Mist, (the green mist reminds me of Queen Anne's Lace.)

I love the flowers in your bouquets Russell, as I know most were lit on by butterflies. I like working with flowers, but rather work closer to the dirt, with live plants.

Folks - what kind of root system does a butterfly bush have anyway?

I have been thinking of digging one up to move, and feel like a giant root system might be a deterrent.

Thanks.
A.

Amanda, I have never dug one up, but I would recommend trying to root some cuttings before you dig it up just in case. I have had good luck with them, and it might save you some money if the mature plant doesn't make it.

Good luck!

Russell

I moved one once that was about 3 feet tall. I just tried to take as much of the root ball intact as I could and had no problem. Think it just may depend!

I was just out watering my orchids and saw a Gulf Frit, a Monarch, a Cloudless Sulphur, and a Polydamas ST. I figured the Polydamas was the one I released a couple of days ago. On a whim, I checked my pipevine. I noticed it was blooming which was cool because it seldom does that (since it's constantly being eaten). Well, I looked closer and found a cluster of eggs on the flower! I looked further and found another cluster on the vine itself! So now I'll have lots of little Polydamas cats to raise. It's been a while since I've had any; last year was a bad year for them and the Zebra Longwings. I'll post pictures as they grow!

Melanie

Ok, here's a picture of the eggs. Notice that Polydamas eggs are yellowish while Pipevine ST eggs are reddish-orange.

And here's a few of my Giant ST cats chilling on the rue.

Melanie

Spring Azure (I think) in flight.

Thanks for the butterfly bush advice, I got them in the ground this morning. I have been wanting one for so long, and couldn't decide on color, or justify price on a more mature plant. When I saw the markdown to $5 for 2 and the 2 different colors, well, it was a done deal. I do love a bargain.
The datura photos are sooo lovely, the lighting makes them look ethereal. I saw a strange pod on a plant last year and my wonderful guy climbed down this crazy embankment to get it for me. It turned out to be datura and i planted some seeds. I have been rewarded with quite a few blooms already. They have a fragrance that reminds me of something I cannot quite put my finger on. Anyhoo, between the datura and the moonvine planted by it I hope to see hummingbird moths and possibly a luna moth.
Happy butterfly - ing !

Jmorth, THAT is a striking photo! the blue just leaps out and pokes ya in the eye!
Thanks for the beauty!

Eeek! That is a neat picture - it's doing a nose dive into that lily. :)

Thanks.
scarletbean, here's a pic from a few year's ago of HBM and moonflower:

jmorth...I am not sure which moth you have but I believe it is either a Tomato Hornworm, Tobacco Hornworm, or a Five-spotted Hawkmoth. You might look those up. Or wait and Dale will tell us...that's easier! LOL!

Yeah Sheila, So many different hornworm moths, hard to tell them apart. Dale might know...

jmorth, Your pics always amaze and inspire me! I have a good seedling of the Moonvine this year. It should be blooming sometime in July. The earliest blooms I've ever had were July 1st, but this years had a late start.

Mellie, Of course you saw all that! You live in Florida for goodness sakes, lol. You go girl! Great action with the GST and Polys!!
Outstanding, as usual!!

scarletbean, The best luck I've ever had propagating Buddelija, was with a pink/lavender that would make seed. I just threw some seeds from it down in fall and up they came. By the next spring/summer I had several very large bushes, blooming like crazy. Many of them don't seed well from my experience, but the pink one sure did. Park Seed and Michigan Bulb have great deals on plugs too, and even if you set them now, you'd have blooms in a month or two at the least.

Nice pics. everyone. Like Deb has said, J's pics. are outstanding! Scarletbean, I've good lucks with rooting Buddelija with semi-soft wood. I poke them in the ground, and they took off with regular watering. Deb. I've a species Buddelija it reseed freely but not my hybrids.

Could someone please send me some Monarch? My MW which piggybagged onto my container gardening; they begun to bloom. Need some caterpillars to eat them down before they go to seed. lol

This message was edited May 16, 2012 6:16 AM

I think all the Monarchs are at Mel's place.

Tehehe, Okay Mel. Please point them Monarchs to a GPS heading Alabama please.

Saw a Viceroy the other day ....got caught in my windshield wipers as I was diving. So when I got to Walmart I was able to get it out and let it go!

Beleieve me, if I could get the Monarchs to go I would! My milkweed has barely recovered so it should be time for more caterpillars soon. It's an endless cycle.

Melanie

Awww, thanks everybody. I hope these guys grow. When i planted them, I did see that there was a good amount of roots which looked alive even though the stems had withered, dry teeeny little leaves on them. I hope you are right about getting flowers. I am looking forward to the contrast of the 2 colors, although I will be happy with ANY growth. The more I look at Buddleia, the flowers and leaves, the more I wonder if they are related to lantana?

BTW, I had a question mark literally eating (well, sipping) from my hand today. I mixed up the butterfly brew and meant to get a guinness, but forgot and left it in a jar on the porch. I opened it to check on it and got some on me when along came the ? and lighted first on the jar lid, then my hand. Yay!!!

How cool sb!!

Hey guys, I know we talk about parasitic wasps but has anyone ever had parasitic flies? I ask because I kept the pupa that came out of my caterpillar and when it emerged yesterday it was a fly. I'm waiting until it dies and then I'll get a picture. I just wondered if anyone knew offhand what it was.

Melanie

Just enjoying seeing all the wonderful butterflies everyone has been posting...takes me awhile to go through them all, I get so far behind.

I have GF cats all over my passi vine. I saw one sulphur cat on the Cassia, but by the lack of leaves I'm sure there are more. The Monarchs just now are starting some egg laying again...which is good because my plants are all full of leaves again from the last piggy cats that completely stripped them clean in late winter.

Lots of tiger swallowtails and giant swallowtails flying around...I guess I don't have a host plant for them..will have to find out what they like...any ideas?

Caught some real close ups of a dark swallow tail...never can I get this close, but it was really engrossed in that penta flower.

Sherri, those are gorgeous shots you've got! Please everyone keep those pics. coming. I saw a few swallowtails here and there. A varigated GF I think. But not very many of anything else. How come Bruce gets Monarch in Ohio, and I get none down here? Oh Thanks Mel, for the thought of sending me Mornach if you could. I've Pentas, I also have that tropical Jatropas, just waiting for those winged jewels to arrive.

By the way I found a milkweed bug on my host plants. I destroyed it because I thought it was an assassin bug. But looked it up and see it doesn't eat the cats but are seed and sap-suckers. So I guess it is a bad bug if you're trying to grow milkweed. So guess I did the right thing. Reminded me of the love bugs we see around here...but larger and brighter.

http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2008/05/milkweed-bugs.html

I had the large milkweed bug.

Sunkissed, that's the female dark form of the Tiger ST. See how it has stripes on the body instead of spots? Plus, you can kind of see the stripes in the wings.

I had a nice surprise out front this afternoon - a White Peacock! This is the first one I've seen in my yard.

Melanie

Nice one Mel. Sherri last year I've gotten alot those bugs too. I didn't do much to them. Mel, back to your question. I have seen robber fly that 'robs' bees in the garden before. But parasistic fly on other larva. Whoa!!! Tell us what you've found?

I found a good link about Monarhc parasites: http://monarchparasites.uga.edu/parasites_in_monarchs/index.html

Apparently, I have a tachinid fly problem. It's really gross, they come out of the chrysalis or caterpillar on white strings and drop down to the bottom of the cage. At first they look like little tiny grubs but then they turn into a plain brown pupa. I nabbed a couple of the pupa and isolated them in tupperware; I was surprised when a fly came out! The one that hatched is almost dead so I'll take a picture once he's no longer a threat.

Melanie

Oooh yike! Those tachinid fly paratoids are bad dudes! Next time I visit my local fav. garden center, I'll try to find some fly traps. It'd be worth it to keep their population down. Thanks Mel.

Here is a good site to look up all things butterfly on. I copied the link for the page on tachinid flies, but if you go home from there you will find a lot of good info.
http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/tachinidfly.php Great pics of the fly too.

I have had both the wasp and flies to infect my butterflies. I keep a fly bait bag out all year, it can't hurt.
A group of wasp emerged from a chrysalis I had caged and I was able to capture and kill them. This shot is a close up of one inside the tight mesh of the castle type cage.......reinforcing the need to use tiny mesh for the cages. If they had been able to get out, they would have gone on to parasitize more cats.

This message was edited May 18, 2012 11:24 PM

Mellie- I cant tell from your picture, but is the fly pretty big with a black and clear pattern on the wings?

Had a lovely yellow tigerstripe flutter into my yard yesterday. Must have been late for an important butterfly meeting, it didn't even stop on my pentas.

Thank you Sheila for the helpful webpage on the tachinidfly. LOL with you scarletbean regarding

My Polydamas ST cats hatched last night! I love how they clump together; my mom says they like to snuggle.

And I found another Giant ST outside. They grow much faster when not in captivity; the one I found is a monster! I also found four more eggs. Here's a pic of the ones I've been growing in captivity.

Melanie