Spring arrived late, but with a bang! After I saw my 1st Ruby Throat Hummingbird, now come my first butterflies. Sulfur (no pic.) these little yellow butterflies are really fast darting about. But, my Eastern Tiger Swallowtail did stop for nectar so I got a good shot of her.
24th was at the house tween rains, put the hummer feeders out since I heard one buzz me. Seeing Sulfurs and Orange colored butterflies chasing each other too fast to follow. Lavender's blooming.
Hey Lily, what fun, what plant was the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on?
memays, It's Viburnum carlesii. It's a shrub, and the flowers when fully open emit such sweet aroma that perfume the entire garden. I love this plant.
1. V. carlesii close up.
2. The Shrub itself.
Enjoy, the butterflies did. :)
Hi Kittriana, glad you're here. Please feel free to share some pics. when you can.
Seeing Red Admiral and Cabbage Whites , when the sun is shinning No Hummingbirds so far Seeing some skippers ,, too many names to remember with those ,,
I keep trying to keep the Cabbage Whites interested in the Wild Mustard ,, They like my Mustard and Kale too much ,
Next week I will try to get some pics ,,warms up . so they do not fly in quick circles all the time
Thanks for the info on the virburnum! Always like to know good butterfly plants. Here's a couple of pics from today it was beautiful!
I'm seeing Cabbage Whites and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails.
Several hummingbirds out today. One at my Ruellia elegans, one at my pinnate lavender, and one at my bottlebrush.
Spring butterflies! Spring Azures puddling, snouts were also puddling - only captured one on camera, and I never tire of seeing the beauty red spotted purple.
Nice pictures Memay. Love Red spotted Purples too.
Rain, rain, rain !!! Finally a day of sunshine Tuesday. Lots of butterflies especially Question Marks and Commas puddling by a dirt road about a mile from home. Numerous chocolate colored Dusted skippers this year which like wild rose vervain.
How about first summer Butterfly , 2nd day of summer , first Monarch , A nice puffy Milkweed bloom and a nectar tea ! BIG Sigh ,,,,
Thanks juhur for sharing. There is hope for the migratory Monarch.
I've seen many Monarchs in Northern Ca. Here at home, I saw a lot of the tuberosa mw blooming along the roadside.
C_A_Ivy Thank you , the hope is for more , !!!
Ju, I would love to see some here. Got lot of tropical MW, Syrica, Tuberosa too awaiting on their arrival.
Lily _love I hope you see some soon !!! , It seems like you would have seen at least a few . Where you are it seems like you would have all kinds of Butterflies ... Seems the more that visit , the more that follow ,,
That female was laying eggs , So hopefully they will do well this year , I have about 42 Syrica plants back there , Tonight there are 100's of moths feeding on them .. today Red admirals and Question Mark were there.
I saw a rare Butterfly today , I have seen twice this year with that today , Small orange looking with small black dots Under a inch , but a good size ,, still no pic , but I keep trying ,, I Think it is a Metalmark ,
Same Monarch from before Sigh
Well, I'm glad you are seeing at least one. More may come. I haven't been able to get out and take a photo but will try soon.
I see a few butterflies here and there, but not close enough to take pictures. CG, hope you will do so soon before the weather will turn to triple digits. It's getting hot here.
South Bend, Ind along with a few cabbage whites these and 15 diff bee varieties are under the mulberries on the sumacs. I was dive bombed, but very few of them were slow
Sennae (Coffee weed) is loaded with green caterpillars. Probably Sleepy Orange sulphurs since I saw a adult in the area about a week ago.
Lots of nectar flowers blooming. Today's visitors were some skippers and a buckeye and a lady friend as well as a spooky Wood nymph that headed for a tree as soon as I spotted it. Really surprised to see a Red Spotted Purple nectaring butterfly bush flowers.
First day of summer.
This message was edited Jun 21, 2015 9:13 PM
Ivy ) Really nice pics and info
I have not seen a Buckeye in a long while now ,
2nd Monarch of the season , Today
Saw a few Question Mark and Red Admiral also ,,
juhur, yea a monarch and a female too. Cats soon.
Aww how lovely! Keep those pics. Coming y'all. And please send me some. LOL.
Ivy nice pics! I've got 8 gulf frit cats and a spicebush chrysalis. Hope the summer brings more!
Woohooo, although no pic. while I was watering my garden today. I saw a very 1st Black Swallowtail visited my dills. I was getting worried for Queen Ann Lace are blooming along roadside, my garden is full of parsley and dills, and there were no Black Swallowtails. Now that I saw the 1st, I hope more to come.
I saw only one Variegated Frit. flitting about several weeks ago. Maypops are blooming in our area and perhaps are setting fruits. Still no Frits. :((
I've seen hummingbirds going for lilies nectar. But not many butterflies still!
Black Swallowtails are here too. Due to their size, they make a spectacular sight in the yard. Love them!
I was a nature center today and they had bronze fennel with 2 cats so I just had to buy them and add them to the caterpillar condo! One big one should go to crysalis right away and an itty bitty one.
So far here ,, nada , nothing , zilch , zero , no cats , no swallowtails ,, I am enjoying reading and listening to all of yours ,,
Of course I have Red Admirals and Question Marks everywhere , and they need no help , and as their cats use Stinging Nettle , they are not going to get any either , help that is .
Ju, like you I was yearning for cats. in the garden. Here is my wish that has been granted. I was looking at different parsleys, dills location. On the other side of the garden to find nothing. This appears to be a 2nd instar Swallowtail was sitting on my Parsley flower head. I was thinking of leaving it outside, but there were too many spiders and other predators out there. I took the cat indoor, cleaned out all the spider webs. Here goes, my first caterpillar for the season. Yike!
Yeah Lily! Happy dance for you
Thank you memays, how are your cats doing? Please share picture of their progress. I've pictures, but haven't got a chance to load 'em into the PC, so I'll share more pics. tomorrow.
Lily ,, Good Start , Hope you get more , I have seen no Swallowtail of any kind so far , so your post is a treat for me too !!!
Hi Lily here are some pics of the spicebush from first found to green molt to yellow molt to chrysalis.
Here's one of the gulf frit cats. I've got to get a full series for that one and the black swallowtail.
Ju, I've been and will be looking for more of these Swallowtails- next generation. Thanks. memays, those are wonderful series! I've raised both of those species before, and would love to be given the opportunity to repeat the experience. In our surrounding neighborhood, we've quite a few Sassafras trees, I've been searching for cats, and have found none by far.
Here is the pic. of the Swallowtail 2nd instar, safely kept indoor with its dills and parsley.
Woohooo! Please keep those well wishes coming. This morning I found a newly hatch Black Swallowtail cat. plus another that's about 2-4 days old maybe. Here is the larger cat. of the two. Both have joined the other inside their temporary butterflies house. The smallest one is too small, thread-like in size, that my phone camera is unable to discern the shape with inadequate lighting.
Well just an update. I lost the first 2-3 tiny instars indoor. The largest of the first brood has turned into a chrysalis sometime last week. Today, I found at least 8 newly hatched 1st instars on my parsley. So I brought them indoor (I tried my best to separate 2 tiny spiders among the parsley where the cats. were found--these predators lay waiting for these cats to prey on!). Wish me lucks.
Meanwhile, I hope some Gulf Frits. will find my passiflora in the garden.
Lily that is nice to see your success ,, too bad about the couple cats ,, I feel for you , Had that happen here , it is disappointing .
I did get one Swallowtail , not many here this season
2 a Meadow Frittilary
3 a Monarch .
No eggs , no cats ,,
I do have baby Ground Hogs though , lol ???
ju, lol. Lovely pics. Keep looking for monarch cats. If you see the adults, hopefully they will leave behind some eggs. :))
