Plant It and They Will Come #7 Eggs and Cats Oh My

Swallowtails were all over the Butterfly Bushes in the front yard when I was deadheading them today. Okay, let's see if I've got these IDs and photos sorted out...

#1 - This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Spicebush Swallowtail (both female, I believe) managed to share this blossom. I felt so sorry for that poor thing with the torn wing.
#2 - female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
#3 - female Black Swallowtail...no wait,,,female Spicebush Swallowtail.
#4 - male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
#5 - This female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was really enjoying the blue Lobelia siphilitica in the back yard. Nothing else seemed to attract her.

This message was edited Sep 1, 2015 8:39 PM

Sequoia, what a smart observation ; - )

I corrected one of my IDs...feel free to chime in if I got them wrong; I want to learn.

Excellent butterfly pics Muddy! I always felt bad for ones with torn wings too.

Thanks. I'm still flip-flopping about the ID of the dark ones, though...now I think they're female dark form Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. I keep looking at these photos and I still can't quite decide. http://www.marylandbutterflies.com/pages/swallowtail_easterntiger.html

Two more pics of the younger female dark form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (?) who was all over one of my 'Miss Ruby' butterfly bushes.

Great photos, Muddy! I think you might be right about the dark form EST ID-- I can see shadows of the tiger stripes on the wings.

haha--Seq, I agree with Muddy about your very astute observation! ;-)

Great photos, Muddy! I love swallowtails!

I came back from a 2-week trip (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1404652/), and missed the peak bloom of the Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' which is a butterfly magnet.

The little pupa on my Sedum that I posted earlier is now gone. I guess it safely turned into a happy butterfly.

Returning to SSGs question about things in bloom right now- I wonder about Caryopteris and Cosmos? I have neither.

Muddy--
The second photo above is so beautiful! A real classic!!!
Make some cards from it. Beyyer than paying $5 for a card in a store.

You can buy the blank card forms with the little slits in the corners--
plus the envelopes. My cousin still makes these cards.
Have to ask her where she gets them.

So-- you have to do is slide a photo in there--and you have a card.
The blanks may be by special order--not sure. Checkout some card places...

Gita

My caryopteris, which was huge and gorgeous, is completely dead. I have no idea what happened, but I think voles had something to do with it. I remember it being a bee magnet, but not necessarily a butterfly magnet. Hm, cosmos... Do swallowtails like cosmos?

I need to get out to a bigger nursery. My local ace didn't have much blooming.

SSG, last spring my caryopteris died for no apparent reason as well. It started leafing out but then petered out and died. It was only in the garden for 2 seasons prior to that.

The butterfly is gone - photo for my earlier post.

Many of the cats I posted earlier are gone too. Some of them were so fat!

Checked all the MW, Parsleys etc....Guessing there are a total of 8 still chowing down.
One of them was still an adolescent.

How can you tell what # of instar they are in? By length?

G.

Gita, this website has photos of different stages of the life of a swallowtail: http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/lifecycleofblsw

It is interesting to match the photos with what we see in the garden.

Donner--
That is a beautiful site! Pretty amazing....

If it wasn't so hot--I would go out and look for a chrysalis somewhere.
Do you think they would attach from the same MW they were chowing from?
How about the high fence of my raised bed? it is a shadow board fence.
The boards alternate--in--out--in--out...Plenty of privacy if they wanted to
"hang around" there....
Maybe I should check the stems and branches of my old Lilac bush.
That is right next to the "Tropical MW" .

NOT today! I've been outside enough today. Too hot! G.

CatMint, thanks for the ID confirmation!

Sally and ssg butterflies do not seem to like Cosmos; at least, there are never any on mine. It seems to be bee territory. Of course, if there weren't Butterfly Bushes about 20 feet from the Cosmos, maybe they'd appreciate the latter more!

Donner, congrats on the butterfly! :)

Muddy, thanks for that report! i'm thinking butterfly bush is definitely my best bet. I just got a Behnkes coupon in the mail, so that's where I'm headed!

Seq, it was so strange. My caryopteris was quite big and very well established. It's the kind with lime green leaves... can't remember the cultivar name right now. I was so surprised when it started to die from outside in.

SS--Home depot still had it's 25% off shrubs and trees last weekend.

We have had pretty blue Butterfly Bushes. IF I dead-head them--they look really nice.
If not--all the spent blooms just add a gray tone to them.

G.

Thanks, Gita, I'll check out my local HD!

Deadheading is definitely a downside to Butterfly Bushes. SSG, if you don't have Blue Lobelia, you should because the Swallowtails really like it as well.

I recently deadheaded my Joe Pye 'Little Joe', and I saw new flower buds on it. That'll make the butterflies happy!

Muddy, I agree on the Joe Pye...every butterfly, bee and other pollinators visited repeatedly! Monarchs go to any blooming Milkweed first and foremost and next would be Joe Pye. Swallowtails like to 'make the rounds' here from Butterfly bush to Joe Pye to Butterfly bush. Skippers are all over Agastache (My 'Blue Fortune' and 'Peachy Keen' are still blooming), Phlox 'Jeana' and narrow leafed Ironweed, 'Iron Butterfly'.

Butterfly Bush sure fills a niche for me in terms of nectar source. I don't mind dead heading and it keeps my bushes from contributing to the growing concerns re this plant's invasiveness.

SSG, my HD just got in a shipment of dwarf Butterfly Bushes Buzz MagentaThey top out about 5' The nice thing is that their blooms are full size! They are in quart pots for $7.95. These work well in containers, too. I have Buzz 'Velvet'
http://www.buzzbutterflybush.com/home_grower/gallery.html#

Oh, I haven't been deadheading the Joe Pye because finches love the seed heads.

Thanks for the blue lobelia tip, muddy! I think mine was accidentally weeded out. Oops!

Coleup, I'm going to do my best to get out to HD today!

Here are links to compare the 5 instars of Monarchs (Pic 1) and Black Swallowtails:

http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/monarch_life_cycle

http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/lifecycleofblsw

And, from a woman who has raised both Monarchs and BST:

http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/raising-eastern-black-swallowtail-caterpillars/

My two caryopteris Worchester are blooming very nicely right now. I have a couple small ones that popped up this year if anyone would like one.

I had a mass exodus yesterday from the bottom of the habitat to the top.
I now have 5 chrysalises, 9 in J position or preparing for J position, and 3 still munching away. At the height of their consumption a couple days ago, they went through over 40 leaves in one day. Glad I don't need to collect as many leaves now, as my poor milkweed was beginning to look rather shorn!

Wow, that's quite a lot going on there Cat.

you'll have big excitement 9-11 days from now! hope it's a day off morning for you, you'll have a better chance of actually catching and emergence.

thanks, Seq and Sally! Yes, hopefully it will happen over a weekend!!
Here's how they look right now:

I wish I could find a couple Chrysalis,,,where to look--I don't know.

From your netting houses--it looks like they just hang anywhere....
I have plenty of tall shrubs and growing plants--and 2 wood fences....

How far from their "dining room" do they travel to "hang out"?

Like--one of my big Parsley pots is right above the holy bushes by my grill.
The gig fat cat was there last night. Gone today. He would not have had to go too far....
g.

This particular butterfly habitat is a cube about 11" on each side. I have their leaves at the bottom of the habitat, and mostly they hang out down there. But when they're ready to pupate, they climb up the side and onto the top where they prepare to make their J--I can see their preparations from the top of the cube, because it looks like they are spinning a thread from their bodies to the top of the habitat, since they need to hang from there. They hang in the J-position for a day or two or three, and then they become chrysalises! It's pretty cool.

I think chrysalises can be very hard to find in the wild--first the caterpillar can travel quite a ways to find a spot to pupate, and second the chrysalis often blends in so well... Maybe your big fat cat on the parsley wandered off to pupate?

How exciting, CatMint!

I know I must have baby Swallowtail caterpillars in my garden, but I can't find them! The host plants are scattered about, which makes it harder for me to look for them. I've been checking the parsley, dill and Spicebush fairly carefully and regularly and did a quick check of the Snakeroot, but haven't checked the Golden Alexanders. Something's been eating the Spicebush leaves, but I don't see frass or cats.

I looked today---

I saw 2--2nd. instars on my parsley pot. Nothing on my MW. All gone!
Bon Voyage!

that would be cool to have baby spicebush swallowtails, Muddy!

Yes, it would; I bought that shrub just so I could see some of those adorable little things! Maybe I need to plant a flowering something that attracts Spicebush butterflies closer to it.....

Looks as though it uses Magnolia virginiana as a host plant in addition to the spicebush. Maybe I need to get one of those, too! :-)

I wouldn't mind one of those myself!

I think that what is lacking are flowers that will attract the Spicebush Swallowtails to the area where the shrub is growing; it's mostly a shrub bed right now and none of the shrubs are flowering right now. There will be a lot more in bloom there next year, though.

that's a really good point Muddy. mine is planted in an area with relatively few flowering plants also--maybe i need to change that,

Wikipedia says this about Spicebush Swallowtails: "Joe-pye weed, jewelweed and honeysuckle are favorite sources of nectar for the adults.They have also been known to drink nectar from Lantana, as well as thistles, milkweed, azalea, dogbane, mimosa and sweet pepperbush." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_troilus

I have Joe Pye weed and milkweed planted right next to it, but they're baby plants and done blooming anyway. Maybe I'll buy a Lantana this year and sow Jewelweed seeds next to it this fall.

I have looked down on Lantana as invasive in some areas but it sounds like a good one for late summer nectar.

I think I need to move my spicebush--it's not thriving in the spot where it is, so I could transplant it later this fall to an area closer to the milkweed or Joe Pye weed... Fingers crossed that my tropical milkweed reseeds again next season the way it did this year!!

My Chrysalis #1 looks like it's going to eclose soon!
I have three caterpillars left in J-position and one still munching leaves.

Do milkweed plants continue to make seed pods even when a lot of their leaves have been removed for hungry caterpillars??