Uh Oh I may have to change my mind.....

12 years ago

I was at my sisters and low and behold this wonderful beautiful butterfly flew right in front of my face. Ya I know you guys have probably seen a lot of these but this is my very first one to have ever seen. Zebra longwing butterfly!! How beautiful to see in person and this picture so does not do it justice. I took maybe 20 shots and I only had my cell phone with me and I never could get a good shot of the tails. This is the best shot I got!!

{{gwi:410345}}

Now here is the kicker!! Out of ALLLLLLL the plants at my sisters out of allllll the true to type plants she has, the feeders the trees the grass. Out of everything guess what this wonderful little creature decided to land on?? A sterile not true to type salvia may night!! My sister has 6 types of salvia that come true from seed and this beauty lands ONLY on the ONLY sterile salvia. Oh me I may have to rethink my thought about sterile plants if it attracts beauties like this!!

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Comments (9)

countrycarolyn
Original Author
12 years ago
LOL that isn't a zebra longwing!!! Sorry about that I sometimes am blonde!!

What type of butterfly is that??
bev2009
12 years ago
Looks like a zebra swallowtail, the state butterfly for Tennessee. If there is any doubt, you should post the picture on the butterfly forum. They are very nice and helpful there. But you are right, it is beautiful. How fortunate you got a picture too.
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countrycarolyn
Original Author
12 years ago
BEV!!! That is it!! Oh my thank you thank you!! It was beautiful to watch. This is the first one I have ever seen and my sister said this was her first year to start having them!!
bev2009
12 years ago
The catepillars eat pawpaw (Asimina triloba). It sounds like you have plenty of land so you may want to plant a couple. You will need two of these for cross pollination. My son wants me to get a couple next year for the fruit. I'm not really interested in the fruit, but he helps me do so much around the garden I hate to say no. It sounds like the fruit ripens all at once and I really don't want to be picking up rotten pawpaws from the ground.
terrene
12 years ago
The honeybees and bumblebees love my perennial Salvias, most of which are hybrids. May night is a beautiful plant in bloom that is a well-behaved clumper and truly perennial. Mine has been in the garden 6 years and going strong. Which counts a lot in my mind, because many cultivars tend to weaken and die out. The foliage can get ratty and it smells funny, but nothings perfect I guess. :)

Another fabulous sterile hybrid is Agastache 'Blue Fortune', which is gorgeous and the bumblebees go crazy over it. I see butterflies from time to time. My Blue Fortune died out after about 4 years, but I missed it, and bought some more from Bluestone this year.

Maybe you should rethink it!
countrycarolyn
Original Author
12 years ago
Well this was at my sisters she has almost 3 acres that are surrounded by farmland. In the far back corner are a group of trees so who knows maybe this little guy ventured from that area. I have never been back in there to find out if a paw paw was mixed in that group but it would make sense.

As far as me growing a paw paw well I did start some seeds this winter and I have one that has germinated. I am even more excited now about that. Since I rent I am going to plant it at my parents but it sounds like I may need to plant it at my sisters now. Hopefully by fall she will know more of what is going on with her husbands job and whether or not they are moving if she stays she is going to get her a paw paw tree regardless if she likes it or not, ha ha.

Bev I may be totally incorrect here but I did read somewhere that was talking about letting the paw paw fruit fall to the ground and turn brown before harvesting or eating it. So maybe it wouldn't be so bad as you think. I also heard the flavor is close to that of a banana but creamier. Bad thing is that not all people can eat the fruit of a paw paw there are some that get really sick and sometimes it might not be on the first time they try the fruit. I forget if it was the amount they ate or just sampling it.

I love bananas and my great grandmother that was full blooded cherokee use to grow paw paw trees and my father said she was fit as a fiddle. I am sure it wasn't just the paw paw, but I do figure she is where I get my desire for native fruits.
ladyrose65
12 years ago
Thats wonderful Carolyn! It is a most beautiful Butterfly. If I see a Monarch, I get excited.
sjc48
12 years ago
Oh Carolyn! how lucky you are! I would LOVE to see one of these little guys in my backyard! I grow all my butterfly host trees in large pots, very little dirt in my backyard,and I rent too. Anyway, I am growing pawpaws-I know, I'll probably never see a zebra swallowtail here in SE Michigan, but hey, it could happen. Post more pics if you get them-thanks for sharing!
Shirley!
bev2009
12 years ago
Shirley, if you can find some paw paws, you might find the butterfly. There range includes southwest Michigan. I'm only a few miles from SW Michigan in Indiana so they are in my area too. Maybe my son doesn't have such a bad idea after all.

Carolyn, I didn't research it enough to know about the fruit dropping when it is ripe. This would be OK, as I was wondering how I was going to climb a tree to pick the fruit. LOL If I just have to pick it up, I'm OK. (Break for research.) Ok, didn't find the part about letting the fruit drop, but did find you can dehydrate and freeze the fruit, so another reason to grow in my book. I'd love to have some fruit growing in my yard.

Uh Oh I may have to change my mind.....

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Uh Oh I may have to change my mind.....

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