Wow...It'll be another month.5 here.

Jeff

I 've only seen sulphers so far, but it definitely feels like spring. We now have our first sunburn for 2008.

I saw a sulphur the other day, too, tdr4, and this morning while I was working outside, I saw a butterfly that I think was an American lady. I didn't get a close-up look, so it may have been a red admiral or a buckeye, but it was most likely an AL. The base of the cudweed is well filled out with new growth, so wouldn't it be something if I got cats in the next few weeks? American ladies are usually my first cats of the season, but I think this would be earlier than usual.
I was looking at all the new growth popping out at the base of my false nettles when I saw this butterfly, which was the size of and had the flight pattern of an AL, RA, or buckeye. My new containerized passionvines are popping out with new growth, all except the p. incarnata 'alba', that is, but then p. incarnata never makes new growth off of old vines - they all die back, and it makes new shoots from the bottom.
Spring is coming along!
Sherry

That's great that you're seeing butterflies, MissSherry! It's so exciting to think that spring will soon be here. I want to plant some P. incarnata outside in containers this year and then bring them inside at the end of the season and was wondering what size containers you put your passionvines in.

My vines that are in containers are the ones I ordered last fall, Cathy. I didn't want to plant them outside until they got a little more size on them, since they were so small - I thought they'd tolerate any cold weather we might have better if they were bigger. I don't plan on ever growing any passionvine in a container indefinitely, but these are in one gallon containers for now.
Sherry

MissSherry, I had been wondering if they could be planted in containers and left there indefinitely, but I see that you don't think it's a good idea probably. I know they would die back over the winter here if left outside and I guess come back in the spring. The reason I was thinking of letting mine in a container all summer is because I heard that they can become invasive and was concerned about that. I don't know if there is such a thing as that happening up here or not considering our temperatures in the winter. Even if I could keep it in a container all summer, there'd be the watering I'd have to do probably every day and also the lugging in of the big pot at the end of the season because I think it would probably need more room than a one-gallon container...I think. I can see why you'd want to let yours in the pot until it would get a little bigger. Someone had given me a start of P. incarnata late last summer, which I planted in a one-gallon pot and kept out in our cool laundry room all winter. It died back but now I see a few small sprouts and am still trying to decide whether or not to leave it in that container, plant it in a bigger one, or plant it outside in the ground.
Cathy

I saw a newly eclosed PVS yesterday, hanging onto a plant for dear life in 25 mph winds. I've also seen skippers, quite a few sulphers, and a buckeye here and there. I can't wait, I'm doubling the size of my garden this year.

khakitag, Lucky you to see butterflies already. :) I'm really looking forward to the spring when they'll start showing up here. The Cabbage Whites are probably the earliest ones to show up, and the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are always here in May nectaring on our lilac bushes.

You sound like me with the doubling your garden. I did that last year and said to dh that I wasn't going that crazy again this year. Gosh, I'm wondering now if I should have stayed away from the GW wintersowing forum because guess what, I'm planting even more this year! lol Not only am I planting for the butterflies but I'm also putting out some veggies so we can avoid the high prices of buying them somewhere.

Last year I spent much of the spring and summer hand digging sod with a trowel to make my new gardens. This year I learned about lasagna gardening and have gotten started on that and plan on having a much easier time this year. Butterflies and less work! Woo hoo, what more could I ask for!

Ok... lasagna gardening??? I'm not a great gardener, it's with luck that I get anything to grow. Last year was my first for BF gardening and I bought all my plants. This year I started with seeds. Seems much cheaper, but I'll probably end up buying some plants too. I know what you mean about veges. I can never get out of the grocery store spening less than $100. I tried planting cherry tomatoes two years ago, and my boys picked them off before they even turned red, so I decided to wait until they were a little older to try again.

Cathy, it might work out alright to grow p. incarnata in a container permanently, I just don't worry about it becoming invasive here - it might spread a good bit, but it doesn't take over like, say, kudzu. I wouldn't think it'd become invasive where you are, because it's not all that cold hardy. If you plant yours outside, it might not even come back in the spring, unless you plant it in a protected place - with the winters getting cold again, that alone might keep it from becoming invasive up your way.
That's great about the PVS khakitag, except it's too bad the winds are so strong - butterflies don't like that! None of my PVSs have emerged yet.
Sherry

If I can manage to get two sprouts out of it, I might just try planting one outside and one in a pot. If there's only one, I guess I'll plant it outside and hope that it makes it. I could probably try to dig a piece of it up at the end of the summer before we get a frost. Thank you for all of your comments and advice.

Spring is in full swing here!
I released a female pipevine, a male tiger, and a female palamedes swallowtail today, which is good, because the only palamedes I've seen is a male. I like this picture I got of a male tiger, not the one I released today -
{{gwi:443957}}
And here's a picture of my first eggs of the season, sleepy oranges -
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Sherry

Another female pipevine swallowtail emerged, and I released her a few hours ago -
{{gwi:453396}}
Another palamedes has just emerged - I'll probably release it tomorrow.
Sherry