It's good to hear from you, Angie, and good to hear that butterfly things are heating up in north Georgia!
No tornadoes yet, knock on wood!
That's interesting about the cabbage white. Would you believe they don't occur here? I've only seen one in my entire life! I'd actually love to have some, but members of the cabbage family don't occur here naturally. Well, there was some type of wild mustard that I once saw growing beside a cow pasture one winter, and people plant mustard greens, cabbage, turnip greens, broccoli, etc. in fall, so they could occur here, but for some reason, they don't.
Good on you for telling your neighbor not to spray! I hate insecticides and herbicides!
Those tigers are probably out laying eggs on the wild cherry trees up there!

Sherry

Hey, Angie, good to hear from you! There has been a huge number of the weed, Shepherd's Purse, this spring, everywhere I go. It is in the wild mustard family, too. But it has flowered and has set seed, so probably will be dying back soon since it's a spring-only weed. It's easily identifiable by the heart-shaped or triangular shaped seedpods.

I had 2 CW's out laying eggs on my Broccoli babies that I now have to remove....yep, they can't have the Broccoli.

Today I saw Red Admirals. CWs, some kind of Checkerspot and Sulphur, and a Monarch! Yippee!

Haven't seen any Tigers yet. But I have seen plenty of Red Admirals - this must be another good year for them.

Susan

Welcome back Angie! Sorry to hear about your computer troubles.
I have way too many dandelions that are blooming like crazy right now. I try to keep the yard mowed so the seeds don't all blow over to the neighbor's yard but they go to seed so quickly, it's impossible and I feel bad because he tries to keep his lawn nice. The heat and drought last year must've been like fertilizer for my dandelions because I have a lot more than I used to. Someone needs to invent sterile dandelions. lol

I've been seeing lots of cabbage whites, a few Black Swallowtails, one Eastern Tiger at the back of our field and a few others that won't slow down long enough for me to get a good look at them. I thought one might have been a Red Admiral.

Christie, the RAs appear to be abundant this year, and I had 2 females egg laying yesterday. You should be getting lots very soon. Do you have False Nettle?

Susan

That's a good question Susan. I have SOMETHING that is a host plant for them but I don't know what it is. It might be false nettle. I used to pull it out of my shade garden until I saw a Red Admiral laying eggs on it once so I quit pulling it. I'll post a photo of it sometime and see if anyone knows. It didn't look much like the photos I've seen of false nettle but maybe there are different kinds. Or maybe the Red Admiral was lost and laying eggs on something that wasn't even a host plant.

They sure ARE abundant this year, Susan! I'm raising seven of them, my plants are full of caterpillars, and they're still laying eggs. Most important, so far, knock on wood, I haven't found any parasitized cats. There may be some, but without parasites, red admirals would REALLY be common!

Sherry

That is good news, Misssherry, about no parasitization! I had a couple last year that were parasitized, and it's so sad...

We are getting a very nice rain this morning as I type, and while it will keep me from working outside (supposed to rain all day), I am NOT complaining because we need all the rain we can get...barring a flood, of course!

It is thundering and lightening, too, so the plants will be getting lots of nitrogen!

Susan

That's good about the rain, Susan! A long time ago I read that lightning brings nitrogen to the ground, but your comment is the first time I've read it again. Any more information about this?

RA parasitization is always difficult to deal with, because they get parasitized so early on. You really need to bring in the eggs to stop it, if the predators are there.

Sherry

Well, as I understand it, nitrogen makes up about 80% of our atmosphere in its enert form. Unusable in that form. Lightening provides the energy necessary to break up the nitrogen molecules into atoms that are then dispersed into the atmosphere and combined with oxygen in the air, forming nitrogen oxides. The oxides dissolve in rain forming nitrates that are then carried to the Earth to become available to all plants. This is the process called "nitrogen fixation".

Legumes are the most common plants known for the nitrogen fixation properties of their roots. Nitrogen stored in their roots is available for the plant's use, so that even if you cut off the above-ground growth of the plant, the "nodules" formed in the plant's roots will continue to disperse nitrogen in the soil. That's why lots of farmers grow legumes as cover crops.

That's about all I know about it. Have you noticed, tho, how green the plants, grass, etc., look following a good thunderstorm? I love it. It doesn't just give them a good bath, lol!

Susan

Thanks for the explanation, Susan!
Yes, I HAVE noticed that plants benefit more from rain than they do from the water I give them - my watering keeps them from wilting and/or dying, but it doesn't green them up as good as rain. So I believed what I'd read about lightning putting nitrogen in rain water.
We got .70" of rain yesterday, may get more every day this week. I've had plenty of rain here so far this year - just under 23".

Sherry

Hey Angie!

This is the first time I've been here in forever and I get to "see" ya!

I just stopped in to comment on having a lot of zebras this spring! There have got to be some paw-paws around here somewhere. I only have the small one that Mike gave me.

I'm really excited about their numbers increasing.

It is cool and rainy here today. We need all the rain we can get.

Been busy babysitting the gkids and going to track meets.

Betty

it's exciting to hear about all the early butterfly activity. congratulations everybody! Even up north in Minnesota we have had many early visitors. Our last frost was at the beginning of March, but it looks like we may have a couple next week.

It's going to be a shame to see what happens to some of the early flowering perennials, but hopefully we'll rebound pretty quickly. Have a happy Easter everyone, Tony