It was a great day here yesterday, too. The Red Admiral is still hanging around. I am convinced it is a male waiting for a female to show up because he is small as well. Tigers were flying, the Clouded Sulphur still hanging around, the CW, and a Silver Spotted Skipper and Question Mark showed up at the party.

I'm just waiting for the Monarchs.....

I believe that is a faded Buckeye, MissSherry.

I think you're right, Susan. I'm not used to seeing buckeyes at this time of year - they usually show up in late summer with cats on the Agalinis. The camera must have picked up some red still there. Here's a picture of a fresh, newly emerged buckeye, undersides -
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Sherry

Nice! Not too much going on in Ohio yet. One thing about those Asterocampas is that the tips of their antennae have white that really looks like a beacon. I think because it is sort of half white, half black on the club with the white on top. I can usually pick out the hackberries with that.
-E

Thanks for the inspiration! Fingers crossed for a great year!

Good to hear from you, Bernergrrl!
I saw a gulf frit today! She was undoubtedly a female, because she was tawny looking, also faded, like she had some age on her. Only my P. incarnatas are coming up now, and they're not very far from the ground yet. All my tropical passies, including P. 'Incense' appear to be dead - if they're not dead, they're sure slow to come up. That was a VERY cold week we had during the very cold winter that killed so many tropicals and semi-tropicals! The only sensitive one that's beginning to make new growth is P. 'Amethyst'/'Lavender Lady', and it only has a tiny sprout. I've got a small P. 'Indigo Dreams' in a pot, not yet planted, so I put it on a baker's racks with a flowering Salvia coccinea, so they can both be easily seen - all butterflies, especially gulf frits, love S. coccinea.
There is a patch of P. lutea that grows in the woods - I'll check that out. If she lays me any eggs, I'll have to water and fertilize the vines!
Sherry

My Lavendar Lady is always soooo late to come up - usually not until June. So, I'm experimenting with warming the soil by putting tin pie pans over the place where they usually come up. I will keep a close eye on it to see if this works.

I do hope my seeds of S. coccinea, S. darcyi, S. subrotunda, S. 'Lady in Red', S. 'Forest Fire', and S. greggii, all come up. All are red flowering, and I also purchased a S. 'Hot Lips' too. Red is the "in" color for this year's garden. I even got some red flowering (it's really more orange) Tecoma that I've started, too. Mama has worked hard for the hummers and butterflies this year, so I hope I get some kind of reward....

I just need the red Pentas now......

Susan

Red is the color for the beds inside the fence around my front yard, too, Susan. I'm about to plant four Salvia coccineas, four red colored cupheas, and I planted some cardinal vine seeds today to grow in a pot by the fence. I also planted some Mexican sunflower seeds, but those will go in the garden away from the house where the vegetables are.
Spring is a lot of work for us gardeners, but it's worth it!
Sherry

Sherry, do you grow Flame Acanthus (Anisicanthus quadrifidus)? I have seeds of this plant and don't know if it will come up this year because I have heard they need to be stratified. I did not sow them this winter, so we will see. It is only hardy to my zone 7a.

Got all the rest of my seeds sown yesterday and going to pot up my little Tropical Milkweeds today and move a couple of plants in the garden that are now getting too much shade. I'm also working on preparing a site to plant my Sunflowers and Senna alata. A gardener's work is never done.

Susan

I've never grown flame acanthus, Susan, so I can't give you any advice about it. I'll look it up, though - 'might be one I'd like to grow.
Seeing that buckeye made me think about what members of the snapdragon family grow here in spring, and I can't think of one. I've got some Gulf Coast penstemmon that grows in a wet area with the false nettles, but they're just starting to pop up.
Didn't you grow a plant that you found buckeye cats on last year? I can't remember the name of it.
Sherry

It was Diascia, MissSherry. It is apparently a very short-lived perennial, because mine did not return this year. But....I will try to pick up some more this spring. They are pretty little plants, more like a groundcover type. It was funny to me that the Buckeye mama chose to lay eggs on it as opposed to the Ruellia and the Plantago growing right next to it. What's up with that?

I think you would like the Flame Acanthus, too.

Got my little Gilia capitatas planted this morning. Supposed to be a nice little nectar plant, and I thought it might appeal to the smaller butterflies.

Castilleja, Collinsia, Linaria, Pedicularis, all are early blooming wildflowers in the Figwort family. Buckeyes are not exclusive to this family, though, using Plantagos and Ruellias as I mentioned, too.

Dallas County Leps website lists many plants:

ACANTHACEAE: Snake-herb (Dyschoriste linearis), Violet Ruellia (Ruellia nudiflora), PLANTAGINACEAE: English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), Pale-Seed Plantain (P. virginica), Buck-Horn Plantain (P. coronopus), Dooryard Plantain (P. major), Common Plantain (P. rugelii), Cedar Plantain (P. helleri), Tallow-Weed (P. hookeriana); SCROPHULARIACEAE: Beach Gerardia (Agalinis fasciculata), Flat-Flower Gerardia (Agalinis homalantha), Slender Gerardia (Agalinis tenuifolia), False Foxglove (Aureolaria grandifloria), American Bluehearts (Buchnera americana), Texas Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa), Prairie Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja purpurea), Butter and Eggs (Linaria vulgaris); Snapdragon Vine (Maurandya antirrhiniflora), Toad-Flax (Nuttallanthus canadensis), VERBENACEAE: Common Frogfruit (Lippia nodiflora), Lance-Leaf Frogfruit (Lippia lanceolata), Brazilian Verbena (Verbena bonariensis).

Did I mention that I love their website?

Susan

That's a good list, Susan! I need to pick out something on that list - or other buckeye host plants - to grow. Agalinis is apparently an annual, it doesn't come up again until later in the spring, and doesn't get big enough to support cats until late summer/early fall. The Linaria that grows here is L. canadensis, which comes up in early spring, but it hardly has any leaves, just a stem with little blue flowers all along it.
I saw a male spicebush swallowtail today - I hope he finds the female that visited here the other day!
Also, a female luna moth finally emerged today. I'm making plans for getting some of her eggs, assuming she gets courted - I'd be surprised if she didn't, because I've released 4 or 5 males myself, including 2 just yesterday.
In addition to having very small "antennaes" she's shorter and fatter than the males, just like all my other females have been. I think it's mainly because her tail wings - or whatever you call those pretty, long things - are shorter.
Sherry

I vote Buckeye also. Glad you're having a good start to the year, despite the deforestation. I guess that means fewer moths?

Jeff

Well, it's not total deforestation, Jeff. The Desoto National Forest is real close by, plus there's plenty of privately owned woods still intact, it's just that there has been a lot of logging close by, too - I'd prefer no logging, of course! :)
I don't know how it will impact the moths here, probably fewer.
I unzipped the "door" of the reptarian cage my female luna was in too early, I guess, because she left. Next time, I should wait until about the time they normally "call" which is about 10:00 or 11:00, I think. Oh well, I'm sure she'll find a mate out there, and I'll probably be seeing big moth poop underneath sweetgums in the not-too-distant future. I've still got all those pipevine swallowtails to raise. Still, if another female luna emerges, I'm going to wait until late before I open the cage door.
Sherry

MissSherry - you need to get a group of friends and go hug some trees at those logging sites, LOL! They're welcome to come log a few in my backyard for sure.

You might want to try some Plaintain for the Buckeyes, MissSherry. It is growing quite well right now - stays evergreen over winter and begins new growth in early spring here, so probably earlier in Mississippi.

I have both P. lanceolata and P. major. The major has larger leaves than the lanceolata. I did find a couple of the Buckeye cats chomping on the P. major last year as it was growing right next to the Diascia.

Susan

Susan, I ordered a few more plants from Mail Order Natives, and in that order were 3 wild petunias/Ruellia caroliniana. I've often seen these pretty little plants in flower along roadsides. I've ordered and planted Plantago lanceolata, because no butterflies used the native P. virginiana, but they didn't use that one either, and it didn't last, all died in a few years. The only other locally common native plant that I know of that buckeyes are know to use is Ruellia, so I thought I'd try some of it. I'll see if it works out.
Yesterday I saw what I thought was a red-spotted purple circling around a wild black cherry tree by the house, and today I saw it up close enough to verify that it is indeed a RSP. There was another butterfly that I think was also a RSP that was flitting around the known RSP this morning - again, I think it was a RSP, but it might have been a pipevine swallowtail. It was up high enough that I couldn't tell for sure. I'll sure be looking for my first RSP eggs/cats of the season.
Speaking of pipevine swallowtails, I released 3 more yesterday, and there are already 3 newly emerged ones in the cage now, plus from the looks of the remaining chrysalides, I think more will be emerging today. I'll be down to just a few chrsyalides, so the PVSs have about all completed their cycle.
The PVS eggs haven't hatched yet, but then that's typical for this time of year. In spring, it usually takes 12 days for them to hatch - in the heat of summer, they hatch in 6 days!
Sherry

I hate to be hasty in speaking, but I "think" I may have Eastern Tiger Swallowtail eggs on my Wild Cherry. Wouldn't that be amazing. There are 4 eggs, laid singly, spherical, green, on the top of the foliage (not the tips). I have googled and googled and they sure do fit the images I see. Some say eggs are laid on top of the foliage and others say under. BTW, I didn't check the undersides of the foliage, so I will do that. But I have been seeing a couple of Tigers flying around the yard.

Congrats on the Ruellia. I think Buckeye preferences are regional. You might want to try some dwarf Snaps, too. If you keep them watered well, they should be okay this time of year in Mississippi. Also, Butter and Eggs (Linaria) may work as well.

My Ruellia didn't come back. They were sold in the "perennial" section at the nursery, but some are very borderline here in OKC. With the winter we had, they may not have had much of a chance.

I hope you get RSPs soon!
Susan

It sounds like you do indeed have tiger swallowtail eggs, Susan - congrats! I've never found a tiger egg on the underside of the leaf, always on the top. Here are some pictures of tiger eggs -
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I released 5 male pipevine swallowtails today - they are SO beautiful!
Sherry

The first of the pipevine swallowtail eggs are hatching!
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Sherry

Hi Sherry,
Can't believe you have Pipevine eggs already! Are they from the adults you released,or from wild ones?
I've seen five species of butterflies so far this month,which is a lot for this area this early.Maybe it will be a better year for leps than last season,when there were fewer than normal,probably due to the cool wet weather.

I love those PVS eggs! So distinct and easy to find compared to some butterfly eggs!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it, and now let's hope they are indeed TST eggs. Have you raised Tigers before and if so, easy, hard, any special tricks? What will they eat other than Wild Cherry? I now have 5 eggs. Does she keep coming back? First there were 3, then 4, and now 5.

We are supposed to get some very stormy weather over the next 2 or 3 days so I think I might move the pot of Wild Cherry under the canopy of a tree or the porch. I don't want risk anything happening to these eggs.

Susan

Dan, I'm sure they're from several of the females I released, since they appeared after I had released quite a few males and females - I've released about ?30 or ?35 PVSs so far this year from last year's late summer/fall group. They've laid many more eggs on the vines, and I'm sure from more than just the original two females I witnessed laying the eggs, because the eggs are in a variety of colors - some are light golden, almost yellow and the other various shades of red. Looks like a big PVS year!

Susan, around here, tigers use wild black cherry, hops tree/wafer ash, and tulip tree. The first two pictures were taken of eggs laid on hops trees, the second, tulip tree. I find a lot more cats on wild black cherry, but, oddly, I've never found an egg on it. Tigers are a little more difficult to raise than many other cats - I've had some cat deaths with them. Just remember that they're slow and lethargic, like giant swallowtail cats, so don't expect much movement, also, they don't eat much relative to their size. Pipevine swallowtails eat much more and are smaller.
The hatchlings/early instar cats look like black swallowtail cats, dark with a white saddle.
Sherry