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Butterfly Garden

Butterflies and Rain

16 years ago

Although we're not as dry as Florida or Georgia, we've been having lower than normal rainfall, so I was glad to get .80" of slow falling rain yesterday, and 1.00" in a brief but very heavy thunderstorm a little while ago. I can hear thunder off in the distance, and it's starting to rain again, so it looks like I'll be getting more - YAY!!

Before the thunderstorm, I released a giant swallowtail, and after the storm, I released the last red admiral. I made a few pictures of butterflies after the big rain - I've noticed that they're less flighty after rain, probably because they're solar powered and can't get much power! :) I got a picture of this American lady - I just noticed there's cudweed growing where she? landed - more AL cats?

{{gwi:474348}}
I hadn't seen any checkered skippers all year, until recently - about a week ago, I started seeing LOTS of them. I've let a big patch of sida/fan petals/wire weed grow that came up right in front of my front porch steps - whatever you call it, it's a wild member of the mallow family that all the checkered skippers reportedly lay their eggs on. I prefer the name fan petals, because the cute little yellow flowers unfurl their petals like a ladies fan. I'd like to see some cats! I got a picture of this one, which I'm sure is a male because of all the fuzzy blueness on the top of his body. I'm not sure if he's a common checkered skipper or a tropical checkered skipper - both occur here, and part of his forewing looks like the common and part looks like the tropical -

{{gwi:474349}}
MissSherry

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Comments (4)

texaspuddyprint
16 years ago
Lovely AL!!! We've had our share of rainfall too...it has helped the plants. Lots of Checkered Skippers flitting about too. Must be lots of hungry cats somewhere in the new grass.

~ Cat
MissSherry
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, Cat (what a good name you have for a butterflyer!) I think ALs are gorgeous as are the checkered skippers, although the CSs sure are small!
MissSherry
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Congratulations cAROL!!! That is SO exciting!! I'm happy your milkweed is blooming and hope you get lots of butterflies in your garden. I've been adding plants the butterflies & hummingbirds love to my flowerbeds the past several years. I sure got a jump on it this year with all the WS perennials I grew. Milkweed grows here on the hill behind the breezeway where my mother encouraged it as a host plant for the monarch butterfly caterpillars. I have never heard or read anything about the seasalt sand. I have read that butterflies can't drink from a birdbath and the experts suggest you keep a shallow puddle of water surrounded by sand where they can drink. I'll see what I can dig up for information and email it to you. Happy gardening!!! Eileen
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Okay, Tony, I'll trade you some butterflies for some rain! :) How about some red-spotted purples? They've been really plentiful this year. Here's a big one I released today - Susan, the salvia is just the species form of Salvia guaranitica. I had some 'Black and Blue' but it wasn't as floriferous as the species for me, so when 'Black and Blue' began to decline, I just pulled it up. The species spreads by root runners, so I dug up several sprouts, potted them up, babied them in a container, and then planted them in the two front beds in my garden, where I took the picture. S. guaranitica is real popular with both butterflies and hummingbirds, so I love it! Also, it's easy to grow, it always comes back in the spring, (actually, it has leaves near the base of the plant all winter) and the blue color blends well with every other flower color - great plant! Sherry
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Msrpaul
16 years ago
We have had NO rain for 3 weeks, and little in the last several years....hoping for a bunch soon?
rjj1
16 years ago
msrpaul

Wish I could send you some of our rain. We've officially received 15.62 so far this month when the average is 5.30. I've grown a little tired of cloudy skies and rain drenched days. The sun did come out most of the day today.

Last summer was the driest since the bust bowl days. We had a burn ban the entire growing season and many different fire departments from all over the country were here fighting the the fires that covered the state.

If it's not one, it's the other.

Found a few monarch eggs in the pasture today and actually saw monarchs. I had almost forgot what they looked like. :-)

MissSherry,

Nice photos!

randy

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