I love desert gardens. Yours is magnificent. Hopefully you'll get more butterflies.

You should have quite a flurry of Hyles lineata. My cousin, who lives in your neck of the woods, said the desert was full of Hyles lineata caterpillars late last summer. Mine have just begun to emerge.

Edna

Oh, how gorgeous!
You get 8-9 species of hummers where you are, Larry? I knew the west had a quite a few different species, as opposed to just our one type, ruby throats, but I thought only southeast Arizona got that many!
Sherry

I really like the callistemons (bottlebrush). We can grow them up here in pots. Do butterflies pay much attention to them?

You know I love the callistemons as well. The only bottlebrush I can grow in the ground is Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye) (not related). My elderberry is in bloom right now and attracting butterflies and bees.

Your flowers are lovely, Larry! I always think of the desert as a barren, colorless place. Never been to the desert since I've preferred travel from the Rockies and to the east coastline. Love the history in Boston - one of my absolute favs.

Is the first pic some kind of tecoma?

Susan

Edna, some years H. lineata are so abundant here in the west that they are a pest. They are also one of the most widespread species of Spingidae world-wide. Being both diural and nocturnal fliers is probably why they are so easily noticed, even by folks who have little interest in Lepidoptera.

Sherry, we can, but only the Black-chinned is always a year-round resident here; some years the Anna's, Costa's, Calliope or Rufous stay year-round; and all the other species are rare strays not seen in high numbers here. In SE AZ at places like Madera and Ramsey Canyons, they get way more species than we do by getting species from all over Central and South America. I've spent a lot of time at Madera Canyon, and just over the hill from Ramsey Canyon in Sawmill and Garden Canyons on the Fort Huachuca MR doing Lepidoptera. These areas are magnets for southern and tropical species not found anywhere else in the US normally, and is where many species records are first established in the US. Madera is known world wide for its Lepidoptera and Coleoptera as well as its birds. Both areas require a special permit to do Lepidoptera that is not easy to obtain (unless like me you've had the permits many times before and so have a history with the authorities). The Friends of Madera Canyon (aka The Riot Cops) is always a hoot there doing everything they can to deter you from the bugs there. A hoot because most of them are also octogenarians. LOL The state issued permit over-rides their jurisdiction, so I always looked at them as just cute old pests and was always friendly with them to leave a better impression of Lepidopterists.

Larry, the leps pretty much ignore bottlebrush here. The hummers and other nectar feeding song birds love it though.

Susan, when a thunderstorm wakes up a desert and makes it come to life, the literal wall to wall color and sweet odors that follow leave it anything but barren and colorless for a few weeks. Just between you and me, my favorite place on earth is still the high Rockies. If it wasn't for the deep snow and bitter cold that's where I would die. The pictured plant I think it is a variety of Tecoma stans.

The Rockies are beautiful. We spent a few weeks one summer on Long's Peak, and even in August the temps were in the 20s at night. Right up their with the snow caps.

Loved Wyoming, too, in the Medicine Park area and the Wind River Canyon. Beautiful country. We camped out and it was a riot (when I was only in my 20s, though).

I remember my son saying that he was going to jump in a mountain lake for a swim. We said, "sure go ahead" (snickering). He stuck his toe in the water and yelped! He did not go swimming.

Susan

Susan,

I spent a lot of time in the Wind River Range, especially at Trails End and around the Green River Lakes. Besides being very beautiful places, those areas are also the home of huge populations of alpine lepidopteran species, including some fairly rare ones that fly nowhere else.

When you grow up on a high Rocky Mountain ranch you learn very early in life that the only way to get in high mountain water is all at once. Then, once you start to breathe again, you do get used to it pretty fast (or are so numb you can't feel it anyway). Might be why my childhood nickname was "Blue". LOL Even only a few years ago I still took early morning and dusk "icebaths" everyday when in the arctic/alpine environs to do Lepidoptera. The wife, who grew up in Tucson, AZ and in the Bay Area of CA but who loved to camp thought I was certifiable, and just shook her head. When we camped during the first years we were married I always heated water for her on the campfire or camp stove for spit-baths, then later when I had each of the Butterfly Mobile's built I made sure they had an extra large fresh water tank, water heater, extra propane tanks and batteries so she could take hot showers in the self-contained bathroom daily even on extended trips. The last one we had we spent 3 months for three consecutive years in living at over 11,000' and as high as 14,000'. I admit, I did use the hot water to shave, but I had been taking icewater baths too long to want a hot shower when in the high mountains.

L.