I've had the same experience with bottlebrush buckeye as well. That plant is one of the best in my garden.

Kerry

That's interesting, Mike!
I'm not really too surprised that PVSs like your bottlebrush buckeye so much - last year mine really liked my monarda fistulosa, this year they flocked to the mimosa tree when it was in bloom, and they nectar on stokes asters whenever they're blooming, which is now. They seem to like a variety of blooms more than any other butterfly.
Tigers haven't been as numerous this year here as in the past, but their numbers are climbing. Today two yellow males and one black female spent a lot of time in my garden. I saw another yellow one later that was real old and tattered, so much so that I couldn't tell for sure it it had blue on the bottom of its hindwings, so I'm not sure it was a male or a female. Hopefully, we'll both continue to see more tigers!
MissSherry

That's good to know. I just planted an Aesculus parviflora this spring. It's going to take some time for it to reach a good size, but it's there, along with other native plants like Rhus aromatica, Witch Hazel (the fall blooming species), lindera benzoin, Sweet Bay, Red Bay, viburnum nudum, Eastern Mayhaw, and other perennials. These are in my partial shade of the backyard, and that is where I always see the tigers and other swallowtails. Rarely in the sunny front yard. Odd, huh?

Thanks for sharing your observations, Mike!

Today I had lots of CWs and Sleepy Oranges flying. But, we haven't had too many for the last few weeks. We've had 15 straight days of rain, so not too many butterflies are out in it.

Susan

MissSherry,

You mentioned your experience with PVS's liking your monarda fistulosa last year. I've got, BY FAR, my best monarda fistulosa( 50+ blooming and many 4-5 feet tall) and I've seen NO butterfly activity on them yet. They've been blooming for over 2 weeks. Go figure.

Another observation I'd like some feedback on. We have 20-30 Great Spangled Fritillaries and they started nectaring almost exclusively on butterfly weed and common milkweed. Now they're nectaring almost exclusively on purple coneflower and common milkweed. The butterfly bushes are in almost full bloom and have been blooming for more than a week and I've seen very little nectaring activity on them so far. In previous years, the GSF's were all over them and were seldom on the purple coneflowers.

mike

Are butterflies buttheads or what?? tee-hee

Provide them with all these nectar plants and they are as persnickety as, well, Shih Tzus and their food. *eye roll* Lately, the Monarchs seem to like to nectar off of, are you ready? The RUE flowers! Good grief.

I think it must be because we give them so many plants to choose from! If they only had whatever wild plants were naturally blooming, they'd be a lot less picky - so there! I've figured it out - they're just spoiled! :)
MissSherry

There were several tigers in my garden today. I got a picture of this yellow female - they're less common than the black forms around here, so I always love to see them!
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MissSherry

I went outside to deadhead the flowers and took a picture of this black female tiger swallowtail nectaring on a stokes aster -
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MissSherry

MissSherry,

Thanks for those WONDERFUL pictyres. I love your stokes asters.

The butterflies may be returning to Camelot. I took a slow "scouting walk" around the main paths in Camelot. The stroll takes about 10 minutes. I do it to have a base line for comparison of my butterfly counts and to reduce the liklihood of double-counting butterflies. I spotted 55 butterflies on this 10-minute walk.

mike

Here's a picture of a Monarch that was on the Rue (Ruta graveolens), as mentioned above. You'd think the Monarchs would be all over the Mexican Flame Vine and other plants, right? Weirdos like the Rue and the Gardenia, of all things!
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She's beautiful, Sherry!
MissSherry

It's about 80, sunny, no wind and my 10-minute count around our 1-acre butterfly sanctuary revealed 68 butterflies- mostly Pipevines, but about 5 Tiger Swallowtails, 2 Red Admirals, 2 Monarchs, 3 Sulfurs, 3 Zebra Swallowtails, 4-5 Silver-spotted Skippers, Juvenals Duskywing, 1 Horaces Duskywing, 2 Cabbage whites, 1 Pearl Crescent.

It's the best day so far this year in Camelot.

mike

That's great, Mike! I'm jealous of you having those ZSs!
MissSherry

Since I posted pictures of the two forms of female tiger swallowtails, I thought I should post the picture I made this morning of a male. This handsome dude has two very small blue spots on his lower hindwings, which is unusual for the local males - they usually don't have any blue at all.
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MissSherry

I'm concerned that the Bottlebrush Buckeye plant will get too large and send up suckers.

What has been the experience of this group?

Thanks

Mine have been slow growing, haven't sent up any suckers and have been disappointing all the way around. They might prefer cooler and/or more inland climes - I've seen huge ones in Memphis, TN!
MissSherry

Butterflyman,

I've had my 20 botttlebrush buckeyes for almost 5 years and have yet to see a sucker. The literature says they can grow to about 15 feet tall and almost as wide, but my biggest BB is still less than 6 feet tall and about 5-6 feet wide. I'm in SW VA and have most of my BB's in part-shade, but have 3 in full sun where they do not do as well.

mike

Is the buttlebrush buckeye a host plant for butterflies.

I'm concerned, also, that it will get very large if I get one.

njbiology,

I don't think bottlebrush buckeye is a host plant for butterflies. I've never seen it listed as such and I've never found an egg or a cat on my 20 bottlebrush buckeyes. I know they can get large, but mine have grow slowly. My biggest after 5-6 years of TLC is about 5 feet high and 4 feet wide.

mike

My bottlebrush buckeye almost died just planted in the yard. So when I moved to a new house, I planted it near the faucet and it gets watered every time I use the faucet-several times a week. In 5 years it sent out 6 new shoots and blooms wonderfully now. So move it where it can get allot of water.