It's Centratherum intermedium/Brazilian button, Melissa. The sweet local nursery owner sold it last year, and the ones she didn't sell, she planted in the ground behind her nursery. This spring, after they started showing new growth, she dug them up, potted them up, and sold them for a very cheap price. I'd seen this plant in Bustani's catalog and thought it would be a good butterfly nectar plant, but didn't order it, because I wasn't sure how hardy a Brazilian plant would be. Apparently, pretty hardy! Actually, it's not that surprising, since my Ruellia elegans/Brazilian petunias are super hardy. These Brazilian buttons remind me of the native wildflower (but not native here) Centaurea americana/basket flower. Each flower is making a LOT of seeds, so I'm deadheading them as soon as they look spent. If anybody wants any seeds, let me know, and I'll let some go to seed. Brazilian button is real popular with the smaller butterflies. Sherry

Elisabeth, I got mine from Woodlander's, a mail-order nursery in Aiken, South Carolina. I couldn't bring up your links, so I Googled 'viceroy and red-spotted purples mate' and found the site. Reading the article was interesting, but I didn't understand some of the scientific terms. I read one passage that said something along the lines of they really don't know about 'alleles' in a way that suggests a red-spotted purple might carry recessive genes/alleles for viceroys traits and coloring. From the map, it looks like most of the interbreeding the article described takes place between the 30th and 31st parallels - I live between those two parallels, I'm just west of the Georgia/Florida area they researched. I've found numerous RSP eggs on wild black cherry all over my property, and I'm raising quite a few of them in cages on my porch now. This is the first time this year any RSP has used the willows, but it happens off and on from time to time. I have the willows, because I know that viceroys use it exclusively here, although in other parts of the country they reportedly also use birches. I have one willow in a pot, and the other one is planted in the ground. I cut the ground willow back all the way to the ground late last year, because it was ragged and unhealthy looking. It's come back this year, but it's only about 2' tall. So I put a large, metal dog crate over it, and I'll later cover it with mesh to keep wasps and other predators out. In the meantime, I think I'll use mesh to make little sleeves for the eggs, hatchlings, and small cats. Then I'll move at least some of them to the caged willow. I'd like to use the willows in case a viceroy visited without me knowing it, and some of the eggs are viceroys. If I run out of leaves, there are plenty of willows locally that I can harvest leaves from - I'd finish raising them in a cage on the porch, if that happens. I'm also wondering if the RSP that I saw laying the eggs carries viceroy genes, which is why she'd use willows? I have a nephew with red hair, even though neither of his parents have it. However, his maternal grandmother had red hair, as do his maternal uncles. This is the type of inheritance I'm thinking about here. Anyway, I'd love to see some viceroys, regardless of how they got here. It sounded to me like the writer of the article acknowledges the lack of knowledge about this subject. Sherry

Today, while I was on the porch, a red-spotted purple laid an egg on a pitiful looking leaf on the wild black cherry that's right next to the porch. The leaves on this tree are old and worn looking, and it's losing leaves like it's fall already! When she laid the egg on this ugly leaf, she kept running her lower abdomen all over the leaf, especially where it met the branch. I've never seen one do this before - maybe she was exuding something, trying to glue the leaf on? Anyway, at first I only saw her underside, but right before she left, I saw her topside and she had 5 big red spots! She had to be the one I released way back on July 21st, making her 43 days old, or 6 weeks and 1 day. She looked only slightly worn, and her wings weren't torn at all. This helps give an idea of how long they live - at least 6 weeks! And while I was out in the garden late this evening, watering the plants, I found this hanging on one of the Ludwigia plants I haven't yet planted - I assume this caterpillar was on the willow in a pot in my garden, because there aren't any cherries very close. I don't know how I missed seeing it! I checked the willow, and I could see some branches that were stripped, but I couldn't find any more cats there. Anyway, I cut the little branch off and brought it inside to a cage. I'd love it if it were a viceroy, but I'm not holding my breath! :) Sherry

'Found the first two red-spotted purple hatchlings yesterday, so I brought them in to raise - I'll be checking other eggs today. 'Also found the first American lady nests of the spring on some cudweed. I'd like to raise some of them also, so I'll undoubtedly be bringing some in to raise pretty soon. I've got two red admiral chrysalides, and another cat is in the 'J' - I'm looking forward to releasing these beauties! 'Found a few more little bitty spicebush swallowtail cats, brought them in, and now I'm up to seven. The biggest one has gotten to about the ?4th instar. In another thread, we were discussing pink-spotted hawkmoths, and it gave me the idea to plant morning glories along my road. I'll probably sow some of the seeds in pots and scatter some along the roadside - it would be so much easier if they'd just come up on their own! I also got some moonflower seeds, which I haven't planted in a few years. Morning glories and moonflowers are all beautiful, and the big moths are worth the trouble anyway! The luna cats are eating a lot and getting really big and fat, more fat than long in typical luna fashion. 'Won't be too long before the pipevine swallowtails should be emerging! I've got a sea of mock bishop's weed growing in my garden, plus rue and my wafer ash trees are growing nicely. 'Still no black or giant swallowtails, though. :( There's plenty of time for the rue and wafer ash to be used, but the mock bishop's weed doesn't fare too well in the heat of summer, so I wish they'd come on! :) My ears tell me the migrant spring birds are all here! I've been hearing great crested flycatchers, summer tanagers, orchard orioles, yellow-billed cuckoos, vireos, warblers, especially hooded warblers, chuck-will's-widows at night, and this morning I heard my first Mississippi kite of the season! Here's a picture I made last year of a Mississippi kite with the zoom lens of my camera - Sherry