The eyespots on the undersides of hackberry emperors have a black circle within a black circle, including a few on the underside of the forewings. Your butterfly looks to me like a tawny emperor, which lacks eye spots on the undersides of the forewings, just some white spots, and the eyespots on the undersides of the hindwings lack the black circles. So I think it's a tawny emperor/Asterocampa clyton. The second picture is indeed a silver spotted skipper. The third picture is in the spring azure complex. There are many different forms of it, but it's most likely a summer azure/C. ladon neglecta. Nice pictures! Sherry

Here is a closeup of the foliage [IMG]http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/leu242/Chicago/100_0197.jpg[/IMG]

This is a weird time of year. There are abundant natural sources of food right now, so the birds are just off feeding somewhere else. Once the weather starts to get cold, you should see your usual birds coming back to the feeders. I was just at the local conservation area, where there are usually tons of birds and waterfowl. The place was practically deserted.

Hello all and thanks for your help...still researching, I don't think it is ajuga, I have that planted also in a different location, so I am familiar. Popular vote is saying oenothera...looked that up on the web, and I don't see the similiarity, although I know there are many varieties...Will keep checking...also of note, it pretty much lived through the winter months...Waiting for flower and I will post....Thanks all..