Hi, I have some japanese iris i just divided, la iris and siberians that all love bog/water. I would love to do a very large trade with you for all of them ;-) plmk. Thank you! Sandy/muggsey

hidesert_windy - FWIW, the V.cardui "blew" through southern Nevada a month ago. And there was not very many of them down here, in fact so light that they were almost missed. Normal years the move north is usually at least heavy enough that even a person not interested in leps will notice them. Not this year. With all the crazy cold/hot/cold and very windy weather we've had this year I'd bet a lot of the early leps have their schedules out of whack. So I don't know if that was the migration or not. If so many individuals were probably killed by the freak cold fronts and storms. What you saw could have blown into your area, could have been over wintered pupa that emerged someplace near your area or even over wintered adults right from your area. Of interest maybe... the migrations appear to be cyclic and heavier than normal every few years. But since I started seriously studying leps in 1964, the heaviest spring migration of V. cardui I have ever seen was in about 1989-90-91 while living in northern Utah. Can't remember for sure which year and my logs are all packed in storage. But it was so heavy that the cardui literally covered any surface they could hang onto wing tip to wing tip, with more hovering and trying to find a place to land. The ground, all plants, buildings... everything moved with them. It wasn't localized either. I drove out onto the west desert all the way to the Nevada border on back roads to photograph them that weekend, and never found a place they were not just as thick. You couldn't even get out of your vehicle without stepping on them. The following week I left Utah on a business trip that took me to Boise, then Twin Falls, Sun Valley and Idaho Falls before making a loop through western Montana from Butte to Missoula, Kalispell, Great Falls and back down to Bozeman, then to Jackson Wyoming before returning home. They were just as thick everywhere I went along that trip and were actually a driving hazard. The roads everywhere were littered with uncountable numbers of them that had been killed by vehicles. No doubt I was kind of following the migration north much of that trip, even if it was scheduled by my secretary, but it was still quite a sight. LOL L.

My last Spicebush baby eclosed this morning. It is the one I photographed next to it's sibling as it was about to form it's chrysalis ... I think this is another male :-(. Happy it is healthy and hopefully a little female is still flitting about since there were eggs laid recently on the in ground spicebush plants. once out of the rearing cage, it was off to have a drink ... Pipevine Swallowtail on left - Spicebush Swallowtail on right ... not a good photo but want to share as I'd never have thought to see these two together in my small garden at the same time; it so lifts my spirits to watch them enjoying their morning. While I was attempting to take a photo of the recently eclosed Spicebush Swallowtail on the Stokesia bloom, the Pipevine Swallowtail flew onto another nearby bloom. My thanks to all for helping me reach this milestone with my butterfly garden. Mary

I got lucky w/the swallowtail. I didn't think I'd ever get a shot of him, but he finally settled down for a few seconds on one flower, then a few seconds on another. That was it. He was constantly moving. Caterwallin, I appreciate the offer, but we have about all of the flowers we can handle in the room that is available to us. We have over two thousand plus bulbs and flowers in the front gardens alone. Almost every square inch in two flower beds is filled with flower bulbs and roots. All but one of the other flower beds are almost as full. I'm *trying* to keep the rest of the front garden as edible landscaping. The flowers help to attract pollinators and beneficial insects for the edible garden. Plus, from time to time, I get to take pretty pics, and share the beauty with others!