I witnessed the weirdest thing today. I was standing in the garden watching a butterfly float around the flowers when something streaked past my head, hit the butterfly and went down into the shrubbery. I couldn’t figure out what it was.
When I went and looked for it, it turned out to be two monarch butterflies locked together. I gently pried them apart and threw them in different directions. Now I know that butterflies are territorial, but this took aggression to a whole new level.
I have these:
There’s one that I’ve seen patrolling the yard, flitting from one end of the yard to the other, stopping occasionally to lay eggs on the butterfly plant. She chases off any interlopers. Butterfly fights are interesting to watch. They look like leaves caught in a whirlwind. It’s hard to believe they’re battles for territory.
I was hoping for more of these:
But this is only the second one I’ve seen this season.
The cornflowers continue bloom providing color in the yard and cover to this little hunter. I am so not a fan of the color pink, but I just love the color lifespan of these flowers, starting as a more intense pink and fading almost to white as they go on.
I got a three-inch pot of fennel last year because I wanted more butterfly food. I haven’t had any swallowtails yet, but the plant has gone from three inches to three feet with tons of umbrels. I’m hoping for tons of seeds to go with the many flowers. I’ll spread the seed all over and hope enough comes up to lure in a few swallowtails. They’ll be welcome to eat it all. I’ve never eaten fennel. I had a dreadful experience with anisette and since then I avoid all things licorice-like.
I was sitting on the patio, taking advantage of the wonderful weather we were having, when I looked at the passion flower vine and thought that it looked a little spiky. I got up to take a closer look and found that it wasn’t the vine that was spiky. This one vine had six gulf fritillary larvae on it.
After the drought and the severe cutbacks in landscape watering the bugs finally have something to eat again and if the number of caterpillars in my yard are any indication, it’s going to be a banner year for butterflies.
It rained last Friday. I swear these days whenever it rains I can hear all the plants breath a sigh of relief as their roots suck up the much-needed moisture and their leaves expand.
Sunday was almost warm and the winds had died down so I worked outside for a while. It was nice to spend some time outside.
I had a follower while I was working. This little one followed me from one end of the patio to the other as I went about my chores. I finally gave in and put some food down.
I noticed some holes on the butterfly plant and found the responsible party
Most of the plants I keep as butterfly larvae food sources are looking a little ragged right now. Something I don’t mind at all. I have fennel and parsley, but haven’t had any larvae show up on them yet.
The eyes really freak me out. That and every time I think I’ve found them all I find another one. My poor tomato plant is practically denuded. That has not, fortunately, prevented it from producing a prodigious quantity of tomatoes. I’m hoping to actually get some of them since our mouse population has been discouraged by feline intervention.
And picked more than 10 of these off of it. Good thing I did or there would be no plant left in a day or so.
Blog of a geek with a garden 