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All of the butterflies and plants are from my personal garden. Most of the plant material that is planted is Texas Native plants. I do that for several reasons. One water conservation is critical and more restrictions are eminent. The other reason is that the garden is planted with plants to attract butterflies. The more native species I have the more butterflies I will have.
I find most of the Native Texas Plants from small mom and pop nurseries, trades on the Internet and Native Plant Societies sales. If the small nurseries don't have what you are asking for sometimes they can order it for you.
A host plant is one that a butterfly lays its eggs on, the eggs hatch and feed exclusively from this plant. If you try to move them and put them on another plant, they will probably walk off and die rather than eat a non host plant.
A nectar plant is simply a flower that butterflies feed on in their adult life.
A butterfly has four stages of life known as instars. The lifespan through all four stages is about three months. Most adults live about three to four weeks.
boil sugar and water just long enough to melt the sugar
add a pinch of a childs multivitamin from a capsule
or
The Red Spotted Purple is rare in this area according to the North American Butterfly Association. http://www.naba.org/. If you go to this site it will tell you the butterflies that are indigenous to your area. Another good site I use for I.D. and host plant information is http://www.dallasbutterflies.com
This common Cloudless Sulfur usually shows up April-November. It is usually found in open fields and gardens. Here it is enjoying the nectar of the Scarlet Sage. This is a great plant as many butterflies flock to it to feed. You only have to plant it once and it will reseed freely year after year. It is also drought tolerant.
Scabiosa aka Pincushion plant is a nectar plant that blooms almost year round. I couldn't be without this prolific bloomer.
The Red Admiral is a member of the brushfoot family of butterflies, it loves to eat rotten fruit including the peaches in my garden. It will also eat bird droppings. It is normally found Jan.-Dec. and its host plants are nettle and false nettle.
This Red Admiral along with about three others were feeding on my patio Persian Lime tree one day. I bring it out of the greenhouse when it starts to bloom usually in February so the bees can pollinate it for me.
The American Lady is pretty showy. She is a common butterfly in some years and scarce in others. This one has a huge list of host plants including; thistle, holly hock, nettle, yarrow, iron weed and plants in the mallow family. Also a member of the brushfoot family.
Iron weed host plant ~Native Texas plant
Holly Hock host plant
The closed wing of a Question Mark (yes, that really is its name) offers great protection from predators mimicking a leaf. Brushfoot family. It is called Question mark because when the wing is closed you can see a very small white ? on its wing. Look below on its wing, the mark is close to the foot and the ? is tilted.
I love this large butterfly, I see it mostly when my peaches have fallen to the ground and start to rot. They also are attracted to other types of rotting fruit like plums and pears.
If you want to attract any of the butterflies mentioned as Brushfoots in the above pics then try this recipe.
This brew is used by butterflies mostly of the brushfoot family that typically feed on rotting fruit.
3-4 lbs. of overripe bananas
1 bottle of Guiness Stout (or use similar dark like beer)
1 lb. of Brown Sugar
Put bananas in blender or use mixer to ensure they are mashed well, add all other ingredients and place into something like a water jug. that you can remove top to burp it as it is going to ferment. Trust me if you don't burp it, it might explode. The brew should be good for about a year. No need to refrigerate.
Smear some on a log, branch or stone with a little indentation and watch them go to town. You will see some flies so I keep my far enough away as not to invite the flies in. Go out at night and look at and see the moths all over it too.
Hint: save your old bananas by putting them in a bag in the freezer.
This is my version of a butterfly bar. I use a log that has deep crevices to hold the brew. Screw eyes are used to attach a single chain. I then hang it from a shepherds hook. You can also use a rock with a depression that will hold the brew. And yet another version of it has a plastic mesh scrubbie stuck in a small hollowed out log or stone and the nectar poured over the mesh. This is a barrier to help keep out bees and flies. I am not sure how well it works.
The Pearl Crescent is about 1 1/2" wide and not so common in my garden, they love the Texas Fall Asters that just can't be beat when everything else has given up the ghost from the heat.
This one is using the garlic chives for nectar.
The Bordered Patch looks very much like the Pearl Crescent. This one is dining on Garlic Chives also.
Its host plants are many but just to name some of the most common plants; Ragweed, Indian Blanket, Sunflower, Maximillian Sunflower, and Frostweed.
This Queen butterfly is often easily mistaken for a Monarch. Looking very closely at it you will see a big difference. This one is sipping nectar from a native plant called Blue Mist Flower/aka West Texas Mist flower. It is the first year I have grown this plant and I love the small puffy light blue clusters of flowers and fine cut leaves. This one like the Monarch loves many types of Milkweed for its host plant. I have Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) planted through out the yard for the Monarchs.
The chrysalis for the Queen is about 1/2" long and looks almost like the Monarch. The gold flecks are courtesy of Mother Nature, not me. If you look closely you can see some body parts starting to form.
In areas where there are citrus groves it is considered a pest as it will defoliate a tree pretty quickly. The larvae is usually referred to as Dogface. The larvae looks like bird droppings, a great disguise! I have five patio size citrus trees I grow just for them. The fruit for me is a bonus.
The top of the wings looks completely different from the bottom. The bottom is the buttery yellow you see in the above picture.
This one was less than an hour old when I took this picture. It was my first Giant Swallowtail that I raised and released. Another view of the under wing. Notice the empty chrysalis on the bottom left of the picture. It looks like it has horns.
Newly laid eggs are about the size of a pinhead, they are clear in color at first then turn a dark yellow as they age.
Within a couple of days the tiny larvae appear. Look closely and you can see the egg casing next to them. The newly hatched larvae will eat the casings.
This little one came with a Rue plant I bought. What a bonus as I was beginning to think I wasn't going to have any eggs laid. It was actually this one that hatched in the above picture. A word of caution, Rue can cause skin problems with some people. Handle it carefully if you are not sure. I have no problems with it.
After a couple of days of age I move the larvae into this terrarium and will now cut the host plants and feed them to the larvae. Some of the host plants are pushed into florist water tubes to keep the plants fresh. Other times depending on what you are feeding them you don't need the tube. I don't use the tube when feeding them citrus leaves. There are many different ways to achieve this means to an end. Others use plastic containers with holes cut out and then a fine mesh is glued over the cut out. This keeps outs predators and parasites.
This is a flight cage I use for the chrysalis getting ready to eclose. Notice in the pic the chop sticks have green chrysalis on the tips. In about two weeks they will be hatching (eclosing) and I will release them. This is the cage that the larvae go into to feed on the host plants. You can see one of the larvae on the left of the tank. I think there are four Black Swallowtails in the tank when this pic was taken.The tank gets covered with a lid lined with a cloth so that tiny parasites cannot get in the cage. Its also kept very clean so we are not inviting diseases.
Notice there are four chrysalis on the chopsticks just waiting to hatch which can take anywhere from 7 to 14 days.
This one is a couple of days old.
They grow visibly larger and larger each day.
When they reach this size about 2" they will start to morph into a chrysalis. At that point they will attach themselves to a stick or the sides of the terrarium and form a "c" shape like the one below. This stage of life is called a pupae.
This one is ready to fly for the first time. After about an hour of hanging on to the stick upside down and waiting for their wings to harden, it pumps liquid from its abdomen into its wings, inflating them to full size as excess waste drains out.
These pics are of the same butterfly that I caught at about 10 minutes old. I swear as soon as I turn my back to get the camera they have already eclosed.
Did you know that a butterfly has 248 muscles in its head?
Notice this larvae looks remarkably like a Monarch, it is no coincidence. The birds know that the larvae of the Monarch is poisonous because it feeds off Milkweed which is poisonous.
This larvae is not quite big enough yet to go to chrysalis stage (pupate). It is dining on fennel, other common hosts plants for this butterfly are parsley,celery, dill, Queen Anne's lace, Rue and many others which you can find on the link above. The chrysalis looks almost exactly as the Eastern Giant Swallowtail.
The larvae in this pic is only a couple of days old, you can actually see another egg just below it.
A less than an inch tiny Ceraunus Blue is perched on day lily flower. I cannot be sure which one of the Blue's it is as they are so small that they are hard to identify. They are fast and furious flyers, to catch one perched with wings open is shear luck. Host plants peas, beans, clover, frostweed, senna, milkweed and other legumes.
Frostweed as host plant
The Cabbage White is a very common butterfly in the garden, its a fast mover and very hard to photograph. Some vegetable gardeners consider them a pest as some of their host plants are; cabbage, nasturtium, turnip, any in the pea family, kale, broccoli and a few other vegetable garden plants.
I didn't understand why this butterfly was called Dogface until I really looked at it. Look at the fore wings, the yellow part with the black dot. Now look at it in profile and you will see the profile of a dog. Its a stretch, but its there, its more of a caricature.
When the wings are closed like this one with back lighting you can see it also.
Gray Hairstreak is about 1 1/2" a quick flier, camera shy and a very fast flier. Males can be found during the day on low shrubs and tree branches watching for females.
The host plants are oak, walnut and hickory trees, mallow, pea, clover and cotton family are also host plants.
Nectar plants are mint, milkweed, dogbane and other garden plants.
Yarrow host plant
Skippers love the Lantana (horrida). Horrida is the preferred cultivar of Lantana as it is the native to Texas.
These Giant Zinnias are great nectar plants as the flower is about 4" around so it makes a nice safe landing pad.
Fiery Skippers are frequent visitors to the garden. Some host plants are False Indigo, Honey Locust and Wisteria.
Fiery Skipper on Coneflower
Gulf Fritilary is another common butterfly. You will see them around your Passion Vine aka Maypop as this is their host plant. They will also be seen around violets and pansies.
Taking a sip on Scabiosa
When the Gulf Fritilary's wings are closed you will see that the grey wing markings seen here are actually a reflective silver.
This Passion Vine aka Maypop is the host plant for the Gulf Fritilary
This is the larvae for the Gulf Fritilary can be scary looking but is completely harmless. Usually you will see many of these will be very obvious on a Passion vine, which is their host plant.
Varigated Fritilary also resides in the garden and used the same host plants as the Gulf Fritilary.
Horace's Duskywing on Coneflower...this one uses many types of Oaks as a host plant.
Milkweed flower will also host other butterflies such as; The Queen, and Soldier also use it. This particular cultivar is native to Texas as mentioned previously.
Monarch larvae getting ready to go to chrysalis. How do I know that you ask? The larvae will only leave the host plant to find a suitable plant for morphing to chrysalis stage. I see this one is on a Torch Lily, which is not its host plant. I have literally seen larvae travel across the yard to find a plant to morph to chrysalis stage.
A female Monarch can lay 100 eggs or more on one single plant!
A monarch will travel an average of 50 miles a day during their migration.
There are only 12 mountaintops in Mexico where you can find monarch butterflies during winter. A tagged monarch once traveled 265 miles in a single day!
Monarch visiting Buddhleia aka butterfly bush, which drives me nuts when a good amount of plants are called "butterfly plants/bushes by nurseries. Insist that the nursery give you the botanical name.
A purple cultivar of the Buddhleia called "black night", because this plant is purple it will attract more butterflies than the above white cultivar because; butterflies are attracted by the amount of ultraviolet reflection the flowers emit. Since some colors emit better than others. Purple, lavender, orange and red usually work well.
This beautiful handcrafted copper bird feeder/bath is one of my favorite things I own. There are two brass swallowtail butterflies and one copper dragonfly adorning the feeder. My husband bought it for me as an anniversary gift. I use as a "puddling" site for the butterflies. I fill it with a very sandy soil.
In nature you might see the butterflies clustered around a mud puddle or a muddy stream bank, you will notice that they are probing the mud with their proboscises to extract the water and minerals from the ground. Since most puddlers are male, scientists believe that salt helps them produce pheromones that help them attract a mate.
Heliotrope was a new discovery for me, it has a strong vanilla scent. However, it is an annual so it will have to be replaced every year. It does overwinter well in my greenhouse. Monarchs and Queens get their minerals from this plant.
The Hackberry Emperor is another one that loves rotting fruit. Hackberry is the host plant as you would have guessed.
Waiting on the peach tree for a peach to rot.
This male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was a really nice surprise. The female is dark blue. Its the first time I have seen them in my yard. I don't have any of their host plants so they were here just for the nectar. A few of the host plants are the saucer type magnolia and members of the ash family.
In case you see some creature like the next group of pics you can browse this site to see if you can identify it.
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/
Emerald Moth and Garlic chive flower
Emerald Moth ~ Synchlora aerata
Emerald Moth Larva
If you look closely on the right middle of the plant you will see a slight rounding. This is the larva that has covered itself with the plant debris. Great camoflauge! The only reason I found it was because it was moving and the rest of the plant standing completely still. I brought it in photographed it and put it in a cage so that I could see what it looked like. I love it, its only about 16-17 wingspan wide and a beautiful shade of green.
Southern Pink moth~Pyrausta inornatalis
This one I found early in the morning while taking my daily walk through the garden. I still had my nightgown on but I knew I needed to take the photo quickly or it would be gone. I grabbed the camera and laid down on my belly to get it. It was only about 1/2" wide. I hope to find the larva someday and photograph it also. This is my screen saver now as it is my favorite photo.
This larvae is an Army Worm Moth, this one will surely ruin your vegetable garden.
Tomato Hornworm Larvae is really destructive to tomatoes. These get almost 3" long and can strip a plant quickly. If you see what looks like dark green small peas on your leaves you need to look at your plant thoroughly. These are usually hanging upside down on the leaf branch.
Imagine my surprise when I found this 4" creature on my grapevine. After a little bit of research I found out it is a Achemon Moth. Believe it or not this ugly thing turns into a beautiful moth.
A Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth is sometimes mistaken for a bee. This 2" moth does fly during the day. It looks like a large misshaped bee. Nectar plants are many for this little one. A few are cone flower, trumpet vine, milkweed, star jasmine and honeysuckle.
Hawiian Beet Moth~Spoladea recurvalis
wingspan 19-21 mm
Hawiian Bett Moth larva
The White Lined Spinx is a good example of what the ugly larvae morph into. These visit only at night.
Falcon Sphinx~Xylophanes falco
This camoflauged moth is a Sad Underwing~Cataocala maestrosa. It has a wingspan of 3-4". The only reason I was able to captured this photo was that I disturbed it during the day.
Saltmarsh Moth ~Estigmene acrea
Hard to believe this one turns into a beautiful large white moth with black dots.
All of the butterflies and plants are from my personal garden. Most of the plant material that is planted is Texas Native plants. I do that for several reasons. One water conservation is critical and more restrictions are eminent. The other reason is that the garden is planted with plants to attract butterflies. The more native species I have the more butterflies I will have.
I find most of the Native Texas Plants from small mom and pop nurseries, trades on the Internet and Native Plant Societies sales. If the small nurseries don't have what you are asking for sometimes they can order it for you.
A LITTLE BUTTERFLY 101
A host plant is one that a butterfly lays its eggs on, the eggs hatch and feed exclusively from this plant. If you try to move them and put them on another plant, they will probably walk off and die rather than eat a non host plant.
A nectar plant is simply a flower that butterflies feed on in their adult life.
A butterfly has four stages of life known as instars. The lifespan through all four stages is about three months. Most adults live about three to four weeks.
boil sugar and water just long enough to melt the sugar
add a pinch of a childs multivitamin from a capsule
or
The Red Spotted Purple is rare in this area according to the North American Butterfly Association. http://www.naba.org/. If you go to this site it will tell you the butterflies that are indigenous to your area. Another good site I use for I.D. and host plant information is http://www.dallasbutterflies.com
This common Cloudless Sulfur usually shows up April-November. It is usually found in open fields and gardens. Here it is enjoying the nectar of the Scarlet Sage. This is a great plant as many butterflies flock to it to feed. You only have to plant it once and it will reseed freely year after year. It is also drought tolerant.
Scabiosa aka Pincushion plant is a nectar plant that blooms almost year round. I couldn't be without this prolific bloomer.
The Red Admiral is a member of the brushfoot family of butterflies, it loves to eat rotten fruit including the peaches in my garden. It will also eat bird droppings. It is normally found Jan.-Dec. and its host plants are nettle and false nettle.
This Red Admiral along with about three others were feeding on my patio Persian Lime tree one day. I bring it out of the greenhouse when it starts to bloom usually in February so the bees can pollinate it for me.
The American Lady is pretty showy. She is a common butterfly in some years and scarce in others. This one has a huge list of host plants including; thistle, holly hock, nettle, yarrow, iron weed and plants in the mallow family. Also a member of the brushfoot family.
Iron weed host plant ~Native Texas plant
Holly Hock host plant
The closed wing of a Question Mark (yes, that really is its name) offers great protection from predators mimicking a leaf. Brushfoot family. It is called Question mark because when the wing is closed you can see a very small white ? on its wing. Look below on its wing, the mark is close to the foot and the ? is tilted.
On these three the ? is easier to see.
I love this large butterfly, I see it mostly when my peaches have fallen to the ground and start to rot. They also are attracted to other types of rotting fruit like plums and pears.
If you want to attract any of the butterflies mentioned as Brushfoots in the above pics then try this recipe.This brew is used by butterflies mostly of the brushfoot family that typically feed on rotting fruit.
3-4 lbs. of overripe bananas
1 bottle of Guiness Stout (or use similar dark like beer)
1 lb. of Brown Sugar
Put bananas in blender or use mixer to ensure they are mashed well, add all other ingredients and place into something like a water jug. that you can remove top to burp it as it is going to ferment. Trust me if you don't burp it, it might explode. The brew should be good for about a year. No need to refrigerate.
Smear some on a log, branch or stone with a little indentation and watch them go to town. You will see some flies so I keep my far enough away as not to invite the flies in. Go out at night and look at and see the moths all over it too.
Hint: save your old bananas by putting them in a bag in the freezer.
This is my version of a butterfly bar. I use a log that has deep crevices to hold the brew. Screw eyes are used to attach a single chain. I then hang it from a shepherds hook. You can also use a rock with a depression that will hold the brew. And yet another version of it has a plastic mesh scrubbie stuck in a small hollowed out log or stone and the nectar poured over the mesh. This is a barrier to help keep out bees and flies. I am not sure how well it works.
The Pearl Crescent is about 1 1/2" wide and not so common in my garden, they love the Texas Fall Asters that just can't be beat when everything else has given up the ghost from the heat.
This one is using the garlic chives for nectar.
The Bordered Patch looks very much like the Pearl Crescent. This one is dining on Garlic Chives also.Its host plants are many but just to name some of the most common plants; Ragweed, Indian Blanket, Sunflower, Maximillian Sunflower, and Frostweed.
This Queen butterfly is often easily mistaken for a Monarch. Looking very closely at it you will see a big difference. This one is sipping nectar from a native plant called Blue Mist Flower/aka West Texas Mist flower. It is the first year I have grown this plant and I love the small puffy light blue clusters of flowers and fine cut leaves. This one like the Monarch loves many types of Milkweed for its host plant. I have Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) planted through out the yard for the Monarchs.
The larvae of the Queen has purple bands running up the body.
My favorite butterfly is the Giant Swallowtail. This one is a female.
Its host plants are willow, hops, citrus , bay and ash. This one is a female.
The top of the wings looks completely different from the bottom. The bottom is the buttery yellow you see in the above picture.
This one was less than an hour old when I took this picture. It was my first Giant Swallowtail that I raised and released. Another view of the under wing. Notice the empty chrysalis on the bottom left of the picture. It looks like it has horns.
Newly laid eggs are about the size of a pinhead, they are clear in color at first then turn a dark yellow as they age.
Within a couple of days the tiny larvae appear. Look closely and you can see the egg casing next to them. The newly hatched larvae will eat the casings.
This little one came with a Rue plant I bought. What a bonus as I was beginning to think I wasn't going to have any eggs laid. It was actually this one that hatched in the above picture. A word of caution, Rue can cause skin problems with some people. Handle it carefully if you are not sure. I have no problems with it.
After a couple of days of age I move the larvae into this terrarium and will now cut the host plants and feed them to the larvae. Some of the host plants are pushed into florist water tubes to keep the plants fresh. Other times depending on what you are feeding them you don't need the tube. I don't use the tube when feeding them citrus leaves. There are many different ways to achieve this means to an end. Others use plastic containers with holes cut out and then a fine mesh is glued over the cut out. This keeps outs predators and parasites.
This is a flight cage I use for the chrysalis getting ready to eclose. Notice in the pic the chop sticks have green chrysalis on the tips. In about two weeks they will be hatching (eclosing) and I will release them. This is the cage that the larvae go into to feed on the host plants. You can see one of the larvae on the left of the tank. I think there are four Black Swallowtails in the tank when this pic was taken.The tank gets covered with a lid lined with a cloth so that tiny parasites cannot get in the cage. Its also kept very clean so we are not inviting diseases.
Notice there are four chrysalis on the chopsticks just waiting to hatch which can take anywhere from 7 to 14 days.
This one is a couple of days old.
They grow visibly larger and larger each day.
When they reach this size about 2" they will start to morph into a chrysalis. At that point they will attach themselves to a stick or the sides of the terrarium and form a "c" shape like the one below. This stage of life is called a pupae.
This is when they make the journey into a chrysalis. Its absolutely amazing to watch!
The chrysalis for the Giant Swallowtail, is a beige color. It also looks like it has horns on its head.
These Black Swallowtails are so regal looking you just have to love them.
These pics are of the same butterfly that I caught at about 10 minutes old. I swear as soon as I turn my back to get the camera they have already eclosed.
Did you know that a butterfly has 248 muscles in its head?
Notice this larvae looks remarkably like a Monarch, it is no coincidence. The birds know that the larvae of the Monarch is poisonous because it feeds off Milkweed which is poisonous.
This larvae is not quite big enough yet to go to chrysalis stage (pupate). It is dining on fennel, other common hosts plants for this butterfly are parsley,celery, dill, Queen Anne's lace, Rue and many others which you can find on the link above. The chrysalis looks almost exactly as the Eastern Giant Swallowtail.
The larvae in this pic is only a couple of days old, you can actually see another egg just below it.
Look closely and you can see the yellow egg about the size of a pinhead.
The Pipevine Swallowtail just emerged after about one hour. I adopted I think a total of twenty six of these from a friend that did not have enough of their host plant to feed them. These Pipevine's are ravenous eaters one of heir host plants Dutchman's Pipe Asceplias fimbriata. Those of us that raise butterflies will tell you to be careful of certain nurseries that are selling Dutchman's Pipe, Asceplias gigantea it is poisonous to the Pipevine, it is not poisonous to the Pallomedes Swallowtail, which we don't have in my area. The female will lay her eggs on it but they will all die.
The Pipevine chrysalis is very odd looking and large, about 1 1/4". It also has flecks of gold in it.
Pipevine Larvae are about 2 1/" long and about a 1/2' around. They look scary however they do not bite.
Pipevine eggs
This is the proper Dutchman's Pipe to plant as a host plant. Notice the flower can easily look like the larvae.
Tiger Swallowtail~a new visitor to the garden this year. What a beauty!
Pipevine larvae a few days old
A less than an inch tiny Ceraunus Blue is perched on day lily flower. I cannot be sure which one of the Blue's it is as they are so small that they are hard to identify. They are fast and furious flyers, to catch one perched with wings open is shear luck. Host plants peas, beans, clover, frostweed, senna, milkweed and other legumes.
Frostweed as host plant
The Cabbage White is a very common butterfly in the garden, its a fast mover and very hard to photograph. Some vegetable gardeners consider them a pest as some of their host plants are; cabbage, nasturtium, turnip, any in the pea family, kale, broccoli and a few other vegetable garden plants.
I didn't understand why this butterfly was called Dogface until I really looked at it. Look at the fore wings, the yellow part with the black dot. Now look at it in profile and you will see the profile of a dog. Its a stretch, but its there, its more of a caricature.
When the wings are closed like this one with back lighting you can see it also.
Gray Hairstreak is about 1 1/2" a quick flier, camera shy and a very fast flier. Males can be found during the day on low shrubs and tree branches watching for females.
The host plants are oak, walnut and hickory trees, mallow, pea, clover and cotton family are also host plants.
Nectar plants are mint, milkweed, dogbane and other garden plants.
Yarrow host plant
Skippers love the Lantana (horrida). Horrida is the preferred cultivar of Lantana as it is the native to Texas.
These Giant Zinnias are great nectar plants as the flower is about 4" around so it makes a nice safe landing pad.
Fiery Skippers are frequent visitors to the garden. Some host plants are False Indigo, Honey Locust and Wisteria.
Fiery Skipper on Coneflower
Pair of Gulf Fritilaries resting
Gulf Fritilary is another common butterfly. You will see them around your Passion Vine aka Maypop as this is their host plant. They will also be seen around violets and pansies.
Taking a sip on Scabiosa
Mating Gulf Fritilaries
When the Gulf Fritilary's wings are closed you will see that the grey wing markings seen here are actually a reflective silver.
This is the larvae for the Gulf Fritilary can be scary looking but is completely harmless. Usually you will see many of these will be very obvious on a Passion vine, which is their host plant.
Varigated Fritilary also resides in the garden and used the same host plants as the Gulf Fritilary.
Swamp Milkweed (Asceplias incarnata) a pod bursting with seed.
Milkweed flower will also host other butterflies such as; The Queen, and Soldier also use it. This particular cultivar is native to Texas as mentioned previously.
Monarch larvae getting ready to go to chrysalis. How do I know that you ask? The larvae will only leave the host plant to find a suitable plant for morphing to chrysalis stage. I see this one is on a Torch Lily, which is not its host plant. I have literally seen larvae travel across the yard to find a plant to morph to chrysalis stage.
Monarch on Texas Aster, a must have for the fall garden. Most Monarchs spend only two to six weeks in butterfly form. The first three to four weeks of life are spent as an egg, as a caterpillar and in a chrysalis.
A female Monarch can lay 100 eggs or more on one single plant!
A monarch will travel an average of 50 miles a day during their migration.
There are only 12 mountaintops in Mexico where you can find monarch butterflies during winter. A tagged monarch once traveled 265 miles in a single day!
Monarch on Cuphea "firefly" another great plant that attracts many visitors. This plant is also referred to as cigar plant.
60 degrees is the temperature monarch need it to be before they can warm up their muscles to fly.
60 degrees is the temperature monarch need it to be before they can warm up their muscles to fly.
Monarch visiting Buddhleia aka butterfly bush, which drives me nuts when a good amount of plants are called "butterfly plants/bushes by nurseries. Insist that the nursery give you the botanical name.
A purple cultivar of the Buddhleia called "black night", because this plant is purple it will attract more butterflies than the above white cultivar because; butterflies are attracted by the amount of ultraviolet reflection the flowers emit. Since some colors emit better than others. Purple, lavender, orange and red usually work well.
This beautiful handcrafted copper bird feeder/bath is one of my favorite things I own. There are two brass swallowtail butterflies and one copper dragonfly adorning the feeder. My husband bought it for me as an anniversary gift. I use as a "puddling" site for the butterflies. I fill it with a very sandy soil.
In nature you might see the butterflies clustered around a mud puddle or a muddy stream bank, you will notice that they are probing the mud with their proboscises to extract the water and minerals from the ground. Since most puddlers are male, scientists believe that salt helps them produce pheromones that help them attract a mate.
Heliotrope was a new discovery for me, it has a strong vanilla scent. However, it is an annual so it will have to be replaced every year. It does overwinter well in my greenhouse. Monarchs and Queens get their minerals from this plant.
The Hackberry Emperor is another one that loves rotting fruit. Hackberry is the host plant as you would have guessed.
Waiting on the peach tree for a peach to rot.
This male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was a really nice surprise. The female is dark blue. Its the first time I have seen them in my yard. I don't have any of their host plants so they were here just for the nectar. A few of the host plants are the saucer type magnolia and members of the ash family.
These next few pics are of Black Swallowtail on my Zinnias
I don't know about you, but I see a cat in this gazing ball.
MOTHS 101
Contrary to popular belief, a butterfly does not make a cocoon, a moth does. Another difference between the two is that butterflies have antennae shaped liked a golf club. Moths have feathery antennae. Both are insects and members of the order Lepidoptera. They have all the same body parts and are considered scaly-winged insects. Most butterflies are diurnal (active during the day) and moths are nocturnal (fly at night). Keep in mind that if you are using a bug zapper you are killing some beautiful moths also.http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/
If you look closely on the right middle of the plant you will see a slight rounding. This is the larva that has covered itself with the plant debris. Great camoflauge! The only reason I found it was because it was moving and the rest of the plant standing completely still. I brought it in photographed it and put it in a cage so that I could see what it looked like. I love it, its only about 16-17 wingspan wide and a beautiful shade of green.
This one I found early in the morning while taking my daily walk through the garden. I still had my nightgown on but I knew I needed to take the photo quickly or it would be gone. I grabbed the camera and laid down on my belly to get it. It was only about 1/2" wide. I hope to find the larva someday and photograph it also. This is my screen saver now as it is my favorite photo.
This larvae is an Army Worm Moth, this one will surely ruin your vegetable garden.
Tomato Hornworm Larvae is really destructive to tomatoes. These get almost 3" long and can strip a plant quickly. If you see what looks like dark green small peas on your leaves you need to look at your plant thoroughly. These are usually hanging upside down on the leaf branch.
Satellite Sphinx feeding on Grape Ivy, these are also very large but turn into a beautiful moth.
Imagine my surprise when I found this 4" creature on my grapevine. After a little bit of research I found out it is a Achemon Moth. Believe it or not this ugly thing turns into a beautiful moth.
A face only a mother could love!
A Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth is sometimes mistaken for a bee. This 2" moth does fly during the day. It looks like a large misshaped bee. Nectar plants are many for this little one. A few are cone flower, trumpet vine, milkweed, star jasmine and honeysuckle.
wingspan 19-21 mm
The White Lined Spinx is a good example of what the ugly larvae morph into. These visit only at night.
Falcon Sphinx~Xylophanes falco
Vine Sphinx~Eumorpha vitis
This beauty was found in 2009 at the base of my plant pedestal. It is called Eumorpha vitis. Eumorpha meaning well formed. Vitis refers to its host plant, the grape. It is in this area July through Sept. and does have other host plants, such as Virginia creeper, Grape ivy and Sorrel vine. It is common from Argentina to Nebraska. Its a large moth with a wingspan of 3 3/8" - 4 1/8". Since it flies at night you rarely see it during the day. This one I think is newly eclosed because its wings were still a little wrinkled.
Hard to believe this one turns into a beautiful large white moth with black dots.
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Peg,
ReplyDeleteThat's just a beautiful post! I'm going to givet the butterfly bar a try! Wish me luck!--Randy
Great information and a fascinating post. I learned a great deal here. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYour so sweet, my friend.
ReplyDeleteYou have some interesting photos here and a variety of butterflies that visit your garden. The Dogface Sulphur is extremely hard to get a pic of the spread wings.
ReplyDeleteWill this be an ongoing blog, or have you other blogs and used this as a side page?
What a great set of photos and source of information on butterflies and moths. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete