Not too lucky with pix, but a ROARING day in the garden. Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, Red Spotted Purple, Monarchs, Skippers, Red Admirals and more!
Obviously, i saw a lot more than i snapped
My first shot is a Mourning Cloak, a Newbie to the garden for 2019.
The second shot is an American Lady, back for "seconds".
I had a HUGE run on all the Vanessa butterflies this year, and this is an ELF (Egg Laying Female) from the third generation of the year
The county sprayed for mosquitoes earlier this year, so my crop of frittilaries is light this year and my passion vine is raging out of control. I am finally seeing my ELFs that should have been doing their job in June. Only about 40-50 flying around today.
I am glad to see your butterflies rebounding from those goddam fucking assholes poisoning the planet.
I am lucky in the respect that not all my neighbors crave perfect lawns
@Leafhead Ours is in response to west Nile Virus detected in the local area. I was out of town or I would have gathered up a couple of hundred of the caterpilars for the night. Last year was the first time that the frits actually controled the passion vine and i was looking forward to a huge bumper crop this year. Our mild winter meant I had butterflies all winter, i had one that hibernated with my dragon fruit cactus as I brought it in and put it out. She would move very slightly to drink, finally laid eggs and died in March.
@Leafhead Oh crap! I forgot about the misquito trucks!! They spray every single street in the city. Standard practice here in the land of West Nile panic. It is a public "health" policy that most of the public is all in favor of, ...spraying, that is.
@Leafhead, @glennlab I just started planting Monarch host plant milkweed this year. I figured I can't take caterillars indoors without taking branches of milkweed in too, to sustain them. I figure next year the plants will be better established and able to sacrifice a branch here and there. As for this year, I have seen a double handful of caterpillers but also wasps killing them. 2 days ago I checked and could not see any, though I found one chrysalis. Either the preditors got them, or the misquito trucks, or they all crawled off to pupate in hiding. I am doubting the last possibility.
@MikeInBatonRouge my plants are so well established that i could literally bring a truckload in and barely hurt the passion vine. The caterpillars will hide as far as 50-100 feet from their host plants. Wasps are the natural preditors of the caterpillars and also are very important pollenators.
@MikeInBatonRouge Find out if the mosquito trucks are spraying poison or cotton seed oil. The fogger trucks that spray cotton seed oil do far less damage to non-flying insects .
@glennlab well, after looking and looking for web site information on our local misquito control "service," I cannot find specifically what chemicals they use. But I did see them indirectly acknowledge detriment to honeybees, after several times emphatically insisting it is safe for humans and pets. Their site states that if you raise honeybees, you may request for them to mark your specific location to be skipped. (I don't believe that will actually be honored by individual drivers, who are used to sweeping through the intire area.) No mention of any consideration for butterflies, of course. Apparently there has been little direct research on impact on butterflies. But I found this:
[miamiherald.com]
@glennlab
Don't even get me started...
Assholes that go around poisoning the planet are right up there with ambulance chasers, baby seal clubbers, whalers and child molesters, in my book
The world would be a better and safer place without all these fuckheads that INSIST that spraying dangerous carcinogens all over hell is better and easier than working on a cure, treatment and/or vaccine for WNV.
These knuckleheads have NO IDEA that spraying takes out more predators than prey, and we end up with even MORE mosquitoes.
Imbeciles.
Posted by FrostyJim...I have enough room for a few good people.
Posted by glennlabMy heavenly Blue Morning Glories have finally gotten their color.
Posted by glennlabMy heavenly Blue Morning Glories have finally gotten their color.
Posted by FernappleIts that season again, blue sky and golden leaves, nature is the greatest designer, a Ginkgo in my garden. Also posted in photography.
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimI needed to preserve my bell peppers so I made Indian chutney last night.
Posted by FrostyJimI needed to preserve my bell peppers so I made Indian chutney last night.
Posted by FrostyJimMoose family munchin' on my Raspberries right now at about 8:30 on Tuesday night!
Posted by FrostyJim3 giants total over 3 lbs! Bush Early Girl hybrid grown in my Wasilla Alaska zone 4b greenhouse...
Posted by FrostyJim.