Show your butterfly and hummingbird gardens/plants - Page 12

svalli · August 23, 2018

I just realized I have not seen many butterflies this summer. There are just some Cabbage butterflies flying around. Early spring I saw one Peacock butterfly and one Small tortoiseshell, which must have been overwintered as adults. The hot and dry summer may have caused that there was not enough to eat for the caterpillars. We have had a lot of wasps and dragonflies so it may also be that there has been too many predators around.
I love the Peacock's colors and big 'eyes'. This photo is from summer 2016. I do not like yellow flowers so much, but butterflies seem to love them, so every year I grow marigolds for them.

GrowingCoastal · August 23, 2018

And the fabulous butterflies look so good on the yellow!

Worth1 · August 23, 2018

How about bats and mothes
Here is a yuca bloomed two years in a row my place.
Picture taken this morning.
Close to ten feet tall.
Worth

IMG_20180823_50317.jpg

bower · August 23, 2018

That peacock butterfly is a beauty! I've never seen them before.

Worth, that is a very impressive yucca. Would love to see your bats.

Here are a few of the flowers that keep our bees and butterflies busy.. The blue spikes in the background seem to be popular with the butterflies but I can't catch them when they're on it... it is a garden Speedwell.
Oregano seems to be everybody's favorite (everyone with wings that is).

SpookyShoe · August 23, 2018

Bats are pollinators, so bring on the plants that they like! I remember from biology
classes that the Yucca is pollinated by only one moth, correct?

Donna

SpookyShoe · August 23, 2018

Beautiful photos!

Donna

Worth1 · August 23, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpookyShoe

Bats are pollinators, so bring on the plants that they like! I remember from biology
classes that the Yucca is pollinated by only one moth, correct?

Donna

some are I guess but what ever moth it is it probably didn't follow the plant here.
This is a mountain yucca that is thought to be a natural cross from the high areas of Mexico.
Bought it when it was a baby.
Looks like it is about to branch out.
I know the tree frogs like it and I bet I know why, they ain't stupid.

I find them all the time perched inside those sharp spines.

Worth

bower · August 25, 2018

Well today was the first serious butterfly day of the season! I glanced out the window and saw them fluttering about. So I took the camera and went for a stroll. Only two types of butterfly - the Comma and the red Admiral - but there were a dozen + of each of them. I went all around the garden and every butterfly I saw was on.... oregano! The other flowers are just for show.

Actually the bumblebees are working everything but there were a lot of them busy on oregano today. It must be in primo nectar condition right now.

SpookyShoe · August 26, 2018

They finally arrived in my backyard. It looked like a Ruby-Throated on one of the feeders. They'll be here for several weeks before heading further south for the winter.

Donna, Texas Gulf Coast

MissS · August 27, 2018

Congrats Donna!
The birds on the East Coast have started moving. Here in the Central Region they don't start migration until September. I still have a male who is just going through his molt. He will not move until his new feathers are in. I find this interesting because most adult males molt and migrate here in the end of July or early August. I also still have one female who is tending a nest, so these birds will not be leaving very soon.

SpookyShoe · August 28, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissS

Congrats Donna!
The birds on the East Coast have started moving. Here in the Central Region they don't start migration until September. I still have a male who is just going through his molt. He will not move until his new feathers are in. I find this interesting because most adult males molt and migrate here in the end of July or early August. I also still have one female who is tending a nest, so these birds will not be leaving very soon.

Wise is the bird who waits for his feathers.

These plants were beautifying the parking lot for a public tennis court/baseball diamond in my area. I saw them on the way home from shopping. The butterflies and bees were feasting. Dwarf poinciana "Pride of Barbados," asclepias, Knockout Rose, and Duranta.

Donna, Texas Gulf Coast

bower · August 30, 2018

Those are lovely flowers, Donna.

Got another surprise - dozens of colorful caterpillars, but not on the oregano with their mothers. They were all on agrimony, on both sides of the yard, none other.

imp · August 31, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by svalli

I just realized I have not seen many butterflies this summer. There are just some Cabbage butterflies flying around. Early spring I saw one Peacock butterfly and one Small tortoiseshell, which must have been overwintered as adults. The hot and dry summer may have caused that there was not enough to eat for the caterpillars. We have had a lot of wasps and dragonflies so it may also be that there has been too many predators around.
I love the Peacock's colors and big 'eyes'. This photo is from summer 2016. I do not like yellow flowers so much, but butterflies seem to love them, so every year I grow marigolds for them.

Stunningly beautiful pictures and the contrast is wonderful, too.

Worth1 · August 31, 2018

ZERO set flowers on the yucca plant twice in two years.
I have never seen these things set fruit.

Worth

Worth1 · August 31, 2018

All of yalls flowers look nice.

August 23, 2018	#170
SpookyShoe Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: El Lago, Texas Posts: 1,100	Bats Bats are pollinators, so bring on the plants that they like! I remember from biology classes that the Yucca is pollinated by only one moth, correct? Donna

August 23, 2018	#171
SpookyShoe Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: El Lago, Texas Posts: 1,100	I love this thread Beautiful photos! Donna

August 26, 2018	#174
SpookyShoe Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: El Lago, Texas Posts: 1,100	Hummingbirds here at last They finally arrived in my backyard. It looked like a Ruby-Throated on one of the feeders. They'll be here for several weeks before heading further south for the winter. Donna, Texas Gulf Coast

August 27, 2018	#175
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,150	Congrats Donna! The birds on the East Coast have started moving. Here in the Central Region they don't start migration until September. I still have a male who is just going through his molt. He will not move until his new feathers are in. I find this interesting because most adult males molt and migrate here in the end of July or early August. I also still have one female who is tending a nest, so these birds will not be leaving very soon. __________________ ~ Patti ~

August 23, 2018	#167
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	And the fabulous butterflies look so good on the yellow!

August 23, 2018	#168
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	How about bats and mothes Here is a yuca bloomed two years in a row my place. Picture taken this morning. Close to ten feet tall. Worth IMG_20180823_50317.jpg

August 31, 2018	#179
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	ZERO set flowers on the yucca plant twice in two years. I have never seen these things set fruit. Worth

August 31, 2018	#180
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	All of yalls flowers look nice.