Marilyn, that's actually purple but my camera confuses blues and purples. It's some kind of Heliotrope but I don't know the exact species or cultivar. The butterflies have been loving it, especially the Monarchs. I do know we only grow it as a cool season plant here in Florida, but you'll probably be fine growing it in Kentucky. I know I see it in most of my gardening catalogs, but it's not something I ever considered growing since it wouldn't last very long in this heat.

Here's a picture from back in January. Again, the flower is more purple than the picture shows.

Melanie,

Wow! Beautiful, especially with all the Monarchs!

Did you ever find out from BAMONA which Coreopsis you have?

Marilyn, I'm not sure what you're asking. BAMONA only identifies butterflies, moths, and caterpillars, not plants.

mellielong said:Okay folks, I'm awake! And I promised pictures so let's start at the museum. This is a Gulf Frit that I released. It had some of the meconium (waste fluids) on its wings due to having to sit in the little box until I came to release it. So that's why it looks like that.



And I released a Monarch.



We had three Great Southern Whites. Technically two, because one escaped into the outer enclosure but I recaptured it with my net.



Zebras roosting. That's the attached classroom in the second photo. You can sit in there and watch the butterflies through the window and we have a slide show, brochures, and a microscope where you can look at dead butterflies up close.



Julias are still hanging out.



This is our new "Savage Garden" exhibit with carnivorous plants, orchids, tillandsias, and other wetland plants. The pond exhibit behind it has koi and turtles.



I'm wondering if this is the same Orange-Barred Sulphur female I netted last week.



Speaking of Orange-Barred Sulphurs, I caught five last week and put them in a tank. And this week, all five were still in there! Sulphurs up and die for no good reason so this shocked me. FYI, when we can, we write the number of caterpillars on the tank so we know how many there are when we clean and change tanks. Anyway, I had to up the number a lot this week because I found 18 caterpillars! They're all Sulphurs and I was assuming Cloudless, but after looking at the ones from last week who have grown, they are definitely Orange-Barred. It used to be Orange-Barreds didn't show until later in the year but the last two years they've been nearly non-stop. Okay, here's one of the caterpillars I found. If you don't see it, look at the right set of leaves and from my thumb go up three leaves. It's that tiny orange thing.



But then I found a big one so I know they're probably all Orange-Barred Sulphurs. Although, next week they may surprise me.



Back home I saw the Gulf Frit that has been around lately.



Both my dad and neighbor Jim planted Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow plants. But ours is in the shade and Jim's is in full sun. Both smell really good and are seeing a lot of action. Like this skipper.



Jim's also had a hummingbird moth (Snowberry Clearwing) but this was the best photo I could get.



Meanwhile, there was a Spicebush ST on my Yesterday, etc, plant. But it was up high and I couldn't get good lighting on it. From what I saw it was a male which is good because my Spicebush and Sassafras have only just started leafing out.



This skipper was loving the new kind of Coreopsis I bought. I'll have to ask the folks at BAMONA what it is.



I believe this is one of those Monk Skippers I learned about last year.



A Long-Tailed Skipper also liked Jim's Yesterday, blah, blah plant. You can see the turquoise on the upper side. Very pretty.



You can see the variety of butterflies has definitely increased. And this doesn't include the Giant ST that I finally saw, or the Cloudless Sulphur that wouldn't stop, or the Orange-Barred Sulphur that flew over my head. I saw two Giant STs driving around today and it made me wonder if the smell of orange blossoms lures them out.

@mellielong

Scroll down to what you said - pics & comments of the Coreopsis. Maybe you were wanting to know what Skipper it was, not the Coreopsis.

Do you know what Coreopsis variety you have?

@mellielong
Melanie, do you know what cat this is? I am seeing these all over the place right now.

Marilyn, yup I meant the skipper. It was a Clouded Skipper, by the way. Hadn't seen one of those in a long while. The Coreopsis tag read Coreopsis grandifola but I think it was some kind of cultivar. The tag didn't say, though. I think when I bought them the lady at the nursery said it was a new cultivar but she couldn't remember the name. But at least I know what species it came from because there are many Coreopsis.

Ann, I've got those too. I was pretty sure I knew what they were but I asked BAMONA and they are Forest Tent Caterpillar Moths. They don't actually make tents, though. Here's the info page on them: http://www.butterfliesandmoths...

Just a few things from this afternoon when I went out to water the plants.

Gulf Fritillary that got a bite taken out of its lower wings.



Meanwhile, the Gulf Frit caterpillars have found my Corkystem Passion Vine. I moved the big one over to the 'Lavender Lady'.



But over on the 'Lavender Lady' I found more eggs (that yellow dot). But these eggs are yellow which indicates Zebra Longwings. Except they've never used the 'Lavender Lady' before. Maybe one got desperate? I should probably bring them in and observe them because now it's got me curious.



And this is called a Bagworm but it's really a type of caterpillar. I like to think it's imitating a snail by building a little home around it. You can just see the head sticking out on the left side. It was on my well which is apparently where all the cool caterpillars are hanging out these days.

Maybe they like the blue Melanie.

I will be curious about that ZLW egg too.

Thanks for the ID. I submitted the photo to BAMONA.

There were several Zebra Longwing eggs and I'm think I'm going to bring them in. I haven't raised them in a while, anyway. Naturally, my P. 'Lavender Lady' is covered in buds so it's just about time for the caterpillars to show up. I did enjoy some flowers through the winter and I'll probably see most of these blooms because the caterpillars are still so small, but they'll get to chewing pretty quickly. My dad always threatens to cut the Passion Vine back when it starts creeping around the house and into the garage. But he's just been tucking it back around on to the other plants. I tell him the caterpillars will take care of it. Who needs hedge trimmers. anyway? Now, if I can just get my first Swallowtails I'll be super excited! Or if I find Red Admirals. Heck, I may go to the next street over and check the Willows for Viceroys.

I spotted a giant swallowtail yesterday at a most inconvenient time so no running after it to take photos.

I brought in some eggs off the passion vine. The 'Lavender Lady' one. Two of them might be Gulf Frit eggs but I think the others are Zebra Longwings. I shall let them hatch and find out! I like to know who is using which host plants.

It will be interesting to find out.

Yeah, my other caterpillar experiment failed. The moth cats I brought in from the well - both the green dudes and the gray dude - died on me. It's hard to know what went wrong when you don't even know what species you had. But the science must continue!

This is true.

Sometimes we learn more from our failures than our successes. I've certainly made my fair share of mistakes raising caterpillars over the years but the good thing is that I learned from it. And now I can share my knowledge with you guys and my new trainee at MOSI. She's working out quite well, by the way. I'm going to take some of my butterfly books this weekend so she can look through them and see which ones she might want to buy. I think I have an extra copy of the Florida Butterfly field guide somewhere around here but finding it will be the problem. And now I'm wondering if I even remembered to give her one of our good brochures from the museum! I better go make myself a list before I forget all this stuff.

Hey everyone! @SCurtis has a Monarch idea/article on the main page if you somehow missed it. Shoot her an acorn or a thumbs up or something. Or just leave a nice comment! We want everyone on ATP growing milkweed this year. And all subsequent years after that.

Well, Dad's all proud that he got a picture today. This is a Polydamas on one of my bromeliads. I wonder if it had to chase the hummingbird off? It's been all over my bromeliads, too.



By the way, we had a cold front come through and my phone says it's 65 degrees right now. Not a great day for the butterflies. It's a little windy, too. As I walked out the front door, I saw a Red Admiral! I only got two lousy photos, but here they are! And I still can't find any caterpillars.



And in case you were wondering what I have against Tussock Moths, here's a cocoon. Now, imagine those all over your house, boat, shed, travel trailer, etc. And the hairs on the cocoon can sting you! So yeah, bad news when they reach plague numbers which is why I keep them in check. I think this must be a fairly new cocoon because you can still see in it.



Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, too so let's hope for better luck at MOSI. It's a little easier to net butterflies when it's cool because you can catch them basking and the cool weather slows them down by a few milliseconds so at least you have a chance. But seriously, these are the kinds of days I like to just hang out in the flight cage, watch the butterflies, and chat up the guests. Looking forward to it.

Wow, I didn't know the hairs on the cocoon could sting you.

Here's what UF has to say about that: "The caterpillars may be contacted when they drop from the host trees or when they wander from the trees in search of a place to spin their cocoons. Home owners develop dermatitis from contact with the cocoons while removing them from the soffits of houses. Hairs in the cocoons retain their urticating capability for up to a year or longer."