Millielong lets see , unstructured photo of a garden , Hmm supposedly garden
and my story begins ; " There I was ,, in the land of the Giant Milkweeds" no bread crumbs , to find my way back " Then,, all at once ,! I remembered , The blooms pointed the way to Grandma's ,, oh well , got the photos reversed ..

The organza bags are very inexpensive and will keep the seeds contained and can be re-used a few times. I tried to save money by using the knee-high stockings but to tell the truth the fabric of the knee-highs retained too much moisture and caused a problem.

Walmart, A C Moore, or a party store sells the organza bags to use as party favors for weddings and showers and only cost about $5 for a pack of several. I'm using the organza bags now on my Alstroemeria.

Jim, That looks like my kind of garden!

Thanks for the info greene. No party stores around here, but there is a Walmart in WA, which is about 35 miles from us. I'll check those bags out for other plants. I wonder if Amazon has them?

Maybe a little too fancy?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B99JEZS/

These look a little better!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B99JFC0/

Cheap enough aren't they? I like the second ones better too Natty.

I still get a lot of garage fluff hanging them in bags to stratify ,Lazy about it , I am , but it does get done ,
My big search this year ,, is ,, The ever elusive caterpillar !!!,, I have not seen one Butterfly larvae all season , since the one Question Mark or red Admiral cat very early this year ,,

The Amazon prices for the organza bags are really good ; I'd recommend the larger size, 5" x 7" because some seed pods/heads might be larger.

@mellielong,
I'd like to clarify my earlier request/suggestion.
What I should have said is...
Could you please give us a list of suggested butterfly plants and then we as a group can upload photos, either from our gardens or the ATP database, so that we all can get an idea of what each of the plants may look like in our gardens. Perhaps there can be one thread for this which would be separate from our monthly reports.

If I may, I'll explain what prompted the suggestion. Last year there was a new weed/plant in my yard. I don't like to destroy anything until I check if it's a useful plant for wildlife. My own weed/plant is a type of Croton weed, but not the correct one; the correct one would be Croton capitatis/hogwort/doveweed/wooly croton/goatweed useful for the Goatweed Leafwing caterpillars and for the Gray Hairstreak butterflies and larva.
http://www.nababutterfly.com/c...

Here is a link to the cheapest 5 X 7 bags I found, if anyone is interested. Free shipping, too, which is great. I still wouldn't use them for the milkweed I have, because I don't want the pods to open, but I only have experience with the milkweed that I have. Not sure if they are all the same, with that awful fluff. Took me a week to de-fluff the house after the first time I tried to clean the seeds on an open pod, and my DH turned on the ceiling fan!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043KFGBQ/

Hmm...that sounds doable. Anyone else want to chime in with what they'd like to see? Do you want a host plant thread? What would be easiest do you think? Suggestions welcome and encouraged!

I consider that interesting as I am always looking back through and refreshing my memory about host plants ,
My two biggest draws here are Black mustard (Brassica Nigra) Cabbage white and the Singing Nettle Urtica Dioca , Red Admiral and Question Mark ,
when I do get Monarch , Syrica and swamp Milkweed are the cat food choices ,
Moths on a few I will have to refresh my memory about ,

I have a Spicebush , A tulip tree (yellow poplar ) lilac , Two willows, Black cherry ,, Hops tree ) but never seen a cat on any of these Queen anne's lace , fennel , particularly the Green fennel drew a bunch of Black Swallowtail cats one season , Dill occasionally

I guess this means I am favor of a host plant show

Jim, it sounds like you've got a pretty good selection there, yourself! If I was a butterfly, I'd totally lay eggs at your house.

Rue Graveolens , Snapdragons drew a bunch of Buckeye BF's one season , Burr Clover a frittilary host , violets I always let a few grow larger , most spray them as weeds ,,
Red field clover and alfalfa ,, for Sulpher ,
I may have a Bohemeria cylindrica growing sadly so far , and I have seen the doveweed but am not sure what I have here is ,
Cabbage whites love nighttime roosting in the Catnip ,, I get mourning cloaks early in the season resting or roosting in my plum trees ,, lots to all that ""out there ""
Amaranths and lamb's quarters make wild appearances ,

I know we have a "sticky" thread on the side that talks about planting for butterflies. Honestly, since they moved the sticky threads to the side, I forget they're even there. I didn't want to duplicate that thread, but I think what I'm understanding is that y'all want to see pictures of the plants and see them in garden settings to see how they might work (or not) in your garden setting. Does that sound about right? I'd also like to include wild plants since sometimes we can incorporate those into our gardens and some of us may have acreage where they can let things grow a little wild. Plus, it's just educational.

Melanie, if you were to post a list here of some plants that attract butterflies for egg laying, maybe some of us would have those plants and can post garden pictures for you to use. I know that I have some that attract them for eating, but not sure if I have any for egg laying, or for supporting cats, so any information would be a plus for someone like me! I've got acreage, and really want to do something to help the butterfly population increase, since I see very few here.

Melanie, another idea is - you could post them in the idea's section and they could show up as articles. Then you can work on it at your leisure or make it a series of articles of various host plants for various species. Plus, with articles, you will get acorns for all of your hard work. And like Natalie suggested, you can just ask if anyone has a picture of a certain plant that you need for your article.

The articles will be listed here on this forum for easy access.

Melanie & Natalie's last posts!

wildflowers said:Melanie, another idea is - you could post them in the idea's section and they could show up as articles. Then you can work on it at your leisure or make it a series of articles of various host plants for various species. Plus, with articles, you will get acorns for all of your hard work. And like Natalie suggested, you would just ask if anyone has a picture of a certain plant that you need for your article.

This is a good idea too.

Actually, we all have access to any of the images in the entire database for posting. You could use any of the images by copying and pasting the ATP BB Code listed at the bottom of info for each photo.

You were so right about the button-bush being a butterfly magnet

I counted 20+ on the bush and several on the fence waiting their turn


7 of thees


and a few bees too


another 8-10 feeding at the allium

Cinda!

Another GST emerged yesterday...still a few chrysallises left. The itty bitty cats on my milkweed are mix-and-match, some Monarchs and some Queens. Ah well, my plan for my A. texana milkweed this summer had been more about getting seed from them, since we've finally had a better year and they're doing better, except for the voracious beetle larva on some. But the eggs/cats are on those A. texana milkweeds. I went out today to get more food for the one 5th instar Queen cat and then discovered there were 3 eggs on the piece of milkweed I'd already cut!