New month, new thread
Came from here:
https://garden.org/thread/view...

Great Spangled Fritillary






and a Skipper

Beautiful photos to begin the new thread, Jack! (and they made me wonder - where are my coneflowers? I hope they didn't die out on me, need to go check more closely...)

Way to start the month-with beautiful photos of some pretty Fritillaries. Nice to see someone still has their coneflowers. Mine all went to the bunnies. I'll have to get some new fencing for them (the coneflowers).

Gayle

Archivesgirl said:Way to start the month-with beautiful photos of some pretty Fritillaries. Nice to see someone still has their coneflowers. Mine all went to the bunnies.

OH NOOOOOO! Bunnies eat purple coneflowers? I just bought some in the hopes that they might attract BFs, but we have a bunny problem here!

Found 3 more Monarch cats this morning. I don't know what kind of white eggs those are in the cluster on the first pic.

@joannaKat,

Joanna,
They ate the leaves off of mine-stripped them bare. Then I put up some wire fencing I had around the plants but I'm going to get something that they can't get through. One early morning I was looking out of my bedroom window into the backyard and don't ya know, there was a cottontail munching on the leaves!

I hope you have better luck than I did. I'm going to get some small fencing for the next coneflowers I plant and the ones that are left.

Gayle

SSS (Silver Spotted Skipper)



Cabbage White

I found 3 tiny Black Swallowtail cats on the celery this morning. I couldn't get a good close-up pic. Of the 3 I found earlier, 1 has entered the chrysalis stage and the other 2 are getting close, if size is any indication.

The sedum is starting to attract the butterflies --

Monarch



Painted Lady

Maybe try putting up hardware cloth fencing around them with enough height to keep them out.

Archivesgirl said:@joannaKat,

Joanna,
They ate the leaves off of mine-stripped them bare. Then I put up some wire fencing I had around the plants but I'm going to get something that they can't get through. One early morning I was looking out of my bedroom window into the backyard and don't ya know, there was a cottontail munching on the leaves!

I hope you have better luck than I did. I'm going to get some small fencing for the next coneflowers I plant and the ones that are left.

Gayle

Not that good of a picture of a Monarch depositing an egg

LindaTX8 said:Maybe try putting up hardware cloth fencing around them with enough height to keep them out.

Great idea, Linda. I wasn't even thinking about that.

I'll have to get some before I ever plant bunny material again, just to be safe. Now, if the guy down the road plants his vegetable garden next year, all the bunnies will be at HIS place.

Gayle

Peck's Skipper

The 2nd Swallowtail cat is entering chrysalis stage. The 3rd one isn't far behind.

One of the Monarch cats munching on a Milkweed leaf. I hope yesterday's storm didn't wash them all away.

Little Fiery Skipper and Virginia Ctenucha moth both on Hardy Ageratum

You all have such a beautiful variety of butterflies, and moths that I'll have to move to IL or PA to see what you all see.

Thanks for posting the photos. It's the next best thing to actually being there.

Gayle

Awww & thanks so much Archivesgirl(Gayle). Glad to see how much you enjoy our photos. Please check out the forum more when you're able. Hey- You're only 3 1/2 hrs from here. You could have exactly the same BFs! It's all just in what you plant and a few other tweaks that make a sweeter environment for them, Believe me, there's 1000% more here at my place already than a few years ago b/c of the changes I've made.

The biggest trick seems to be to have your camera handy when the butterflies show up!

My day off and getting over a cold, so just clicked a few more in the back yard:
<--Monarch on Caryopteris
<---Sachem Skipper? also on Caryopteris
<-Fiery skipper full dorsal view
Checkered Skipper on Broad-leaved Mountain Mint
IT was an egg yesterday! fingernail shown for scale
-How many do you see?
Afternoon delight on Globe Amaranth
Buckeye on Buttonbush
Ventral view of Buckeye

Weedwhacker said:The biggest trick seems to be to have your camera handy when the butterflies show up!

Yeah I keep my iphone in my pocket when I'm outdoors. My backyard is only about 80 x 60ish. Today I missed a really good chance at getting a picture of a hummingbird moth!