Happy September Bloom Day. I hope you and your garden are doing well as we soon head in to official autumn (or spring in the southern hemisphere). We had expected to be hit by Tropical Storm Nicholas this week but it mostly missed us to the east headed toward Louisiana which can't seem to catch a break from the storms. We got less than an inch of much-needed rain and a bit of wind. That was the extent of our "storm."
My garden appreciated the rain, but frankly, it is looking pretty ratty at the moment. This year has not been kind to it, bringing one weather disaster after another. So, instead of showing you much of the garden this month, I decided to do something a bit different. Over the last couple of months, my garden has been visited by scores of butterflies, and today, I'd like to show you some of them. (Full disclosure: Not all of these pictures have been taken recently but all of these species of butterflies have been in the garden this month and all of the flowers shown are presently in bloom.)
This is the Painted Lady butterfly on purple lantana.
And this is a separate species, the American Painted Lady although you may not be able to tell the difference in these photos. If I had a ventral shot of this one, you would see that it has two large eyespots on the underside of its hindwing which distinguish it.
Red Admiral sunning itself.
Fiery Skipper on purple lantana.
Dorantes Skipper on purple lantana.
Tropical Checkered Skipper on that ever-popular purple lantana.
Funereal Duskywing on allium.
You can't properly see its long snout here, but this is a Snout butterfly grabbing a meal from a hummingbird feeder.
Dainty Sulphur on wedelia.
Dog Face Sulphur on hamelia.
Sulphur butterfly on blue plumbago. I'm not entirely sure which sulphur this is - Large Orange, maybe? Feel free to contradict me if you know better.
Monarchs have been very scarce in the garden this year and to my knowledge, I haven't had a single egg or caterpillar on my milkweed, but lately a few more are passing through. This one stopped to feast on the porterweed.
This is the other milkweed butterfly that regularly occurs here, the Queen.
Gray Hairstreak on almond verbena.
Tawny Emperor on red lantana.
Gulf Fritillary on jatropha.
Black Swallowtail on lantana.
Pipevine Swallowtail on Anisacanthus wrightii. This one is easily identifiable by the seven large orange spots on its hindwing.
Giant Swallowtail on that same
Anisacanthus.
And finally, a Common Buckeye on white mistflower.
I hope you've enjoyed my "butterfly tour" and that you will visit again soon.
As always, thank you to Carol Michel of
May Dreams Gardens for supporting this monthly meme.
Wonderful butterfly pics, Dorothy! I've had far fewer butterflies this year. Even the number of skippers seems lower than usual. Cloudless sulphurs are the most common, probably attracted to my Senna, which is a host plant, but I find them impossible to photograph ;)
ReplyDeleteI find butterflies hard to photograph as well as you can probably tell from some of my pictures. I was concerned earlier in the year because I was seeing so few butterflies but recently the numbers have really picked up which makes me happy.
DeleteI certainly did enjoy your butterfly tour. Imaginative way to get around an off gardening year. I'm happy the storm missed you but you are right; Louisiana can't catch a break. The sooner the hurricane season ends the happier all of us will be - if only the rain can be diverted to those who need it. (I'm not about to question any of your butterfly IDs, considering I can confidentially ID maybe 4 butterflies? And maybe not even 4, as we have both monarchs and viceroys here. I've seen seeing some monarchs almost every day recently - thinking it's migration time.
ReplyDeleteMigration is definitely in swing. Our numbers of Monarchs usually begin to pick up around this time of year.
DeleteThe butterflies are so beautiful; so many different varieties. This year they seem more plentiful than in past years. Many monarchs and a few other varieties as well but, I'm not sure what they are called.
ReplyDeleteIt always brightens my day to see them.
DeleteWow! Your post is a feast for those who love butterflies. While I've taken photos of butterflies this year, the number spotted in the garden has dropped quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteIt's only in the last few weeks that I've been seeing them in large numbers.
DeleteI rarely see butterflies here (not sure why). I saw a Painted Lady the first summer but none since. I'm happy to hear you have lots!
ReplyDeleteIn some years, we have been completely inundated with butterflies. Not so this year. As I indicated, they had been pretty scarce until the last several weeks. I'm very happy they are back.
DeleteGreat series of pictures, Dorothy. I enjoyed this post very much. These are (mostly) species don't see here in the north, so it was particularly enjoyable to see them in your garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you, David.
DeleteHow lovely capture of butterflies. I do spot monarch butterflies in my Garden.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I tend to think of the Monarch as an American species, but I guess they do exist globally, don't they?
Deleteabsolutely stunning that you were able to get those marvelous photos! i love butterflies. there used to be myriads of swallowtails in this area but they've almost all vanished, probably due to the spraying by Weyerhauser, which is killing all sorts of small wildlife...
ReplyDeleteI worried that our lack of butterflies earlier in the year was related to pesticide sprays and perhaps it was to some extent. More likely it was related to the incredibly weird weather we've had this year, but I am happy that they seem to be making a comeback.
DeleteGorgeous photos! I had fewer butterflies this year and fewer varieties. I always worry about the pesticide sprays for the mosquitoes, but they didn't even seem to work for mosquitoes this year, so I don't know.
ReplyDeleteWell, mosquitoes seem to be immune to most of the stuff we throw at them in an attempt to control.
DeleteI love seeing all of these butterflies you have seen in your garden. We do a weekly butterfly monitoring at a park nearby, and we have seen many, but not all, of these.
ReplyDeleteIt's rewarding to think that my efforts at "butterfly gardening" may actually be having some effect.
DeleteThe designs and patterns on these butterfly wings are fantastic. Love to see.
ReplyDeleteThey are quite amazing, aren't they? Nature's work and every design has a reason.
Delete