Butterflies

[pameladean]

When I skip over all sorts of interesting, calm discussions on my friendslist, including a fascinating one about girl cooties on matociquala's journal, all to become infuriated beyond all bearing by a discussion of fat issues in a mixed milieu, despite knowing full well that that will be the outcome, because I am not a reasonable person, it is time to think about butterflies.

I always have several cabbage butterflies in the yard. In years that produced huge quantities of painted ladies or red admirals, I've had three or four of whatever was in good supply. Usually, however, I get one of each. One monarch, one swallowtail, one red admiral, one painted lady. As my attention to the garden has become more observational and less involved, I've had fewer and fewer sightings of butterflies. I have plans to redress this problem, but they always get pushed off until next year. This year has been no exception: one mourning cloak, one red admiral, one yellow swallowtail, half a dozen cabbage butterflies. However, today I was out with Ari -- oh, the bliss of weather that does not compell one to wait until after sunset to take the cat outside -- and saw a monarch darting hither and yon. It lit on the huge mock orange bush by the garage, and then I saw that there were three, five, eight, a dozen monarchs on the bush. I wonder if they are consulting about migration, or what. There's not much for them in the yard. My milkweed persists in behaving like a biennial, so there are plants but no flowers this year. Otherwise, the Henry Kelsy is blooming obligingly and the phlox, which was very late getting started this year, is still opening new flowers, though the general appearance of the plants is pretty ratty. There's a volunteer safflower and some hairy bellflower remnants, and sorrel and white snakeroot. That's really about all.

Thanks to clindau, David and I are going to the Guthrie this evening to see Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife. Before then I should either work on my book or finish Pullman's The Subtle Knife, but I think maybe I'll go see how my hawks are doing instead.

P.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'm in Northern California; this weekend I found an enormous green Monarch caterpillar in the parsley bed. I wished it well.

When I say "cabbage butterflies", I mean the tiny white ones that will eat your cabbage plants to death if you don't dust with probiotics.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Those are my cabbage butterflies too.

Thank you for this post, Pamela. S'lovely.

[pameladean]

Mine are medium-sized white butterflies with a bluish spot on each wing. Possibly they are a kind of white sulphur and I don't really have cabbage butterflies. They do like the mustard family a lot, though.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The infuriating bits of the world are sticking out with unusually large pokey bits today. It's not just you.

Ista loves butterflies. She romps after them but has not made any serious attempts to catch them yet, just to follow them. Moths, on the other hand, she has slain in the dozens. And spiders. She gets lots of praise for slaying spiders.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

how's she feel about centipedes?

do you lend her out?

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

(my dogs have the following reaction to centipedes: "why is mama making that loud noise? why? do you know? i don't know.")

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't think she's ever met a centipede yet. Why, doesn't the pirate-dog hunt spiders?

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

apparently, since i have centipedes, i have not so many spiders. that is, i have spider webs, but haven't seen any spiders. however, just this morning there was the loud noise making and i nearly levitated.

[pameladean]

Ari can take down a butterfly with one swipe of his paw, and is far too much interested in doing so, so I try to steer him away from them.

Ista is much more civilized.

P.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

i was hoping to attract some butterflies to my porch garden this year. i haven't seen any, but i did catch a brief glipse of a hummingbird!

i don't think i've ever seen a red admiral. they look strikingly pretty, from the pictures (i hope i'm thinking of the right butterfly).

[pameladean]

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/224.htm

They are gorgeous.

I am so pleased about your hummingbird! The only time we had them was when the neighbors planted red gladioli. The hummers then hung around my flowers instead, but my flowers alone didn't make them want to stop.

P.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

ooh, they *are* pretty! i love the red stripe against the black.

the hummingbird on my porch was checking out the salvia...they really do seem to like red.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

...but I think maybe I'll go see how my hawks are doing instead.


A fine decision.

I went out to my overgrown, messy garden to see if I could find a butterfly to tell you about. My butterfly bush is crowding out the African daisies and is most unlovely...No butterflies anywhere.

Your evening sounds perfect. I plan to watch CNN and stay really mad at Pat Robertson.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

I plan to watch CNN and stay really mad at Pat Robertson.

Also a fine decision, given how often he provides ammunition.

there are monarchs this year

[(Anonymous)]

multiple ones per excursion, when it's been ages since I've seen any at all.

Some of this may be where I'm getting to, but I don't think that's all of it, and I find myself hoping it's a trend.

-- Graydon

Re: there are monarchs this year

[pameladean]

I've never seen this many in my yard, nor anywhere except for Rice Lake State Park going on ten years ago now, so your news makes me hopeful too.

P.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

I was at the Park one early Fall when a cloud of monarchs stopped to rest. I stopped and wondered.

Here, let's see, we have sveral kinds of phlox, and the last of the echinachea and tawny daylilies, a quite splendid patch of woodland anemones, the geraniums of course, camomile, one of my thymes is blooming, and I discovered two new things. Shifting a beautiful white flowered host that the flowers are beautifully scented. I don't have a good sniffer. And doing soem uncharacteristic garden housework a volunteer maple leaved Rose of Sharon (?) offering a single but splendid violet blossom. I know this will get too big but I can't make myself pull it.

The thing I am most happy about are all the bees. I was a little concerned earlier in the year.

I see the cardinal pair has returned. We always have hawks about being so close to the Falls. I try to keep my yard under the radar ever since I had one on the shed. I understand the chain of life thing but couldn't feed the other birds for this. Although they already have to battle the squirrels, so maybe I worry too much.

Outside of the yard, my inter-lib books have come in, and I've been a little lost in a book about Iceland, and Anamo's work on The Dream Hunters, and Whim and Dubious Hills.

[pameladean]

The daylilies you sent got planted about half an hour after they arrived. A squirrel is persistently digging up one side of one and then, apparently, thinking, "Ick, what's this?", but I keep putting the earth back and so far it has not succumbed.

I remember I was very startled the first time I smelled a white-flowered hosta. They are lilies, after all, but I really hadn't expected it.

I quit feeding birds one year when the neighbors' cat kept crouching under the feeder, so I get how you feel, I think.

P.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

My journal seems to have been riling up people lately.

On behalf of the management, sorry.

The remnants of my garden is a wreck. I'm just about writing it off for the year.

[pameladean]

It's not your fault, Peg. Other people of my general opinion are being quite civil and reasonable. It's not a particularly bad discussion. Just not for me today.

P.

[pameladean]

And this is a really bad time for Minnesota gardens that don't have annuals, generally; this year is worse because it's so dry. One good thing about gardening is that there is almost always next year.

P.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Much as I like butterflies (I could draw them for hours) I enjoy a good argument more. :)

I was gratified to find so many reasonable people (those who agree with me) with so many good point to make.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I hope it wasn't my mixed milieu discussion that infuriated you. If it weren't for those pesky knees...

Wow, monarchs. I get maybe one red admiral and a couple of cabbage butterflies each year, and I guess that's not too bad for my concrete canyon. The other day I saw a tiger swallowtail in the Sartain Street garden near my office, and I had to swallow back my jealousy.

[pameladean]

Nope, it wasn't your discussion at all.

One of the things I like about red admirals is that they don't seem to mind cities. Painted ladies are sometimes like that too.

I don't get monarchs every year, but very nearly. They do seem very good at finding milkweed, but I don't know if you want to plant it.

P.

[plaidkatia.livejournal.com]

My folks live up north in the woods, and when the significant other and I were visiting this weekend, we saw the fattest monarch caterpillar EVER. It was as thick as the SO's fingers, and he's six-two. Damn. Unfortunately with four cats, my parents don't get many yard-butterflies. But the parents are lazy yard-maintainers (13 acres) so the milkweed is ALMOST outgrowing the poison ivy... All I've been getting are ants, and while I got a pitcher plant to eat those, I think the hungry betta is cleaning house better. I'm assuming he eats ants. He eats everything else. Including other fish.

Yes. Yes. Check the hawks. I'm still baffled at what they were (peregrines in trees?? I've seen them downtown and they're happy... but trees?), and Dinkytown's bird population is almost entirely pigeons and sparrows. Which I suppose need love too. Though I did see a great grey owl up in Bemidji sitting on a (shot-up, rural) road sign. I haven't been that impressed in a long time. Go, boonies.

[pameladean]

I'm jealous of you and jonquil now. I want monarch caterpillars TOO.

I got a good look at two hawks; am still baffled, but did see that they have yellow feet and legs. I'm going to go pore over the bird books some more, and I'll probably post another entry with my meager discoveries in it.

Owl! Oooo!

P.