Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Butterfly Gardens  (Read 17319 times)

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2008, 10:32:06 am »
There is no words that can be used to describe how beautiful I think all these pictures are, absolutely unimaginable!!!  Have the most wonderful and awesome day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Shawn

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1225
  • Gender: Male
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #21 on: September 30, 2008, 01:39:45 pm »
Well, here are some more pictures I took today, 10:00 a.m. It was still cool out so there were not so may butterflies around. Hope you enjoy. I also found if you enlarge the screen before the picture loads you will get a larger picture, dont know why.








Offline BjornBee

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 3775
  • Gender: Male
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #22 on: October 24, 2008, 10:36:59 pm »
There are some great photos in this thread.

This was our first year with raising butterflies. Here are a few pics. We will certainly being doing it every year.









www.bjornapiaries.com
www.pennapic.org
Please Support "National Honey Bee Day"
Northern States Queen Breeders Assoc.  www.nsqba.com

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2008, 11:25:48 am »
Shawn, some beauty of pics there, you too Bjorn.  Bjorn you children are adorable, what lovely little smiles as they gaze upon their beautiful little butterflies, thanks for sharing.  Have a most wonderful and awesome day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline MrILoveTheAnts

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 716
  • Gender: Male
    • Biodiverse Gardens
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #24 on: November 02, 2008, 05:25:42 pm »
Even if you're not trying to have a butterfly garden, chances are you've seen these two.

The Woolly Bear Caterpillar


And The Leopard Caterpillar


The Woolly Bear caterpillar has a red/brown stripe in the middle that varies from one to the other. Legend has it you can measure how long winter will be from this stripe. Personally I prefer groundhog and shadow test but it's fun to believe. According to "Caterpillars of Eastern North America" by David L. Wagner they're one of the few caterpillars that can eat virtually anything. But they are more commonly found eating Nettle, Grass, Dandelion and Lettuce. The adults measure 5 cm in length and overwinter in wooden structures before turning into probably one of the plainest and boring looking brown moths ever.



The Leopard Caterpillar is probably just as common now, and eats similar low growing non-woody plants. This one pictured below probably hatched out on the New Jersey state flower, The Common Violet, Viola sororia. I've had a patch of this plant growing here for years and it's somewhat invasive in full sun. But you really can't complain about a 6 inch ground cover that doesn't require mowing. The Leopard Caterpillar is a bit bigger, about 7.5 cm long. It over winters in wooden structures, and the resulting moth is actually kind of pretty and worth Googling.


And while we're on the topic I may as well mention that I've seen the Brown-Hooded Owlet feeding on some Asters while in Delaware. Species name is Cucullia convexipennis. They're a very long caterpillar and actually eat the flower petals to Asters and Goldenrods. The moth is another brown one that blends in with the crowd ... and trees, but they do have a splash of red on their back.


Also I'd like to thank Jessaboo for recommending Caterpillars of Eastern North America to me. And for identifying the Brown-Hooded Owlet. I recommend this book for anyone on the east coast who's interested in caterpillars. A word of warning though, it's 500 pages long and might be overpowering someone not familiar with IDing by Subfamily, Genus, Species. The book itself admits that some genera just can't be ID'd through pictures alone. But it's a fairly complete list otherwise, has wonderful pictures, and even names common host plants for each of them. The one place this book could only improve is providing a little more information each specimen. But they could only write so much on each page.

Offline Cindi

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 9825
  • Gender: Female
Re: Butterfly Gardens
« Reply #25 on: November 02, 2008, 08:35:55 pm »
MILTA, I've said this before and I'll say it again -- these pictures that you bring to us to look at are beyond the most beautiful of the beautiful.  You keep workin' hard on bringing these pictures here, trust me, they don't go unnoticed, I am a follower of your pics, hee, hee!!!  Maybe you have began the beginning of a MILTA picture-looking-at-cult, hee, hee.  Have the most great and awesome day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

 

anything