Some Butterflies Visit
Yesterday, I had a few visitors. The first was a pair of white butterflies, clearly looking to be friendly. They moved so fast and didn't pause long enough to get a good picture of them.
And then this gorgeous one showed up, just begging to be photographed.
Sometimes you just have to stop and appreciate Nature's beauty.
Magpie
Fri, 08/03/2018 - 19:37
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Watch out for that white one!
That white one is a cabbage butterfly, their caterpillars are terrible pests on garden brassicas. I like to catch them and feed them to my chickens (if I have chickens at the time).
ClareBroommaker
Fri, 08/03/2018 - 22:35
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Moths bump my forehead
The one with the blue sure is beautiful.
Since I've been gardening in the evening until I can no longer see, I find almost every night a moth bumps into my forehead. I have to wonder if the mosquito repellant I'm wearing (lemon eucalyptus) actually attracts moths.
I was checking out this page to look for a moth I saw visiting pentas, dahlias, lantana, and zinnias in my more ornamental garden. https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-type-and-region.asp?thisState=Missouri&thisType=Butterfly%20or%20Moth (Have a look at number 125, dtrammel!) I think my moth was the white lined sphinx moth (#172), though I think my visitor had mor pronounced pink stripes on its abdomen. It was close enough to get a good look, but it was dark enough that I was a bit uncertain about color. Still, I think I saw a lot of pink in its stripes. It also hovered over the flowers, not landing.
I read that the white lined sphinx moth is also called the humming bird moth, but there is another moth, much bigger that I think of as the hummingbird moth. I think its caterpillar is that astounding tomato hornworm. Oh, yeah, here's that one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_quinquemaculata
I think I've been visited by this guy, too. And it really gives the impression of a humming bird! https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Hummingbird-Moth
Number 3, the Ailanthus webworm moth, on the Missouri moths and butterflies page is one I see all the time, but I had no idea it was a moth! Doesn't look like a moth to me. Last year I watched a praying mantis slowly tippy toe closer and closer, and move side to side sneaking up to one of these Alainthus web worm moths. I think I had to leave before the kill took place. I don't remember it anyway.
Oh, and just one more insect comment, one that flies away from (heh-heh) butterlies and moths. This harlequin cabbage bug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin_cabbage_bug was far worse on my cabbage family plants than cabbage white butterflies ever have been. Ugh, they just covered the plants the first year I had them. Second year was a lot lighter problem, And after that I haven't seen them again. The first year I used diatomaceaus earth on my plants, sprinkled through my finest weave kitchen strainer. These bugs also just covered the cleome (ornamental flower) I had that first year. Those white butterflies at least provide the charm of flittering about and chasing each other in cute little spiral flight patterns, but these cabbage eaters I would dread to see again.
Sophie Gale
Wed, 09/26/2018 - 15:51
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buckwheat
One of my FB friend-of-a-friends just posted about finding three monarch butterflies lying on her porch. She thought they were dead, but when she tried to pick them up, they fluttered off. --And she discovered her yard was covered with monarchs! First time she had ever played host to migrating monarchs, but she said they had planted a field of buckwheat this year, and she thought that had brought them in. Something to experiment with...