Just the back yard!? Nah, I want the front and side yards landscaped in natives too.



Thursday, August 30, 2012

More Butterflies from Today








5 comments:

MrILoveTheAnts said...

Lucky, I'd love to have a population of fritillaries around me.

Julie Stone said...

Hi David! Seeing your pictures of that Frittilary (not sure which kind) reminds me that I haven't seen any in the yard this summer. Such a strange year for butterflies. Is that Joe-pye that it's on?

David said...

Hey, MrILoveTheAnts! Nice to see you around. :)

I'm still learning my butterflies, so thanks for the ID. I'm sure I looked it up last year, but not as much seems to stick these days. ;) From what I remember, violets are their host plants...I just did a quick search and at a glance, I seem to be right. I do have large patches/populations of violets that were growing in the "lawn". Perhaps if you could establish more violets on your property, you'll be lucky too.

David said...

Julie,

It has seemed to be a strange year for butterflies...at least compared to the first few years we've been here and my project has started.

I'll be happy when I can start naming more varieties of butterflies even if just to the genus level. Thanks for confirming the ID.

Yes, that is a Joe-pye "weed" (too many common names have that negative moniker). I grew it from seed from a plant I bought at a native plant sale...now, I see that there are a lot coming up in the field behind us (the neighbor stopped mowing it--smile).

I hope you start seeing some in your yard soon. For months I've thought there were less butterflies this year...but I'm wondering if I tend to see them mostly in the fall.

David said...

Just to clarify...those growing in the field below us (and along the roadside) are naturally occurring, locally native plants, so I'm kind of wishing I'd waited until I got the native populations to establish here. Now, I've "muddied" (or perhaps, improved) the local population. What I bought was purchased at a native sale 2 hours or so south of us.