Recreating a native habitat has been a dream of mine since I was about 18. It only took me 20 years, but I finally have two acres of land in the country with which to work (and play). My goal is to document the improvements I make to the property: restoring habitat & attracting birds and butterflies in addition to other wildlife.
5 comments:
Lucky, I'd love to have a population of fritillaries around me.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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