Butterflies Love the Asters (and other lovely things..)!!

22 Oct '06 5:38 am

Because , while searching the names of those magnificent --- and numerous! -- butterfly visitors, I learned so many other wonderful things about wild life and gardening!

But, I think , that the most impressive lesson for me was, that butterflies also migrate and not only the birds!! The butterflies in the garden were so many and of various butterfly-families , BECAUSE THEY WERE MIGRATING , coming down here from the UK! They stayed for two days in the back garden, being fed by the numerous Aster plants found in bloom in the garden at the moment ! And they continued their trip to warmer and sunnier places -- I hope... Oh, dear! The more I realize what happened , the more I feel grateful...I know what I'll do for next year : I'll plant next Spring 3 lovely Buddleias (:Butterfly trees) in the back garden and some cabbage plants -- for all the butterfly families, parents and kids! And I'll start praying, that they come again next Autumn...

24 Oct '06 2:57 am

Dear Liza

We often see butterflies, but mostly flitting from spot to spot, not sitting long enough for good photos! And not often as lovely as yours.

Every late summer though we also have a migration of literally millions of cream and black butterflies. For two to six days they fly from West to East. I remember as a tiny child watching them in Johannesburg come across from the neighbours' and fly over to the neighbours on the other side. Now I can watch them fly up my valley. Where they go in the east - that is a mystery: surely not to Australia! And were they all come from in the west...

24 Oct '06 6:04 am

Jack! First of all, thank you for your heart-warming words... But , believe me! Even myself , I don't understand howcome they were not flying away while I was mingling with them...I only remember, that while I was about to take a picture, I was holding my breath, murmuring in my mind: please, sweety , stay calm! I love you!

Now. About this butterfly experience of yours : I think it IS exceptional!! Tell me, do you recognize the white butterflies you were watching those days in these whites of our garden ( I will send again two of my photos)?? If you do, you can read here all the scientific information about them . Among other things, they love....Brussel sprouts!!
What a coincidence, no??

http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk/2006/species.asp?vernacular=Large%20White

26 Oct '06 8:18 pm

If you are interested in attracting butterflies in your garden, listen to this!! Certain butterflies, and especially all those you've seen in this post , lay their eggs on Nettles!! So! Never cut them back from now on, because you might kill butterfly babies and destroy butterfly life in your garden!

This fantastic discovery was made yesterday at the Nursery where I was , in order to buy some ready-made compost for potplanting!! The kind owner of the Nursery , who has studied Horticulture, asked me if I have Nettles in my garden! I said, Yes! And I hate them, because they hurt so much...Then , he said, from now on, you've got to respect them, because they function as....Maternity Clinic for Butterflies!

After this apocalyptic discovery, I ran to Google, of course! And just have a look what I found:

http://www.nettles.org.uk

Then, press "Nettles and Wild Life" . There, you can read specifically on butterflies( and meet again all the butterflies of this post).

6 Nov '06 4:10 am

What is the Diapause of the insects??

Well, in my mostly loved gardening magazin ("L'Ami des Jardins et de la Maison"), I discovered recently this information about the "Diapause", meaning freely, "stopping for a while in the mid-time" :

Some of the insects who (struggle to ) survive during wintertime, in order to support the very negative temperatures and absence of food, suspend their development (eggs, nymphs), and slow down the intensity of their metabolism!! Their organism slows down its rythm, according to the daytime, that becomes shorter! This is the Diapause! Some of such insects are the Doryphorus, the Yellow Butterfly /Clowdy Yellow, and the female mosquitos. All these insects need a certain amount of fresh and not cold temperatures , in order to leave this hibernating state. Even more, the Yellow Butterfly, uses this same "strategy", in order to escape the hot summertime temperatures!! Isn't Nature a Marvel??

8 Nov '06 10:59 pm

Wow! Liza, I just love the green shades of that lovely yellow butterfly, blending so beautifully with your garden background! Lovely, such a rare colour for a butterfly! Your buddleia is lovely too, love the softness in their colours. Thanks for sharing, dear friend! Very Happy

8 Nov '06 11:09 pm

Dearest Jacqueline! I adored this butterfly, too, who is so clever, so wise! Divine Wisdom! This is all about...On such a tiny, magnificent , alive work of Art! And this butterfly was living somewhere in France when some blessed photographer took this photo...I will start praying , that some time she visits my garden, though...

And this exceptional Buddleia is not yet in my garden. The photo comes from my beloved gardening magazine( "L'Ami des Jardins et de la Maison"). I just wanted to inspire you, like I was inspired from my magazine...

3 Feb '07 11:21 pm

Dear friends of the S. Hemisphere, when your Asters are in bloom -- in your coming Autumn -- and you have these wonderful Butterfly visitors in your gardens, like myself during last Autumn, please, do not forget NOT to destroy the "bad" Nettles when you weed your garden!!

Today, while searching an old edition of my gardening magazine dedicated to Achilleas, I discovered an edition of August 2000 dedicated to Butterflies and their babies! The photos I will post for you are coming from this excellent old magazine, so they are not of such a good quality. But , you can recognize almost ALL of these creatures in the photos taken in my garden last Autumn, right here, page 1 of this very thread.

All these Butterflies use as Maternity Clinic the underside of Nettle leaves! Which is what I already explained in a previous post ! But : if you meet their babies fallen on the ground, or lost somewhere, please, help them by placing them somewhere safe!! Or , even better, on a Nettle plant. You will recognize them now, that is why I decided to write this post today! And your reward will be the divine presence of beautiful Butterflies in your garden!

As for me, I have already let many Nettles intact in the garden, especially those which grow somewhere protected, or are hidden among the border perennial plants.

4 Feb '07 3:33 am

Those are certainly very instructive pictures. You have some lovely butterflies in your garden Liza. I didn't recognize most of them, so you have very different varieties than I do here in Alabama. The only one that looked remotely like ours was the Tiger Swallowtail and even that one was slightly different. Mostly we have the all black swallowtails, Tiger swallowtails and Sulphers (yellow and orange). Of course we also have lots of Moths which are nocturnal butterflies; but many of these are the parents of the distructive little caterpillars that eat our vege gardens, so I am not so fond of them.

4 Feb '07 5:24 am

Liza, I think the photos turned out quite good after all. I can see them clearly. Thank you for putting this all together for us. It is very helpful. And like Faith in Alabama, you have some species we do not have here in Kentucky, USA, but I do recognize the yellow swallowtail. We have those and I grow parsley for their babies. It has been successful. I plant it everywhere among the flowers and they eat it up. Yes, the babies are gorgeous with their pretty colors. They remind me of our babies when they crawled about in their "footy pajamas" (pajamas that covered their feet). And now, thanks to you, I will not feel so badly about not getting all the nettles pulled. Thank you!