Black Swallowtail update...

Update: They flew away today, June 17. We had five that made it. One sneaked out of its container, found a spot to hide somewhere among our bookcases, cocooned, metamorphosed, and flew about the sunroom this morning until I caught (carefully, delicately) with tongs and let it free outside. We put the rest of the cocoons outside on the gazebo and missed their transformation and departure.

For all our labors, they left us husks of their former selves.

A garden update in pictures

My first 'Miniature White' cucumber... I planted these at the end of August... They're supposed to bear in forty-nine days. Not too far off. Healthy, low, bushing plant. Plenty of vigor. Lots of blossoms, though it took weeks of male flowers before it started to fruit.

Forsythia Sage. Very striking & attractive to hummers and butterflies.

The kids' salad garden continues to grow.

Salvia 'Anthony Parker', a (presumed) cross between S. leucantha 'Midnight' x S. elegans (Pineapple sage). I'm told it gets to be three feet by four feet farther north, which likely means a good bit larger down here. I hope it's a less unruly than 'Indigo Spires'.

Leu Gardens

A lovely late-summer day. "Cool" temperatures (86 degrees or so) and very low dew point of upper 50s combined to make a gorgeous taste of the cool, dry season that lies at most a month away. We spent the morning at Leu Gardens, enjoying the weather, butterflies, and the blooms. Leu has a great Bamboo Garden, and in today's heavy winds the creaks and cries from the timber bamboo were eerie and beautiful at once.

I finally finished unloading the mushroom compost from my truck. Driving the 'hood, I noticed ten large contractor bags full of live oak leaves! Very exciting. My garden is now heavily composted and thickly mulched in leaves.

A great day.

WFIYG? (September edition...)

So, what's fluttering in YOUR garden?

We've had a couple of deluges this week here in western Volusia -- more than 2.75 inches this week. It's been so very dry an August... no complaints... but my tomatoes and cuke seedlings have washed away. I guess that's why God made seeds cheap.

There's LOTS of weeding to do and so much of my garden has grown out of bounds that I've had to move the goalposts several times already this season...

But fall is nearly here, and I can already sense the changes: There was a relatively cool and dry breeze out of the north. The sun is intense, but the sunshine already looks autumnal -- the greens in my garden are a little less washed, and it's not painful to be in full sun.

It's a great time for butterflies, hummers, &c. I took all these photos in, maybe, 15 minutes this morning at 10am. I've never had this many butterflies. This morning alone: Monarchs (only a couple -- these are mostly late-spring visitors though some stick around all year), Fritillaries (the most numerous butterfly in my garden right now), three kinds of Swallowtails (the black Tiger, Black, and Pipevine), two kinds of Sulfurs (Barred and Little... and a third, a nearly-white Sulfur... maybe just a phase of the Barred?), Long-Tailed Skippers, Zebra Longwings...

Someone will probably correct me with butterfly identifications. I'm rotten at telling the difference among the swallowtails.

(If you have a reasonably fast connection, these photos are better in a slide show from my Google account.)

Gulf Fritillary on orange zinnia.

Black Swallowtail

Zebra Longwing in flight.

Tiger Swallowtail on Hamelia patens.

Black swallowtail on citrus.

Argiope spider.

A female Agapostemon splendens (aka green sweat bee)

Pipevine Swallowtail (I think!).

Russelia rotundifolia with a visitor... (look carefully). check out how popular that ruellia is!

A Long-Tailed Skipper.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

These Giant Swallowtails are so large I sometimes think they must be birds. They're finicky insects, and easily spooked -- thus difficult to photograph, as evidenced by my weak pictures.

Late-summer is far and away the best time for butterflies in Central Florida: My garden is full of Giant Sulfurs (drawn by a cassia), Zebra Longwings, a few Monarchs, and lots of Swallowtails of different sorts. Mid-mornings I usually have a dozen or more flitting about.

This one was drawn to the Russelia (Russelia rotundifolia) I got from Biosphere Nursery last summer. I really dislike the deeply-cut Russelia most people grow (Firecracker Plant, Coral Plant), but I like this species well enough. It blooms late in the season, and last year continued to bloom until January. I should try to start some cuttings...

An update: This Russelia has really started to bloom, and I've never seen a plant that attracts more butterflies. This morning it had three Zebra Longwings, a Monarch, a Swallowtail of some sort (I think a Black Swallowtail, but I didn't get a good look). And a few Sulfurs, who were there I think for the Cassia. They were all there at the same time. Fighting over a sip from the Russelia.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

I planted a bunch of bronze fennel last fall, aiming to attract Black Swallowtail caterpillars. They decidedly prefer my garden's Florence Fennel, which is about to bloom. I wonder if I'll be able to harvest fennel seeds? That's one of my favorite spices...