First Butterfly of the Season...

I was just taking a quick break from work and walked outside, only to see our first butterfly of the season!

After running inside to grab the camera I snapped this quick picture to show you...It's a Zebra Swallowtail...she was puddling (drinking) from a little muddy, wet spot in the yard ~

The Zebra Swallowtail's host plant is the paw-paw tree, so it means that we must have one nearby...tomorrow I will take a walk through the woods and see if I can find it!

Woo hooo!! Now the fun begins :o)

Sunny-Side Up Gardens...

Ok...this is a shameless plug for my new  Sunny-Side Up Gardens for kids, that I just just launched in January...It took me nearly 6 months to tweak the concept, design the packaging, do the artwork and bring them to market...so, I'm pretty proud!

Each Kit Includes:  6 packages of Heirloom and Organic Seeds, Coir fiber growing disk, wooden plant ID stakes, growing instructions, growing Journal, pencil and100% recycled fiber egg carton planter!

They're so cute and easy to grow ~ A great spring project for the kiddo's :o)

Look for them in gardening centers this spring!

Our little friend, Sophie sent in pictures of her Sunny Side Up Gardens growing!!

Butterfly season is just around the corner...I just can't wait!! Happy Spring!!

Amazing Monarch video...

Here's a link that my friend Denese sent me today ~ It's amazing video and a wonderfully written article by Julie Zickefoose, a writer and watercolor painter who lives on a 80 acre wildlife sanctuary in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio about the Monarch butterflies who lay eggs every year on the milkweed plants around her pond ~

Monarch Video & Article

Make sure you watch the video to the end, so as not to miss the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis! It's fabulous :)

No caterpillar left behind...

Well, our happy little Fritillary caterpillars have been munching away all season and although I didn't think they could do it....they have eaten every last bit of our very large, lush passion vine!

Oh no! There's nothing worse than hungry, hungry caterpillars! Fortunately I spotted a lovely passion vine near the pond, so we decided to move the little guys to their new buffet :o)

The stripped Passion Vine!












Clyde is collecting all the little guys {doggies are helping}.

Hooray!
Our new passion vine home...let's eat!

A happy Gulf Fritillary Butterfly!
{probably getting ready to lay MORE eggs}
The silver spots on the wings undersides make her easy to identify...

Caterpillar rescue accomplished!

My walk by the pond...

As I was walking by our pond this morning I noticed a small willow tree growing by the waters edge and as I looked closely I couldn't believe it...there were two Red-Spotted Purple butterfly caterpillars!

I ran back to the house to get the camera {you would think by now that I would ALWAYS carry my camera} and took a couple of pictures to share with you...


The caterpillars look kind of like a bird dropping {good camouflage} and love to nibble on tender willow leaves.

I frequently find the adult butterflies sipping sap from the trees or visiting my "rotting fruit" trays in the garden.


They usually drink with their wings open, showing off the beautiful iridescent blue color, however if you ever get a glimpse of the underside of their wings you will see the striking bright red/orange spots for which they were named!



Such a fun way to start the weekend!

My first Question Mark...

Yay!


I'm so excited!




I just spotted my very first Question Mark caterpillar on a little elm tree by the creek on my walk with the doggies this morning!

I'd only seen pictures in books, so this was quite thrilling {ok...I know I'm such a nerd}.

If you disturb it, the caterpillar looks like the punctuation mark it's named for. They love to munch on elm trees, hop vines and hackberry trees.












The adult butterflies prefer to sip juices from rotting fruit, tree sap and animal droppings {yuck!}. You can often find them perching, head down, on the side of a tree trunk.


I just love their wing shape..it kind of looks like a ragged old leaf...very cool!











With any luck, I may find a chrysalis on this afternoon's walk!

The best butterfly day...

Well, I've had no luck finding any Wild Golden Alexander for my Black Swallowtail caterpillars ~ Today it looks like they've abandoned what is left of the parsley and fennel to venture out on their own in search of food...I hope they have better luck than me.

But yesterday was the single most fantastic day I've ever had for spotting butterflies in my garden! I saw 14 different types:

Gulf & Variegated Fritillary, Monarch, Eastern Comma, Question Mark, Pearl Crescent, Red Admiral, Buckeye, Black Swallowtail, Tiger Swallowtail, Clouded & Cloudless Sulphurs, Red Spotted Purples and a Hackberry Butterfly {for the first time ever}!

I was absolutely amazed! They were all {with the exception of the Hackberry Butterfly, who was sipping sap from a tree} nectaring in my overgrown butterfly garden...I really am beginning to think that the butterflies just don't care about the weeds...yay!

I love my garden :o)

A Backyard Safari...

While I was searching for a wild Golden Alexander plant for my Black Swallowtail caterpillars in the yard today, I came across something that I just had to share with you ~

I saw what looked like a hummingbird, dangling upside down, from a vine, with it's throat slashed...it's little feet still clutching the vine...so, so sad :(

I couldn't imagine what had happened to it...until my husband noticed a GIANT 8 inch praying mantis right next to the bird...I did a little research and came across an article in Birdwatchers Digest about a praying mantis killing and eating a hummingbird {I didn't have the heart to take pictures of our hummingbird, but there are photos in the article...so if you're squeamish, don't look}


But here's the killer praying mantis from our yard...

I also spotted a baby Saddleback Caterpillar on one of our Tulip trees today too! I have read that their sting may be the most potent of North American caterpillars ~



So although I'm still on the hunt for caterpillar food, I feel like I've been on an afternoon safari in my own backyard!

Oh nooooo! I'm running out of fennel...

Good news and bad news... I checked on my one lonely little fennel plant that's standing in the garden and the good news is that it's loaded with Black Swallowtail baby caterpillars and eggs!

The bad news is that while I'm terribly excited to have so many Black Swallowtails, I don't think one little plant can feed 15-20 hungry caterpillars ~ And I'm afraid to buy a fennel, parsley or dill plant for fear that the nursery may have sprayed it with insecticide and it's too darn late to plant seeds and have them grow in time to be a meal for these little guys....what to do?

I guess I'm going to have to go in search of something that grows in the wild....I did some research today and found that Golden Alexander grows in our area {it's in the carrot family and Black Swallowtails like anything in the carrot family}. So armed with my wildflower field guide, off I go!

Keep your fingers crossed! {Gotta save the baby caterpillars!}

I'll keep you posted :o)

The wildly neglected garden...

Oh my gosh...I can't believe that it's August!! Have you ever had a whole summer planned, then turned around and "poof" it's suddenly almost over and wasn't at all how you thought it would be?

Well, that's my summer, in a nutshell...

I thought my butterfly garden would be picture perfect and I'd be sitting on the porch, watching hundreds of butterfly's lazily drift by...Ha! What was I thinking! Evidently, I'd forgotten how much time it takes to get a new product line off the ground, but 9 butterfly garden products and 9 rubs & spice products later, the Backyard Safari Company is off the ground and running {I'll post product pictures and details later}


So, even though, my summer wasn't what I thought it would be, I still had flowers & butterflies, just not in the weed free, manicured way I had planned...more of a "every plant for itself" kind of garden :o)

My new caterpillar at the beginning of the summer was a Forest Tent Caterpillar...I just LOVE his colors!

Mid-June, our Polyphemus Moth, that we raised from a caterpillar last summer and overwintered on our deck as a cocoon, hatched! Gorgeous!

My Purple Cone Flowers bloomed...still my favorite butterfly flower!

Strangely enough, the less weeding I did, the more butterflies I had!

By the end of July, I had more Eastern Tiger Swallowtails than any other year...at one time, I counted more than 20 nectaring in my garden at once ~

And the wild Hercules Clubs, at the edge of the yard {that we always keep mowed down} were tall and lanky and blooming!! {I had no idea that they bloomed!} The Black Swallowtail Butterflies covered the blossoms, by the dozens, sipping from the nectar rich flowers.

And because of all the weeds, I had Ladybugs forming their chrysalis on the Wild Asters and Passion Vines that spontaneously emerged and bloomed...Until this summer, I had no idea that Ladybugs start life out as a little alligator looking bug with orange spots...

And after a few weeks they attach themselves to the leaf or stem of a plant and "pupate", just like a butterfly...several days later they emerge as the ladybug that we have all come to recognize...crazy!









I did plant a "sunflower clubhouse" for the kiddos...but unfortunately it was mistaken for a sunflower clubhouse for the deer... I awoke one morning to many headless stems and one lone flower... it too, was eaten the following morning...but not before I snapped a picture!


I threw out some Scarlet Sage seeds early in the summer to fend for themselves and long after I had forgotten about them...they poked their little heads up and bloomed in among my Partridge Pea...what an unexpected surprise and the hummingbirds are loving it!

That's my summer, so far....

I actually had a little extra time today & considered trying to "tidy up" the garden a bit, but when I went outside to get started, the butterflies looked like they were having such a good time, I hated to disturb them, so I just sat on the porch, with a glass of iced tea and enjoyed the view.

Besides, I think I like my new "wild" gardening method {at least for this year!}...and I know, for sure, the butterflies are loving it too!

Woo Hoo! I'm finished...

Oh my goodness...I can't believe that it's been almost 2 weeks since I've spoken to you! The weather is getting warmer and I can feel my spirits being lifted as spring finally approaches.

But the most exciting thing, is that I just finished up my kids line of scatter gardens! It all took longer that I thought {it always does}, but I think the packaging is as cute as it can be and hope everyone else thinks so too!

Retail stores have already started ordering just in the few days since I've launched the products! So I feel quite optimistic {of course I usually am a "glass half full" kind of girl...}

I thought I'd share the package designs with you today and then later in the week get back to butterfly gardening...


I'm probably most excited about the Secret Sunflower Clubhouse. I grew one last year with the kiddos and they enjoyed it so much, that I just had to add it to the product line~ You plant Mammoth Sunflower Seeds in a 6x6 foot square {leaving an unplanted space for the doorway}, to create a living play-space. But in the kit, I've added a dwarf fescue {grows to just 4 inches} and little blue cornflowers to create a soft "floor"...perfect for picnics & teddy bear tea parties! And when the sunflowers are 6-7 feet tall, you can pull the tops together with twine to create a roof, if you desire!



I also thought the "Good Bug Garden" was really fun too! It's a garden designed to attract & provide a pollen source for ladybugs.

I was reading about ladybugs the other day and learned that ladybug eggs look like tiny orange footballs and are laid on the leaves next to aphids, so that when they hatch they will have their first meal waiting for them!


Also, they don't look like lady bugs when they hatch...they look more like tiny black alligators with orange spots. They grow to 1/2 inch long in about 2-3 weeks, then pupate {form a chrysalis, like a butterfly caterpillar} and a few days later they emerge as the lady bug that we recognize! In order for lady bugs to mature and lay eggs, they need nectar and pollen sources. Isn't that crazy! I had no idea...


Nature always amazes me and I can't wait to learn more...what a fun journey we will have together this summer!

Bad, bad doggie...

Our lab puppy {and I use that term lightly...he's two} is just so naughty! We actually had a fairly warm, sunny weekend & I was outside, planting my wildflower garden, wearing my favorite shirt when out of nowhere Jackson appeared, leapt through the air, mouth wide open...clamped on to my shirt and kept on running! It was like something out of the movies...there I was, standing in the garden, half my shirt gone...the rest in tatters...I could not believe it!! I've never seen anything like it...he is a such a bad, bad doggie...it's a good thing he's cute!

On the upside, I did get my wildflower garden planted {right behind my raised beds} and tidied up the garden a bit, scanning the ground for any sign of green peeking through the soil...nothing yet.

This afternoon, I was looking at all the butterfly/caterpillar identification books that I have on my desk {15} and realized that each book provides something different.

Some have better pictures or show different "instars" (stages) of the caterpillars and I really do refer to all of them, however I've found one that I go back to time & time again...It's a book by Judy Burris & Wayne Richards, called "The Life Cycles of Butterflies"

It won the Teachers' Choice Award in 2007, but I think it's a wonderful "adult" book as well! They have taken 23 of the most common butterflies and devoted four pages to each butterfly with amazing photos of the eggs, caterpillars and butterflies. It also has a section devoted to butterfly gardening...host & nectar plants.

But I think my favorite feature is the easy comparison guide for butterfly eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalises (cocoons) in the back of the book. I actually carry it with me when I'm egg & caterpillar hunting...yes, it's that good!

I have it in hardcover, but bought a paperback version {every bit as good as the hardcover} for my Mom on Amazon.com for about $11 {& free shipping!}

So, if you are thinking about adding a butterfly identification book to your collection, I would highly recommend this one!

Think happy spring thoughts...it's just around the corner, I can feel it!