Fall flowers for butterflies

The insects' song tell me fall is on its way.  Cicadas, katy-dids and snowy tree crickets dominate the chorus around here.  My yard is filled with insect calls, because my yard is also filled with native plants.  Insects thrive on native plants and in pesticide free lawns and gardens.  One might imagine a "locust plague" here at Harnerville, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

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There is a balance. A balance of colors, shapes, and foliage forms.  A balance of scents, a hum of pollinators and the fluttering of wings.  Butterflies, moths, bees, even beetles have a place here.  And the bird population keeps them in check.  

Our common yard birds include House Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Catbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Eastern Phoebe.  Right now, the goldfinches are in their glory.  My Tall Ironweed is about to go to seed; it is the perfect finch food and will save me a bundle by replacing the store-bought thistle-seed.  

                                         

Here is a close-up of the Tall Ironweed, Vernonia gigantea which towers above the other plants in my yard.  I've always had a thing for "tall, dark and handsome."  Take a closer look at the florets and you will recognize this as a member of the aster family.

Clearwing Snowberry Moth (a bumblebee mimic) is a day-flying moth.

Any member of the Phlox family is also welcome in my yard!  This is the non-native garden phlox, which thrives and attracts all my favorite insects. Phlox is a great nectar plant and I have added several varieties of smaller natives varieties as well.

If you would like to hear about some of the plants which attract the bees, butterflies and moths that live in my yard, Wild Ohio has produced a video for you.   http://vimeo.com/72815102

Here is your Blogger, Cheryl Harner, with my spiel on fall flowers.

Special thanks to Ohio Division of Wildlife's Tim Daniels and Nina Harfman for producing this program about fall flowers.  They do wonderful work, and let me blather away about some of my favorite fall plants. I hope you will consider adding these favorites to your yard as well.

PLEASE PLANT MILKWEED!!!   The Monarchs are counting on you!

Refreshing...

It is officially the mid-summer doldrums, where the heat, humidity and drought dominate the local's conversation.  Summer weather and politics, the two things we feel we suffer through- and can't do much about.

Morning Dew

 Yesterday morning I captured a "refreshing" photo of early morning dew on Purple Coneflower and grass.  Just looking at it makes me feel a little bit better, like there is something right with the world.  


It is the same feeling I get when I join my friends at Mid-West Native Plant Conference.  If you haven't signed up yet (beg them to let you come if it is past the date...) go here and download the registration.  It is the weekend of July 27-29 and I hope to see you there.  It is a refreshing time of sharing about native plants and the things right with the world.

Beautiful  Blues.  A Red Admiral, about to become crab spider food. 

And butterflies.  We love to look at butterflies. 

So join me for the Friday program on Home Sweet Habitat to learn more about inviting nature into your yard, and a walk (with Jim Davidson, no-less) to follow.   Jim and I will also be leading the Sunday trip to the Cemetery Prairies, and I hope you will join us to see Ohio's most historical landscapes: Native prairie.

Butterflies, finally!

This year has been less than stellar for the butterfly buffs, and the last couple of days were a wash out. When tasked with leading a trip for the Division of Wildlife's Diversity Partners, I thought our trip might be a total bust. It was raining a fine steady mist as we unloaded out of the van.

However, this Common Buckeye was not about to let a little water get in his way. In fact, he was puddling in it!

The sun started to peak through the clouds, and several Eastern Tailed-Blues magically appeared, as if from nowhere.

Meadow Fritillaries were the next to show; several dancing across the meadow.

The best of the the field work was this very fresh Variegated Fritillary. Bonus points for anyone who can name the botany that is was posing on! Hint: It is in the tomato (Solanum) family.

Just past the working barn at Malabar Farm, we herded this Checkered White Skipper toward an adoring crowd. The was the best find of the day, a butterfly-not rare- but certainly unusual.

The End.

And it was the end for this poor hapless Clouded Sulphur who strayed into a spider web.

This day at Malabar Farm produced some of the best butterflying we have had all year! Thanks to the great folks at DOW for this excellent event.

I only have "eyes" for you-

The cold snowy days seem to have no end in sight, they have worn me down and made me nostalgic for a bit of color.



A two-for-one in the color department: A Common Buckeye nectaring on Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. This Ohio native prairie plant is just the bee's-knee for attracting butterflies. And who doesn't have "eyes" for that Buckeye? Occasionally we have bumper crops of buckeyes (like in 2010) but some years they are uncommon in Ohio. This is not a hardy butterfly, but rather one that re-colonizes in northern states during long hot summers.

Even the buckeye's caterpillar is a stunner! It can often be found in chemical free lawn or roadsides, using plantains or members of the snapdragon family as host plants. This colorful fellow was feeding on an Agalinis sp. (used to be called gerardia.) Photo taken by Jackie Riley.

Such a common Ohio butterfly, the Eastern Tailed Blue could be easily confused with the rarest of Ohio butterflies- the Karner Blue. They are both members of the Lycaenidae family.

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This is a poor photo for identifying the species, as the "tail" and diagnostic orange spot are obscured from view. However, ETB are lovely little butterflies, too often over looked and snubbed for being common. If they were as rare as the lupine dependant Karner- we would be mad for them as well.

Butterflies love milkweed, and it is not just the Monarch which utilises this Ohio native plant. Many species of butterflies nectar on the honey-scented flowers. This male Black Swallowtail will nectar here, but the female Black Swallowtail will be searching for Golden Alexanders, Zizia aurea or other members of the parsley family for egg laying. Swallowtail caterpillars wouldn't survive the toxins in the milkweed. Butterflies are a picky lot, with very particular needs in host plants.

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It is fascinating to study the butterfly/ host plant relationship. The more you know about these winged jewels, the more you will want to plant the host plants which attract them and provide habitat for their conservation.

Secret Lives of Butterflies

If you only look for butterflies on flowers, you could be missing some interesting species. One can find butterflies in more locations- and a few places you might never suspect. Most butterflies are known to puddle- or gather minerals from damp gravel or mud.




Mud flats are not just for shorebirds you know, here a bevy of beauties gathered at Ottawa NWR for minerals. All but one is the common species, Clouded Sulphur, but look closely at the squared-off wing of the mostly obscured upper left specimen. That, my friends, is a Dog-face. A rare member of the sulphur family who migrates from the south. They generally appear later in the season, if they appear in Ohio at all.

A Hackberry butterfly was found feasting on the body of a Lakeside mayfly. We may find some of their behaviors a bit horrifying, as we don't consider butterflies as possible carnivores.

Savoring a damp spot on a hot summer day, this Spicebush Swallowtail was fixated upon...

the fragrant juice from a dumpster. No flowers here.

Scat, in particular, fox scat is very appealing to this Appalachian Brown and several other winged species. Appalachian Browns were once considered a single species with Eyed Browns. However, the Eyes are found in wet meadows where the much rarer Appalachian is found near damp woods and bogs. Robert M.Pyle says in Audubon's Field Guide to the Butterflies, "Both species are vulnerable to development of inland wetlands."

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Looking closely at butterflies and discovering their secrets can be a repulsive, yet beautiful sight. I don't mind. I figure butterflies just keep secrets from the masses of people who chose to believe what they will, and do not bother to learn the truth about butterflies. Their lives are not all flowers.

Butterfly Gardening Tips

We had so many enthusiastic questions at the Butler Library Butterfly Garden program tonight, I thought you might enjoy a few of my favorite quick tips for attracting butterflies. And looking at this beautiful Red-spotted Purple makes me think of one more secret to bringing winged-jewels into your garden. You'll find it at the bottom of the article.

Here are the main tips you need to know and a little explanation after each.

•Nectar Plants/ Host Plants

Don't just grow "flowers," butterfly larva are critical to a healthy population. Learn about the plants that the caterpillars feed on: willows, cherry tree, serviceberry, spicebush, asters, grasses, nettles and many, many more

• BIG WAVES of COLOR

Make your butterfly garden look like a native patch of flowers- Use big swathes of color.

•Not too neat!

Don't groom your garden too much, caterpillars need to crawl off to pupate,

and often attach themselves to dead vegetation for this purpose

•LAyeRS for INtereST

Mix it Up! Best butterfly garden I have ever seen was built with mounds and walkways.

•NO Pesticides /herbicides

Let's not kill the creatures we are trying to help. Butterflies are extremely sensitive to chemicals.

•Add a rock or mud!

Butterflies are exothermic- they warm up in the sun (like the RSP in the photo). Treat your butterflies to a rock and some mud for a big puddle party! And not all butterflies utilize flowers- the "secret" for Red-Spotted Purples? They love compost piles and other green manures. Who would have guessed it? Yummm!