Re-thinking your lawn

 Today I had a marvelous time with the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs at their annual meeting, which was held at Mohican State Park Lodge. They asked for a program on attracting  critters into one's yard with native plants.  That happens to be my favorite topic!

 The program ended up entitled Native Plants Add Drama.  Believe me, they do!  I can hang out all day taking pictures and following the birds, butterflies and mammalian wildlife around in my yard.  It is an ongoing circus, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This saying from "The Wild Ones" tells the tale best.  IF you don't have action in your yard, you need to re-think your plants and your chemical usage. One of my most requested programs is Butterflies as Bioindicators.  If your yard is healthy and chemical free you should be seeing butterflies.

Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor philenor

 The latest hatch in my yard was Pipevine Swallowtails. But before one can have these lovely insects, you must have their host plant. I believe my pipevine is Aristolochia tomentosa. Good thing I planted one several years ago and it now festoons the side of my barn.

Prickly-ash, Zanthoxylum americanum in seed

 Another unusual plant on my property is the Prickly-ash.  It occurs naturally along the edge of my woodlot, and is the host plant for Giant Swallowtails.  Imagine my surprise when I realized there was already a well established population right in my own yard!

Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphones

These seven inch beauties have two broods each year.  The early spring brood loves to nectar on my Azalea plants, and the second brood heads for the Purple Coneflowers. I also had a Giant nectaring on a Common Milkweed a week or so ago.  It is important to cultivate milkweed for Monarchs, but other species of butterflies and bees will use milkweed too.  It is a staple in my home's habitat and vital to Monarch conservation.

Thursday Aug. 21th at 7:00 pm I will be previewing a program Midwestern Monarchs at the Gorman Nature Center in Mansfield.  I will also give this program for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Conservation Symposium- The Point of No Return- on Sept. 5th.  They have a stellar line up for that event, and I encourage you to go the notice in the side panel of this blog, and follow the link to register.  There is a lot of information on Monarchs that has slipped past the general public and I hope you will join me for one of these programs.

Milkweed pollinators

Milkweeds are well known as the host plant for Monarch butterflies.  It is also an nectar source for many, many other insects.  This summer I have spent a lot of time in my garden monitoring my milkweed for Monarch caterpillars (none so far.)  The rewards for that effort has been witnessing a host of other amazing "bugs" in my yard and garden.

Giant Swallowtail nectars on my garden Milkweed patch.

This Giant Swallowtail butterfly was very fresh, nary a mar or mark upon it.  It must have recently eclosed from its chysalis. As a caterpillar this swallowtail probably fed upon the Prickley-ash in my yard.  By offering both host and nectar plants, my opportunities for butterfly watching and photography are greatly increased. Watching one of these seven inch large butterflies never gets old!

The Banded Hairsteak quietly goes about its business.

This Banded Hairstreak is a much, much smaller butterfly.  These diminutive insects require a good macro lens camera or a magnifying glass to identify.  There are numerous hairstreak species and the Banded is fairly common one.  It is a challenge sort hairstreaks to species. Advice to beginners: start with the size of the red and blue color cells.  They alone are often diagnostic.

Death trap to bees.

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a robust plant, so no whimpy pollinators need apply.  It has a nasty habit of capturing little bees in "leg hold" traps. The pollinia of the milkweed is sticky and can hold a weaker bee in place. Not all bees get trapped, but if you look at enough milkweed, someday you will find one of these little guys hanging upside-down.  I have never seen a butterfly trapped by this mechanism, so lepidoptera (the butterfly family) must be better suited for the pollination of milkweed.

What are you finding on your milkweed plants?
If you are interested in learning more about milkweeds or pollinators,  I highly recommend the Midwest Native Plant Conference.  You will hear extremely knowledgeable speakers from all across Ohio and beyond.

One of my favorite resources for milkweed and pollinator information is Bob Klips of OSU.  Please check out this link on Bob's Brain on Botany.  Bob is also a speaker at this year's MWNP conference.  See you in Dayton!

In the Wetland Garden-

Last year I put in a new "wetland" garden.

Today I reaped the rewards.

A Giant Swallowtail, Ohio's biggest and brightest butterfly stopped by to nectar on my favorite plant- Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia syphilitica. The Giants are regulars at our property, but I have never seen a butterfly nectar on Great Blue Lobelia before. What a wonderful discovery, and reward for the time and labor it took to dig out this sunken garden.

Great Blue Lobelia requires a good deal of moisture; it can occasionally be found growing in roadside ditches. Once thought to be a cure for syphilis, (good luck on that!) I suggest it is better put to use as butterfly bait.

What a wonderful day!


................. ....Whee! ............. (click on photo to enlarge)

Botany Quiz and a Bonus

Ready to play - What's this plant?





Currently its ripe, red fruits are bursting open and ejecting little black seeds. Here's a hint, those husks smell like citrus!



The big picture.

A medium sized shrub, or very small tree- usually grows no larger than 10-12 foot high.

Small "prickly" needles on the the woody stems.

Uncommon, but certainly not rare in Ohio.

One of the host plants for the Giant Swallowtail, my favorite butterfly!



Got it yet? Prickly-ash, Xanthozylum americanum

And here is the bonus: an early instar Giant Swallowtail caterpillar snacking on one of the thumb-sized leaves. This is the smallest "Giant" I have ever found!

And when you tap him with a stick... (Oh, don't try this at home kids!)
He quickly raises his "stink horns," little glands that secrete a nasty odor and look like a snake's tongue. It is called an osmeterium. And yes, there will be a quiz later!

This is what the little fellow will grow into: a Giant Swallowtail. He is now seven inches of winged wonderful, and a tad more comely than the figure he cut in his awkward youth

Got butterflies? Get host plants!

Hope to see you at the Mid-west Native Plant Conference this weekend. I may even bring this little fellow with me. So follow logo on the side bar for details!

Backyard Butterflies

Today was a day-at-home, and there was an incredible amount of activity on my native plants with no need to go further afield.

Female Tiger Swallowtail (note the blue on hindwing) is one of Ohio's most spectacular insects. A color scheme almost too much to believe... a tiger-striped butterfly! Seriously! Nectaring on Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, this plant is irresistible to the fliers- both butterflies and finches.

The Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata was really hopping. Here is a Giant Swallowtail and a Monarch nectaring on the same plant. This is also a host plant for Monarchs, so it would be a good place for her to lay eggs as well.

Next the Giant Swallowtail and Monarch were joined by a Tiger Swallowtail. The activity on the milkweed was non-stop. Sunshine and peak flowering created an irresistible recipe for butterfly watching and the ease of photography was absolutely addicting. I must have spent an hour watching the same three plants.

Silver-spotted Skippers are normally a "frequent fliers" and difficult to find at a stand-still. Today there were 8 or 10 smitten with the nectar of the Joe-Pye-Weed, Eutrochium purpureum (warning: that's a name change) and the bee and butterfly activity on this plant was absolutely riotous. Locust trees are Silver-spot's host plants, and they are in plentiful supply nearby.

One more Joe-Pye customer, a Summer Azure (female- has darker outline on dorsal wings) is a mini-lep, smaller than a dime. Summer Azures are a bit lighter or whiter than the Spring Azure, and they may be smaller in size.

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Another summer day gone by, but this one will not soon be forgotten. There were at least 15 species of butterflies seen today on just my little 3 acre lot. It was stunning to see the diversity of species and sheer numbers of these little fliers. And as wonderful as it is for me, they have no place else to go. Our yard is surrounded by cornfields and mowed ditches, so these native plants are the only game in town.

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Are there native plants for the butterflies in your neighborhood?