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. 

.  

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!

Viceroy Cats

Viceroy is one of our better known Ohio butterflies. These denizens of wetlands, their host plant is the willow, are often confused with the similar looking Monarch. Their coloring is the same- providing some safety in mimicry of the toxic Monarch butterfly. Viceroy's are a bit smaller, faster in flight and have the distinctive postmedial line in the hindwing.

And what could be cuter than a kitten? This Viceroy caterpillar is so small-think sunflower seed size here- it is hardly more than a hatchling! Thanks to Kim Kaufman for sharing these amazingly tiny caterpillars with folks visiting the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Their gift shop carries a huge assortment of desirable insect and natural history books- along with the expected birding accouterments.

Another of Kim's kitties (Viceroy caterpillars) a bit further along in the transformation to butterfly. That bird-dropping camouflage make them devilish hard to find in the wild, and less tasty looking to predators.

This is what the final larval-stage product will look like, four or five instars later.

Check out those horns! This particular jumbo sized (about 1.5 inches) caterpillar was found in Ashland University's wetlands and is found immortalized in the Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio - a handy field guide distributed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Call: 1-800-WILDLIFE for your free copy.

Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio

Tucked into the Ohio Diversity Conference packets (March 4th, 2009) , were copies of the Ohio Division of Wildlife's newly released Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio.

The booklet is the perfect field guide for your daypack or car's glove box, as it features 60 species with stunning photos of the adults and larval forms of many butterflies. Their life histories are complimented with distribution maps, and occurrence charts. Written in cooperation with the Ohio Lepidopterist, it has most of the species the casual butterfly enthusiast will see in Ohio.

Generously provided with Diversity Funds, your free copy of Publication 204(109) from the Ohio Division of Wildlife is available by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE (1-800-945-3543) or (614) 265-6300 for those outside of Ohio. The text and photos are beautifully presented; photos were provided by folks throughout Ohio, including contributions from good friends John Howard, Jim McCormac, Jim Davidson and Dr. Jaret Daniels, from Florida.

Don't forget, Jaret Daniels will be leading trips and teaching a workshop at Flora-quest: Butterflies on the Wing: Their Biology and Identification. This may be your last opportunity to get in, as it is filling rapidly! Go to

Flora-Quest for the details and register for Butterflies and Botany. Hope to see you at Shawnee!