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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Looking back to warmer days

I don't know if it got as cold as they said it would last night, but this morning when I checked it was 0ºF (-18ºC), which is cold enough. In fact, I'm not in the mood to show you anything wintery today, so I decided to look back into my pre-blog photo archives to find...


...butterflies! Apparently July 2007 was a very good year for butterflies in my garden, or at least I was out there enough that I captured lots of photos. The black swallowtail is the one that I see most, so that's what I started with here.


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I'm planning on removing the buttefly bushes (Buddleja davidii) from my garden this year, although seeing these photos makes it more difficult...


Tiger swallowtail is quite common too...



...but I really love them. Look at the hairy body in the first shot!


The zebra swallowtail though is a rare sighting for me -- I was quite excited to catch these images!



And this last one was different, and visibly so even from a distance, the way it moved, its coloration:


The giant swallowtail isn't huge, but it is larger than the others and has a much fatter body:



Nothing says "garden" to me like butterflies on a warm, sunny day, and that's exactly what I need right now.

Maybe it's time for a trip over to the Missouri Botanical Garden Butterfly House? I haven't been there for many years...

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7 comments:

  1. Mark and GazFebruary 19, 2015 at 10:18 AM

    Sweet dream of summer eh! It's on its way...

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  2. LisaFebruary 19, 2015 at 10:26 AM

    Why no butterfly bushes? I would miss mine and all the beautiful wings we see all summer long.

    Today's high is minus 10 degrees. Wind chills at minus 40. Hard to believe it will ever end!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AlanFebruary 19, 2015 at 10:39 AM

    Lisa: I should clarify -- I'm investigating removing them due to potential invasiveness and the fact that they only provide nectar. I read a pretty convincing argument against non-native nectar-only plants recently so it's got me thinking a bit.

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  4. outlawgardenerFebruary 19, 2015 at 1:21 PM

    A breath of warm summer air on such a frigid day is certainly welcome. Sorry to hear about your temperatures!

    ReplyDelete
  5. LisaFebruary 19, 2015 at 6:15 PM

    Ahhh! I've read a few of those as well. But if the butterfly bush draws them to the garden, and you have other plants that support the butterfly life cycle, then maybe it's not a bad thing. Or maybe that's just my rationalization to keep a plant I love.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Charlie@Seattle TrekkerFebruary 19, 2015 at 11:36 PM

    Love the photo series, I am a huge butterfly fan. I have replanted portions of my garden to support butterfly's...It took several years and I am now getting results.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AlanFebruary 20, 2015 at 6:59 AM

    Lisa: that's exactly my way of thinking (or rationalizing) when it comes to this plant.

    ReplyDelete