Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, August 20, 2007
Things with Wings
Want butterflies? Plant verbena!
I was just astounded at the number of nectar-sippers hovering around the Verbena bonariensis this weekend in the country. Just in casual observation, I counted at least six different species of butterflies - Tiger Swallowtail (both light and dark forms), Spicebush Swallowtail, American Lady, Zabulon Skipper, other skippers (names still elude me - sorry), and a new one for me: the Common Buckeye. If it's so common, howcome I never saw one until this weekend?
And there was a different clearwing moth there too - this time it was Hummingbird Moth, and I have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to photos. I restrained myself and only posted four of them (1,2,3,4).
And speaking of embarrassment, after Lisa wrote last week that she only gets good photos of butterflies when they're mating, I claimed never to have seen such a thing. Well, look (adults only, please). I think there will be more Snowberry Clearwing Moths.
While I was taking these photos, another absolutely huge moth landed on a tomato plant. I have only a crummy picture to prove it, but I think it was a tomato hornworm adult.
More from the crummy picture department. I tried several times to get a good picture of a hummingbird this weekend. I failed. They were almost constantly feeding on the coleus flowers in front of the house, except not when I had the camera in hand. There is a hummingbird in this picture, but I'll let you search for it yourself. I think I'll try Ki's suggestion and see if I can get some decent video instead. Check out the huge coleus plants though. The tallest ones are close to 4 feet, not counting the flowers.
Labels: birds, butterflies, insects, moths
8 Comments:
WOW! Great shot's The humming bird moth shot ~fantastic! I have tried and tried to get a nice photo ~they are harder to shoot than actual humming birds! And your right about the verbena..every day there are several diffrent kinds of butterflies on my verbena bonaris, more so than the lantana!
enjoyed your post!
Entangled, after playing where's waldo for a few minutes I just gave up. Your photos are wonderful and I'm so impressed that you can get close enough to take them.
My verbena bonariensis also draws butterflies, but if I come within 8 feet of the plant they take off.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Catherine: Thanks for the compliments! Hmmm, I don't know......I've never gotten a good picture of a hummingbird yet. But until this year, I'd never gotten a good picture of a clearwing moth either.
Annie: I had the same reaction when I downloaded the photos into the computer. I knew I took a picture of a hummingbird, but where is it? If you want to give it another go, it's near the top of one of the coleus flowers in front of the faux rock pillar, with it's back to the camera (so it looks like a greenish blob).
The country critters really don't seem as afraid of humans as their suburban counterparts - the lizards and hummingbirds, in particular. Several times, the hummingbirds hovered a few feet in front of my face, chattering away at me. I think they were trying to chase me away from their food source, but it didn't work.
Wow! Those are great shots of the clearwing moth! I have the verbena too and it is the critter attracting winner by far in my garden too.
Robin: Isn't the Verbena wonderful? I never even heard of it until a couple of years ago. Last year I started with one plant, and this year I added a LOT more, grown from seed. I've heard that it gets weedy, seeding itself everywhere, but as of now I wouldn't mind that too much.
Excellent shots of the butterflies and especially the clearwing moths. I'm impressed.
Thanks, Ki. I take it as high praise coming from a photographer such as yourself. Check out the cannibalfly, if you haven't already. I had no idea what this thing was until I posted it on bugguide.net.
Excellent photography! The hummingbird moth photo is awesome.
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