Tangled Branches: Cultivated

happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Firsts

There have been a lot of first-of-the-season events over the last week.

First dragonfly. Same kind as last year.

First hummingbird. It buzzed right by my head on its way to __? Somewhere else.

First singing wood thrush.

I think - think - I head the kowp-kowp-kowp of a yellow-billed cuckoo on Saturday morning, but it was hard to be sure with the flock of noisy blue jays all around.

First time I noticed the lovely scent of 'Rainbow Loveliness'. I decided to pick a tiny bouquet for the house before the rain ruined the flowers, brought it up to my nose expecting a spicy carnation-like scent, and instead got .... lilacs? That's how it smelled to me anyway. Not at all dianthus-y, but sweet and strong.

First bizarre-o insect of the year. Moth larva? I have no idea.

Labels: birds, dianthus, insects

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

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Butterfly Roundup

Put on your cowboy hat - we're going to herd butterflies. OK, not really, but what comes to mind when you read the title of this post?

I've been posting pictures of butterflies on Picasa for a few weeks, but haven't written anything about them here, and it's time to fix that.

We all love the big charismatic swallowtails, but it seems to me they've been scarce this year. Just now as I'm typing this, a dark tiger swallowtail flitted by, stopping only briefly at a larkspur. But not long enough for a picture. It's worn-out cousin was here last week. Even though the colors are not bright and the wings are a bit tattered, both "tails" are still present.

I think my favorite butterflies may be the Ladies and the Admiral. These three are all members of the genus Vanessa, and I haven't any trouble finding and photographing them this year. It's the pattern on the underside of the wings that I like - the colors aren't showy and with the wings folded, sometimes these butterflies can be hard to see, but the swirls and circles in blues and browns are fascinating to me. They're much more colorful with their wings open.

Most of the skippers still look alike to me, but I can now recognize two of them without poring over the field guide. The Silver-spotted Skipper was the only one I could recognize for a long time - it's larger than most other skippers and unique with its large white (silver?) spot on the underside of the wing. But now I think I can quickly identify the male Zabulon Skipper with his pretty yellow and brown wings (his female counterpart is dark brown with a few white spots).

The Question Mark is another new-to-me butterfly. There was one "puddling" on the gravel driveway a few weeks ago, but it was very skittish and hard to photograph. This is the best picture of the lot.

I'll bet if you conducted a survey, you'd find that most residents of the US would name the Monarch as their favorite butterfly. I like them too, but hardly ever see them in my northern Virginia garden. I'm hoping they're more plentiful in central Virginia, and that this is the first of many.

Labels: butterflies, insects

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Beginning of Autumn?

Well, gosh, I was going to write a post about August being the beginning of autumn, but I decided to check my archives before doing it. Good thing, too, because I was going to write very nearly the same thing I wrote a year ago. Everything I wrote then applies equally well today, except this time I have a good picture of a clearwing moth.

In that picture, it just looks like a bug, but when you see one of these hovering in front of a flower, you could swear you're looking at a tiny hummingbird.

Also, to update last year's post just a bit, Wikipedia now has a page showing the exact time of the traditional beginning of autumn. Going over to time.gov, I see that we are already 2 hours into autumn as I write this. Then why is it so darned hot?

Labels: autumn, insects, moths, seasons

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Butterflies 1 Beetles 3

Doesn't it look like this fritillary is getting ready to do battle? If only.

I planted a Buddleia 'Attraction' next to the deck at the country house in hopes of attracting the hummingbirds we've been seeing. My first customer was a Japanese Beetle. Then another and another and another and.... I think the final score on Saturday was Hummingbirds 0, Butterflies 2, Japanese Beetles 16.

I don't understand where the beetles are coming from. The area directly around the house was a barren construction site until late last September. Around that is woods, then a field, then the neighbors' suburban-style yard. But that yard is far away, and they're not growing much in the way of yummy Japanese Beetle treats. I always think of Japanese Beetles as a pest of new suburban lawns and gardens; I really was not expecting to see any there.

At the old northern Virginia homestead, they've been very scarce so far this year. I'm sure I'll be punished for saying this, but so far all the flowers that are usually chewed to nothing are looking whole and healthy.

Labels: butterflies, insects

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