Of Moths and Butterflies...

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Frosted Rabbits

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Miss M, A FB friend is encouraging a lot of people to plant flowers for specific butterflies- I am reminded of this when I see your avatars...

My Bumblebee Bed n Breakfast opened for Buzzy-ness yesterday, with the first sunflowers opening fully. Added some satellite 'rooms' of wildflowers this year, and even a common crash site for Japanese beetles ( darn buggers will NOT be permitted to feed on my plants)
 
I plan to put in a wildflower meadow section. Butterfly bushes when I can afford started ones because they just don't survive here when started from seed. I also usually plant some herbs just for the caterpillars of uncommon butterflies to eat. For my major programming assignment I made a program that would tell you what butterflies use a plant, both the butterfly itself or the caterpillar, and the reverse of what certain butterflies or caterpillars would live on. No idea where the program went though. I think that was 3 computers ago. It was Iowa natives specific anyway.
 
that's the thing about planting gardens for butterflies and such-- one needs host plants, nursery plants, overwintering sites, etc...Then, one has to also worry about the diseases or pests of the plants you want to encourage...when doing a self study thing on plants designated as 'weeds', most were designated as such because they were hosts/intermediary hosts to diseases and undesirable insects that harmed agricultural value plants- Like Tobacco Mosaic Virus.. And of course, various nematodes...
 
I would love to do this eventually! :) We do have a nice selection of neat moths around here, but are a bit lacking in the butterfly department. I love butterflies!

Clouded Sulphurs are my personal favorite. They just look like flying pats of butter.

You know what... my kids probably don't know what a "pat" of butter is. :lol:
 
I like the swallowtails but there aren't many this far north that you can plant for in a regular garden. Many rely on native trees that you just don't see much of. What forests exist have mostly been replanted with hardier trees and in town old native trees are often replaced with decorative nonnatives. You can plant parsley for the black swallowtail.

Puddling stations and sunning areas are also important for keeping butterflies around. We always had a ton of butterflies in otherwise barren places far from flowers because of water draining from the stable to a flat area of dirt and a low section of gravel by the driveway that was frequently damp. Sulphurs are extremely common on a horse farm. They like legume plants such as the aflalfa and clover in hay fields and the damp and sunning areas around the barns.
 
Oh, cool! I need to repot my anemic parsley plant.

I do have a gravel driveway with low areas that are usually wet, so that's a good start. :)
 
The butterflys do like the gravel to be pure limestone-- mixing other types of aggregate seems to make the puddles less favorable. Puddles on "gley" also work better-- I think It is probably the higher calcium levels that leach into the water. (*gley* is a wetland term- and is a clay that is sort of grey in color, and is VERY good for pottery and other waterproofing projects..)
 
Nearly everything is limestone here so that might help. Floors of buildings that you don't want to pour concrete on are packed crushed limestone and gravel is limestone and quartz usually on a bed of larger limestone and another porous rock. They would gather just as much on open dirt below manure compost though. The line from the stable ran under the manure pile and out about 80' before draining openly in to the dirt. There were always butterflies there in the summer after draining a water tank and refilling with fresh. When it was dry the horses would roll in that area of dust so it remained weed free and packed between water dumps.
 
I uploaded these pictures of cool fluffy moths on another site and tought I'd upload them here too- cause the post said moths.... I wish these were as big as rabbits and could be my pets!
 

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Have you seen a luna moth? I got to see one but it was on it's last leg. They only live about a week to mate and the caterpillars need old native trees. Usually nut trees. The place had hickory trees. The lack of native trees in Iowa and just trees in general with all the fields probably means I'll never see another. They aren't really something you can attract.

We do have a lot of bushfoots and skippers with some being fairly striking for their small size.
 
squidpop":2h4d5z59 said:
I uploaded these pictures of cool fluffy moths on another site and tought I'd upload them here too- cause the post said moths.... I wish these were as big as rabbits and could be my pets!
Click to expand...
WOW!!! :p Those are so awesome! They sure do look cuddly, don't they? :D

akane":2h4d5z59 said:
Have you seen a luna moth?
Click to expand...
I've seen several. :) The kids captured one and kept it in a jar for a few hours once, too. They are so beautiful!
 
Turns out this is rue and it is a favorite of swallowtail caterpillars.


Too bad I didn't have my camera. There was a swallowtail flying all around it while I was spraying off chinchilla cage liners. I'm hoping it decides to make caterpillars here. I think the chickens dusting in that area have been restricting the rue plant from spreading. I read they can be used as a hedge and I saw pics of nice big bushes. Mine's a little sad compared to that but even the mint and catnip are barely hanging on in that section of chicken dust bathing.
 
I agree those were/are my favorite. I would wait all spring for them to appear and then follow them around watching to see what they did. We had the big yellow and black ones and also the black and white ones.
 
He is one that I seen in my back porch in June of this year...
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