Ooh, ooh, MissSherry, I found a great plant for the small butts, too, this year! It is Mountain Mint. They LOVED it. I may not have many butterflies this year, but the ones I had were all over it.

I love those Checkered Skippers (glad you dropped the "Common" from their common name). I see one every 2 or 3 years and that's it. Sigh....

Your photos are great!

Susan

Thanks, Susan!
I love the checkered skippers, too. And I left out the word "common" on purpose - they may be plentiful, but they're not a bit "common" to me! :)
I've read that mountain mint is real popular with butterflies, so I'm not surprised you're seeing so many butterflies on yours. I may give it a try soon.
Sherry

It is popular with the "smaller" butterflies, like the Hairstreaks, Blues, and Skippers. It's also a great bee plant and with the issues in the bee populations, I'm trying to also include more of those in the garden. They really love this one, too, but they are good about sharing with the butterflies. The Pyramid Bush is also a good bee plant and small butterfly plant. It is not hardy here, but I hope I can save some seeds. It sure is pretty and it is just constantly in bloom and no deadheading necessary.

The Mountain Mint (and there are several native to the Eastern US) that I have is Pycnanthemum muticum. It is very pretty, with large, glossy green leaves, and bracts that turn a pretty silvery white. Looks like it's covered in a layer of ice.

Susan

I'm curious about the orange on the genitalia. It looks like orange scales in the picture. Is that correct?

Also, the genitalia look like claspers, which would indicate male in non-skippers at least. Is that true for skippers as well? Or am I seeing it wrong?

Jeff

I noticed the yellow and red blob on the rear end of the female after I posted it, Jeff. I don't know what it is, but it looks like liquid to me.
I'm sure that the one with his wings spread is a male, because of the blue hairs, and the one with the yellow on her rear was much plainer, no blue hairs.
I don't see anything that looks like claspers to me - where do you see claspers?
Sherry

I may be seeing it wrong. In the picture, it looks like orange on the bottom and then a bifurcated structure on the top.

Jeff