August Butterflies

15 years ago

I'm seeing lots of butterflies now, more Tiger Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails than I've ever seen before. Also lots of Black Swallowtails, Buckeyes and Fritillaries. I've seen few Giant Swallowtails and two Pipevines. My mimosa tree has had sooo many butterflies on it this year and I think it may be because it's blooming later than normal. The cold winter set it back a little. I can stand in one spot and count a couple dozen swallowtails on the blooms.

I'm pretty sure this is a female (dark form) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on my phlox.

And a male Tiger Swallowtail resting on redbud.

I planted five kinds of Zinnias this year and these have done the best, Zowie Yellow Flame. I think if we'd get some rain they'd do even better.

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Comments (6)

helenh
15 years ago
It is nice to have an interest in something other than plants in this scorching weather. Thanks for the pictures. The zinnia is beautiful.
mosswitch
15 years ago
Like you, I've been seeing hundreds of butterflies, lots of pipevine swallowtails (I have a pipevine) and dozens of tiger swallowtails as well as the other types of swallowtails, lots of fritillaries and just about every other butterfly you can mention. I don't spray anything so there are swarms of them. They must like this weather!

My mimosas have already bloomed and gone to seed, tho, not sure why some of them are just blooming now. The butterflies are on the phlox, joe pye weed and crape myrtles mostly.

Beautiful pictures!

Sandy
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teeandcee
15 years ago
These are so pretty! I've not noticed any more butterflies than usual in my garden. Lots on the butterfly bush, of course.

I see your grass in the background looks just like mine; brown and probably crunchy.
gldno1
15 years ago
Christie, they are beautiful. I didn't know they liked mimosa so much.

Mine have let up some because most of the flowers have dried up too much.
christie_sw_mo
Original Author
15 years ago
Teeandcee - I didn't notice what an awful shot of my yard is in the background of the phlox photo. It's a little greener now since we got some rain but still lots of brown spots. I do well to keep my flowers watered and ignore the grass. We mow more than 1 1/2 acres so our water bill would be awful if we tried to keep it watered in summers like this.

My mimosa tree is still blooming and no seed pods yet that I can see. Swallowtails are on it from early morning until late evening when it's almost too dark to see them. It's weird how late they stay there. They disappear from my other flowers earlier in the evening.

I still have several zinnias that haven't started blooming yet but most of them are and there's usually a dozen or so swallowtails nectaring on them when I go out to look. I'm really impressed with how well the Zowie Yellow Flame zinnias are blooming. That's my new favorite.
helenh
15 years ago
Christie I don't think that is an awful shot of your yard. It is the truth that we've had a dry summer and odd weather. I noticed in Joplin that some people have let their shrubs die. I see lots of brown yews and some evergreens I always admired look like they are half dead. That is a shame when they had water available. Some folks watered their lawn some have brown yards. I think if everyone watered their grass that there would have been a water shortage.