Recently in Missouri Butterflies Category

I was blessed this year with the first crop of homegrown pears ever.

 I can't remember when I first planted the compact pear tree but it's been by my driveway for a long time, a good perch for birds in the winter waiting in line to stop by one of my bird feeders.

On one of the first cool but sunny days in October, I found the most amazing sight down the hill from the pear tree.

Do you recognize all those butterfly wings? I count at least five sets - no, six. There's one sideways - see it?

There were dozens of comma butterflies on rotting pears, all moving around the fruit with the precision of a marching band.



I love the way their wings have curves all over them. These were my first comma butterflies of this season.

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

One of the signs of fall in Missouri is the last dance butterflies do on their favorite flowers.

Over summer, I noticed Pearl Crescent Butterflies are very partial to Missouri's Black-eyed Susan Wildflowers.

Considering these perennial wildflowers centers are maybe 3/4 inch wide, they can get crowded.

But then Pearl Crescent Butterflies are not very big themselves.

After trying to photograph these charming tiny butterflies, I was surprised to discover this little mating dance once I downloaded the photos.

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

Now I remember, I love seeing White Heath Asters blooming in fall, especially because of all the yellow bugs, bees and butterflies, like this Buckeye, that like them as well!

These charming Missouri wildflowers are usually covered with visitors!

These Missouri wildflowers are nature's version of floral baby's breath, filling Missouri roadsides in fall with ethereal clouds of daisy-like flowers.

White Heath Aster flowers are not very big.

You can find White Heath Aster green florets low to the ground in springtime, which I've found is the best time to transplant them.

I keep forgetting how big White Heath Asters get but they seem to nicely fit in wherever I plant them, like keeping this Autumn Sedum (left) company.

Over this summer, I've become friends with a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

I've named him Pappy, short for the French word for butterfly Papillon.

The relationship started late this spring, when I started to hang hummingbird feeders in the same spot on my deck.

 I didn't think much about it at first, until I started to see a Black Swallowtail Butterfly taking a drink at dusk every night.

At first I saw the tear in his left wing and wondered how he was still flying.

Then I saw the chunk out of his right side.

I'm not an engineer but aerodynamically-speaking, the odds of him making it around the garden easily seemed to be getting worse every few days.

Because he gingerly walked around the hummingbird feeder, I could more easily admire the blue color on his remaining wings; the way his wing tips were orange, and how he moved back and forth across the surface of each of the feeding stations.

I wouldn't be surprised if Black Swallowtail Butterflies dip their wings on their way out like fighter planes - he seemed to always make a couple of extra swoops around my head and my clicking camera before he left.

He may not be the prettiest Black Swallowtail Butterfly in the garden but he's figured out how to survive.

Some days, that in itself is enough of an accomplishment.

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

I helped a friend recently reorganize her yard so she can add more flowers that attract butterflies.

As we were heading to the back garden, she asked "how do you really know butterflies like these plants?"

My biologist friends say some butterflies prefer certain plants because they're a source of favorite food, or a favorite spot for cocoons. Other butterflies are less picky and enjoy a variety of flowers, like Pearl Crescent Butterflies, which have several variations to their coloring and are the most abundant butterflies in the Midwest. I sure have a number of them working their way through my garden.

Finding butterflies in the garden is one of my favorite signs of summer in Missouri. Once summer flowers are in bloom,  I know for sure Pearl Crescent Butterflies are fond of Missouri Black-eyed Susan wildflowers.

They look like they belong together, don't they?

 

I'm getting to know my Fritillaria Butterflies better. They seem to like Missouri's Black-eyed Susans, which grow under my living room windows so I can sit back in a chair with my tea and watch them.

I keep an eye out for this little one I call Fred, torn right wing doing very little to slow him down as he hops from flower to flower through the flower beds.

Even when he's approached by a large black camera eye, he seems - well, unflappable, going on with his little dancing steps all over the flower's center.

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill