An Un-tended Native Flower Garden

Posted on June 14, 2016 by ruthnativeflowers

I unfortunately have been unable to “take care” of my native flower garden this year. In fact, today (June 14) was the first day since weed-whacking the entire garden last fall, that I got up the courage to take a look at what has come back up this year. I was pleased to find so many old friends doing not too badly. Hopefully my untended garden will still be a haven for bees and butterflies.

The first thing I noticed was a row of Butterfly Weed.

B Weed mid June

Then I took a look at my Common Milkweed patch. It is definitely thriving, now coming into full bloom with bees all over it.

C milkweed 06:14

milkweed with bee

The Culver’s Root has re-appeared, very tall this year and just beginning to look like Culver’s Root.

Culvers root 06:14

The Purple Coneflowers are just coming into bloom.

P Coneflower 06:14

The Daisy Fleabane is pretty much in bloom now.

Daisy Fleabane mid-june

I THINK this is the New York Ironweed that I planted last year.

NY Ironweed mid-June

A tiny bit of very early goldenrod is already in flower.

early goldenrod mid-june

Notably absent or still quite small:

Green-headed Coneflower (not there at all this year). I miss this plant as it was a great attractor of bees.
Monarda fistulosa. It seems much smaller than I expected.

M. fistulosa mid-June 2016

Sweet Joe-Pye Weed. I may see small amounts of it coming up, but apparently not thriving. This is another one I miss because it attracted so many bees.

Early Spring in Virginia

Posted on April 2, 2016 by ruthnativeflowers

Actually it’s not so early anymore. The Redbud trees are past blooming already but were spectacular for a little while.

S0_redbud tree

S0_redbud 2016

My spicebushes grew a lot last year. They were in full bloom a couple of weeks ago.

S0_spicebush on bloom2 sm 2016

My Virginia Bluebells grow more abundant every year. They are in full bloom right now on April 2.

S0_va bluebells 2016

There are lots of violets blooming in my wooded area. I can’t quite identify this one from my Peterson’s Field Guide. It has flowers and leaves on separate stalks and the leaves are deeply cleft. By best guess is some sort of Sweet White Violet though it obviously has a lot of blue.

S0_violets

I love my deciduous azalea, though it’s gotten so tall I had a hard time getting a picture of the flowers.

S0_deciduous azalea

The dogwoods are coming into bloom. Here is my wooded area “shade garden” in a light rain this morning.

S0_dogwoods

My serviceberry is no farther long than Deb’s in Delaware and I have trouble getting a good photo of it because it’s so “airy”.

S0_serviceberry 2015 sm

Finally there are lots of baby ferns all over the shade garden.

S0_baby ferns

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

Posted on November 6, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

The two days before my last monarch caterpillar formed its chrysalis, it was easily eating three to four milkweed leaves per day. Seriously, this caterpillar meant business! When I went into the laundry room where I had its mesh habitat, I could actually hear it chewing away on the leaves. Here is a video of my little guy devouring a leaf. Be sure to turn up your volume!

The Importance of Late-Blooming Flowers

Posted on November 6, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

While visiting Robin in Virginia back in mid-October, I caught this bumblebee busily collecting nectar from Robin’s Small White Aster. The goldenrod was all but finished blooming for the year, and just about the only remaining flowers still in bloom were the asters. Where would this bumblebee have gone to find any nectar to help tide its nest over the upcoming winter if there had been no late-blooming asters?

A Monarch Butterfly Comes Into the World

Posted on September 2, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

When the three monarch caterpillars I was hand-raising emerged from their chrysalis, I completely missed the first one. For the next two, I was ready with my camera, but one of them slipped out while I had my back turned pouring a cup of coffee! But I got the third one on video. What an education this has been!

Not an Empty Nest for Long!

Posted on August 27, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

After releasing my three hand-raised monarch butterflies on Aug. 21st at 8:30 AM, I felt very empty and bereft, to say the least. I cleaned and bleached the plastic container and mesh butterfly habitat that I had used for them and dried them out in preparation for putting them away. That afternoon at 2:00 PM, I went out to look at my milkweed, and was bemoaning all the aphids all over it and wondering if any female monarch would ever deign to lay any eggs on it, when what to my wondering eyes did appear but a tiny, 1/4 inch monarch caterpillar on one of the leaves! I couldn’t believe it! Back in business again after only 5 1/2 hours! I plucked that leaf right off and ran back into the house to place it carefully in the freshly cleaned out plastic container. Since it was already about 1/4 inch long, I guessed it was about 1 day old, based on my previous caterpillars’ growth. I never found any more eggs or caterpillars, so that must be the only survivor of any eggs its mother laid.

Now it is a week old and about 1 1/4 inches long. It has been happily eating its way through my milkweed leaves, and today I rearranged the butterfly habitat to accommodate a larger caterpillar. It has occurred to me that this caterpillar might be one of the migratory generation. Very exciting!

I found this lone 1/4 inch caterpillar the same day I released my first three butterflies!

The next day, it was already noticeably bigger.

I finally caught it molting and entering into its 3rd instar (I think!). That is its old skin behind it, and the round black and white object in front of it is its old face!

Approximately one week old today.

At home in its mesh butterfly habitat with a fresh cutting of milkweed to munch on!

The Monarch Story Continues

Posted on August 27, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

In my last post, I told about finding three tiny monarch caterpillars on my milkweed and bringing them inside to raise by hand. It was astounding how quickly they grew! By the next day they had doubled in size from 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch long. Unfortunately, I had to leave on Aug. 1st for twelve days, so I left them in the capable hands of my friend who cat sits for me, henceforth known as my “cat-erpillar” sitter. I was sorry to miss out on their caterpillarhood, but she faithfully sent me pictures of their rapid growth. On Aug. 9th, the first caterpillar made its chrysalis, then the other two made theirs on Aug. 10th. I was home on Aug. 12th, so was able to observe the three chrysalises hanging in their mesh butterfly habitat, and on Aug. 19th, exactly 10 days after making the chrysalis, the first butterfly eclosed! The second two butterflies eclosed on Aug. 20th. I missed the emergence of the first butterfly, but made sure I was present for the other two the next day. What a fun experience to witness right on my kitchen table!

Here are pictures of their growth and development from caterpillar to butterfly. All three turned out to be males. Good luck, little guys!

Here is one at about 1.5 inches, enjoying its leaf.

Two inches long now!

Family portrait

Hanging from the roof of the cage, making their “J”, just before making the chrysalis.

Two chrysalises, waiting patiently while a miracle is happening inside!

Look what happened overnight! The first one has turned dark and the orange and black wings of the butterfly can be seen. The butterfly will eclose in about two hours.

Ta da!! Just beautiful!

The other two eclosed the next day. The first one came out exactly 10 minutes before the second. What a difference in 10 minutes!

Here are all three in their glory!

I released them on Aug. 21 on my New York Ironweed. The oldest one took off immediately for my neighbor’s oak tree, but the other two hung around for about 20 minutes before flying off.

One of them is having a sip of nectar!

Now I have an empty nest…here are the three empty chrysalises. Note all the silk that was used to attach them to the roof of the cage.

They Hatched!!

Posted on July 31, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

I am now the proud foster parent of three tiny monarch caterpillars! After watching a female monarch butterfly laying eggs on my milkweed on Friday, I started looking for eggs and found four possibilities. On Tuesday morning, I went out again to check the eggs and found that one had hatched! There under a milkweed leaf with a little crescent-shaped hole cut around it was a tiny, tiny caterpillar! Now what to do?? I googled how to raise monarch caterpillars in a plastic container with a lid. Give them milkweed leaves to munch on, keep it clean by removing the frass, and let them grow. As they get bigger, they can be moved to a mesh butterfly habitat with LOTS of milkweed and eventually they will make their chrysalis and emerge as adults. So I set up a suitable plastic container, picked off the milkweed leaf the caterpillar was on, and set it up on my dining room table. The next day, Wednesday, I went out to look at the other possible eggs and found two more caterpillars! So now I have three rapidly growing monarch caterpillars chowing down on my milkweed. At this point, they are still working on their first leaf, but as they get bigger they will need much more milkweed. I sure hope my milkweed supply is ample enough!

My first freshly-hatched monarch caterpillar! The crescent cut in the leaf is a telltale sign to look for. The caterpillar was barely 3 cm long!

My first freshly-hatched monarch caterpillar! The crescent cut in the leaf is a telltale sign to look for. The caterpillar was barely 3 mm long!

Family portrait! They are about 1/4 inch long now. One is at the bottom, one is near the center, and one is at the upper right.

Maybe My Milkweed Patch Is Sincere Enough!

Posted on July 27, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Last Friday, July 24th, I went out into my backyard with a brick of suet for my suet feeder. Something fluttering caught my eye, and it was a monarch butterfly coming around from the side of my house into my backyard! I was transfixed, and watched in awe as it investigated my butterfly garden and swamp milkweed in the back. Then I followed it around my house as it literally checked and rechecked every milkweed plant I have in the yard! I must have circled the house 4 or 5 times, suet cake in hand, and NO CAMERA. As I’ve said many a time, my neighbors must think I’m batty, and one did actually stop her car as she drove by and asked me what I was looking at, and then she spotted the monarch for me as it circled around from the back of the house again to my side yard. I was able to get a good enough look at it to determine that it was a female, and she landed on the underside of several of my common milkweed plants before finally settling down on a butterfly weed in bloom for a bit of a drink before taking off for good.

That evening I started checking my milkweed plants for eggs and found what could be one egg, and then yesterday I found another, then two more today, all on common milkweed. They are all on leaves where I saw her land, ever so briefly. It is so hard to tell the difference between a monarch egg, which is ridged and pointed, and milkweed latex, which is a round drop, so I’m reluctant to call them all eggs, but they certainly could be. If they are eggs, they should hatch by the end of the week. Time will tell!

Here are some pictures I took with my phone, but they are a little blurry because the camera couldn’t focus well that close:

Possible monarch egg near the center of the picture. It looks a little pointed.

Another possible egg

Side view of another egg. Note how it is slightly pointed.

Fourth possible egg!

Early Summer, Virginia-Style

Posted on July 6, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

I forgot I planted some Rattlesnake Master last year. I discovered it in the garden a few days ago.

Rattlesnake Master

The Culver’s Root is in full bloom and swarming with bees and wasps. You can’t tell it from this picture, but this is one of those blue wasps.

Culver’s Root with Wasp

The Sweet Joe Pye is in full bloom and swarming with bees.

Sweet Joe Pye Weed

The Monarda fistulosa is in full flower and the bees are all over it. You can see a couple of bees here. My attempts to make a video of this have not been too successful.

Monarda fistulosa Early July

Much of my goldenrod is already blooming. This may be an “early” goldenrod. However, I think it was quite a bit later last year. (As you may be able to tell I have “stray” milkweed plants all over the place.)

Goldenrod Early July

If you’ve ever wondered “why grow goldenrod?” — here’s why. I found this little guy in my goldenrod. I think it’s a Pearl Crescent.

Butterfly in Goldenrod

I found this little butterfly on my Mountain Mint this afternoon. I haven’t identified it yet. My best guess is a Northern Cloudywing — a skipper.

Small Butterfly on Mountain Mint

My Liatris is very tall but seems to be behind Deb’s in Delaware — not blooming yet.

Liatris in Early July — not Blooming Yet

FROM WEEDS TO BEES

What's Happening in the Ruth Sisters' Yards All Over the Country

Author Archives: ruthnativeflowers