Bugs n butterflies... again!

Mating rituals in the lantana

Gulf frit joins the party...

Gulf fritillary luv

Aw man!

Can't get a bit of privacy around here...

Now, this is just crazy...

The verbesina virginica is popular....
Monarch and red-spotted purple share a nectar source.

Red-banded Hairstreak visits the yellow.

The butterflies took a while, but they're visiting the ironweed...

I'm thinking spice bush swallow-tail... but those dark form tiger swallowtails are practically indistinguishable from the spice bush... so... still looking for an easy way to tell them apart.

Blooms on the physostegia virginiana ...

 Carnivore luv... wheel bugs (Arilus cristatus)
Looks as dangerous as falling in love with a black widow or a prayin' mantis...

Eupatorium serotinum

I'm using a pic I shot in Macon... my eupatorium serotinum has vitis on it, and didn't make a nice picture...

 But... I got wasp pics from mine...

Double trouble...

Finally, for your viewing pleasure... Check the saddle-back I spotted on the sassafras...

There were a pair of them... but getting widely spaced multiple caterpillars in the shot is even more difficult than multiple butterflies...

Where the wild things are

I have so many pictures this week, ima put a buncha caterpillar shots over on my tumblr.

The zebra longwing finally quit the nervous circling of the may-pop vines, and got down to business...

Look close, and you can see her depositing an egg...

egg!

The Hyssop-leaf thoroughwort (Eupatorium hyssopifolium) is never going to be a candidate for the flower bed... but seen in a certain light, has a certain attractiveness... Those layered platforms...

These little sweeties (top pic Five-banded Tiphiid Wasps), (bottom pic love bug), seem to be enjoying the eupatorium blooms...

Who could ever get tired of hummingbird pics?

While wandering around the garden drinking my morning coffee, I discovered this beauty hunting breakfast... Judging by where this dude was looking, I'd say that vole was definitely on the menu!

(click the pic to resize)

You go get those nasty voles!

The vernonia altissima is finally blooming... This is the locally native ironweed that grows in ditches around macon... 

Had a heck of a time getting it to grow out in the dry sand...

I'm not seeing any pollinators visiting... I wonder why the butterflies are giving it a miss...

This tiny spiderwort flower may be Commelinaceae, seems like the 3 flower petals = tradescantia, 2 petals = commelina isn't as definitive as we would like... If/when I find the definite name for this pretty, I'll have to come back and add it in...

The blue curls  (Trichostema dichotomum) aren't doing nearly as well with the rains this year... as they did last year in the heat and drought...

I don't like to keep posting the same critters or the same flowers... but this tyger on the tithonia surrounded by hyacinth bean flowers is a neat image...

September in the garden

I'm seeing Florida's state butterfly... I was watching one this morning acting like it was carrying a heavy load, and couldn't decide on a good passionflower vine.
She'd circle one patch, and then make a wider circle, come back, and act like the vine wasn't good enough to lay her eggs on...

From: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/zebra_longwing.htm

Common hosts are purple passionflower, Passiflora incarnata L.; corkystem passionflower, Passiflora suberosa L.; yellow passionflower Passiflora lutea L.; and several other passionflower vines.

shoulda been fine... She was circling the passiflora incarnata... I also grow the passiflora lutea... Ima watch for those white cats...

 I have a magical disappearing  patch of Georgia savory (Clinopodium georgianum).
Supposed to be a rare plant... A tortoise showed me the patch back when I was first getting acquainted with the property.
I was like... cool! Sand mint!
And I've spent years trying to find that patch of clinopodium... again.
Spotted it again last month... don't know why it was so hard to re-discover... it was in the same place I remembered it in...
I potted up some, planted some close-up, even gave out a couple samples... Ima find out how well it acts in a garden setting. 

The Licorice goldenrod (solidago odora) is fixing to bloom...

I'm starting to see patches of monarda punctata in peak colour...

So are the scollids...

pipevine

Rebloom on the white vitex

The little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is starting to show some nice coloration...

Last autumn, I flagged those clumps with the best colour... and divided a clump this Spring...

Gotta say... this stuff likes being grown in cultivation...

 

Ragweed Daze

The danglepod (Sesbania herbacea) is blooming...

I discovered this native plant growing wild in a meadow [last year] in Macon.

The butterflies seem happy with this new fabaceae.

Elephants foot flower (Elephantopus tomentosus)

Hyssop Leaf Thoroughwort (Eupatorium hyssopifolium)  with Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops)

 American lady visits society garlic

The long tailed skipper wants to be a society butterfly too.

A coupla sulfurs drinking from the same cup.

Lespadeeza bloom.

This Eastern Towhee made a fuss about me walking through the garden... 

Smart bird... difficult to photograph in the shadows.

 Winged sumac (Rhus copallinum ) bloom

and fruit.

Red Chenille (acalypha reptans), a future lawn alternative, for shade.

The ragweed is blooming... Dreadful stuff... I'm pulling all I see.

Bird Netting Sux!

I rarely see my snakes. :(

 I certainly don't want to see them this way!

I had the bird netting over my blueberry bush... I wanted to get some of those blueberries.... But not at the expense of my garden help!

I carried the netting, (snake n all) to the house, and got out the scissors... And carefully started cutting netting away from the king snake.
I whispered "Easy sweetie", to her from time to time... she seemed to understand that I was trying to help.

When I unwrapped her coils, she cooperated, wrapping her liberated back end around my hand as I worked to liberate her front end.
The scariest part was the fear of harming her with the scissors...
She seemed to understand the need to relax some of her muscles to make room for me to get the scissors between her body and the netting.

Free at last!

I set her free among the beans and watched as she crawled along the bed,  and then out of sight under a brush pile.
Here's hoping we meet again under better circumstances!