Swallowtails One and Two

We had the first butterflies push out of their chrysalis today.

 The first one went from this



to this

 And after several hours of drying its wings he/she looks like this.  I haven't really learned to tell the males from the females yet.

The second one was a surprise.  I happened to walk past the weed eater and this was sitting on it.  Upon closer inspection I found the chrysalis on the garden tool.

After church I found him at the garage windows trying to find a way out.  I got him on my hand and took him outside where he quickly flew away.

The Butterfly Ranch

 These are photos I took last summer of the Giant Swallowtails that frequented the garden

The Giant Swallowtails are the real reason I planted 3 parsley plants in the garden.

I knew that, after mating, the Giant Swallowtails lay their eggs on parsley and that was also what the larvae / caterpillars fed on until they were ready to pupate.


Once the eggs hatch they are ugly little blotches that resemble bird poop.  I'm sure that is Mother Nature's way of trying to give them some hope of survival.

And sure enough I found the teensy tiny larvae hatched and feasting on the parsley.  The youngest one is barely seen on the parsley leaf in the upper right hand corner.  The larvae in the middle is a couple of days older.

The first group of larvae I found feeding on the parsley several weeks ago quickly disappeared in a day or two.  No doubt they were food for the birds.

Consequently, the next time I noticed more, I removed them from danger of becoming dinner for the Mockingbirds and moved them to the garage.

 

I carefully cut off the stem of parsley that was host to a caterpillar and placed the stems in vases of water.  I added extra parsley so they would have enough food for several days.

 

Within days they begin to grow out of their ugly little hairy bird-poop stage and become quite pretty.

These creatures eat and poop, eat and poop, eat and poop.  And the bigger they get the more they poop.  Such it is with Mother Nature.






Each day I would clean change out their poopy paper towel and refresh their food supply.
 

 This little guy looks different from the others; like the black and yellow markings are opposite.  I'll be keeping my eye on this one to see if his pupa is different.

 

When the caterpillars have eaten until they can eat no more, they start to wander off the parsley in search of a good place to anchor themselves and ready themselves for their final stage before becoming a butterfly.

 I found two crawling on the garage floor so I quickly put them on a tree branch that I had for decorative purposes.

See those two little yellow antennae-looking things?

 I accidentally touched his back and he reared up a little and out popped these two little yellow things.  At the same time I noticed that he sprayed a fine odorous substance (another defense mechanism).  Does anyone else think he looks like Alf in this pose?

I Google searched to find out what these antennae were and they are called the osmeterium and they do in fact put out an odor.

 This one quickly found a nice place to attach himself.   He attaches to the branch with a extremely thin (but obviously very strong) silk thread.

Here he is in his pupa stage







I also found one that crawled up on the ceiling of the garage.

Here's one that stopped on the wall of the garage.

This one found him a cozy little place behind the door to  the back patio but it looks as if a wasp or spider began eating him in the middle of his pupation.

These two obviously didn't want to leave the feeding trough and attached to a thick sturdy parsley branch.  Seems some of the pupa are green,  and some have a brown pupa.  I don't know what that means, if anything, but I'll be watching to see if a slightly different type of Swallowtail emerges.  Perhaps they'll all turn brown at some stage. I'm on a learning curve here.

Since the majority of the caterpillars seemed to be at the 'wandering' stage I put the rest of them in the bug cage so they would be safe and I wouldn't have to search for them in the garage.

All in all there are about 12 that have pupated and 1 that is getting close to taking his "walk".

Within a couple of weeks I should be setting some of these free to start the cycle all over again.

Summer Blooms

Here are a few things that have been blooming in the garden during June and the first part of July.

White and blue salvia

Tons of zinnias; all volunteers from last year's plants.

Caladiums in a big pot

African Violet (technically not in the garden - on the kitchen window sill)

The Cannas

I thinned them out drastically this year.  They were taking over.

I actually gave away three boxes to a local nursery up the road.  I hope they pot them up and make tons of money off of them!

Calla Lilies.  These have been my favorite new resident in the garden this year.

I planted them this Spring.

These are called Firedancer

I also love their foliage.  The white specks look as if they are actual holes that the light shines through.

Red Knockouts blooming after I cut them W-A-Y back this year.  They really needed it; they had grown to almost 5 feet high.

Lantana

The moss rose comes up everywhere, all over the garden, every year.  I transplanted a bunch of seedlings to one big patch and planted some in a big pot and gave some away.  I love to pass plants on to others.  And I like receiving them too!

Lovey brought these geraniums home one day.  This is the first time I have planted geraniums in the ground.  I've always planted them in pots.  These are a bright electric orange and they are so visible from the road.

Planted a little potager in front of the knockouts this year.  This space has proved to be way too small for everything I planted.  I have parsley, basil, a Roma tomato, tarragon (from my sister's garden), oregano, jalapeno, and lemon verbena.  And...

these tiny little yellow and white striped petunias.  They are so petite.  The blooms are smaller that a quarter.

Last year Lovey brought home a sickly little coleus and it grew to be so big and beautiful so he wanted a lot of them this year.

So we bought several types of sun loving Coleus.  We decided this was not one of our favorites and probably won't plant this next year.

The little yellow ones are pretty but I don't think they are going to get as big as the burgundy and green variety.

 The gladiolas came back nicely this year.

 Like last year the grasshoppers are beginning to destroy the foliage.  Looks as if I've put the leaves through a shredder.  They are trying my patience.

Love this bright orange.

 And this orange

Is it obvious I am partial to orange?