Unseasonably cool temps have kept the butterfly numbers low here so far this year... until the past few days.

Silvery Checkerspot




Monarch ovipositing. We collected 40 eggs over the past 2 days... there's, at least, that many still out there. Female Monarchs have been in the garden all day long


BST ovipositing


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - male


ETS - dark form female near the end of her journey


Clearwing Hummingbird Sphinx moth on agastache from early in July

Beautiful!

My fennel has finally died since its been so hot here. I had a poor female BST searching and searching for a place to lay her eggs and finally saw her on the almost dead fennel.

I have only seen one Monarch so far this summer but its a little early for us yet. I did get 8 cats and raised and released them.

Also, I have the same black-eyed Susan in my garden but only the bees are attracted to it? I have thought about taking it out next year but its such a long lasting flower that I hesitate. Do you get much butterfly use out of yours?

Patti--Zone 8
Mobile, AL

Thaks, Patti! Mostly the same resulys here with the Black-eyed Susan except for this checkerspot. I'll bet it visited every bloom out there. They do offer a very nice contrast in the garden with all of the reds and blues out there for the hummingbirds They were one of the first plants in our garden way back when... I later leaned that they have limited value as food plants for birds and butterflies. The checkerspot visit, however, was worth it

Bud
Southwest Ohio
USDA Plant Zone 6a

Camera: Pentax K20D
Lens: Pentax DA*300 f/4, Sigma 180 f/3.5 Macro
There's 1 or 2 more hummingbird / butterfly pics located here...
http://www.pbase.com/budohio

Love Love Love that second picture. He really blends right in. Mind if I steal it for a desktop for a change of picture???

Pam NJ 6B

Beautiful pictures, Bud!
Your black-eyed susans are especially beautiful!

Sherry

Awesome pics Bud...especially of the Monarch oviposting!!!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5