It seems that fall may have finally arrived in my little corner of the world. The skies are clear and the temperatures dropped into the 50's overnight! Right now it's a very pleasant 75 degrees with low humidity. I probably should be doing more actual work out there than I am -- all I've done is a bit of weeding to get rid of the ever encroaching nutsedge and bermuda grass in the island beds.
But I'm also taking the opportunity to sit on the patio and read and enjoy the sights of the garden without sweating. It's all the same stuff I've shown you before - zinnia and cosmos, salvia and cleome. But now we have lots of winged visitors too (in addition to my own contributions in the form of newly hatched Monarchs)
I've had wonderful success with this Big Cube cage I got this year. In addition to the 9 Monarchs I was able to hatch in August, we ended up with another 15 chrysalides in the cage and 6 have hatched in the past two days!
This is one of the newly hatched Monarchs, enjoying some nectar before getting ready for the migration. Also in the photo is another visitor - a Gulf Fritillary. We have five or six of them hanging around at the moment.
Below is a short video of the same scene :-)
Below is another visitor we see at this time of year - a buckeye. Those markings really do look like eyes, don't they? This one seems a little ragged, but he's not letting it slow him down :-)
And finally here's another video I took showing some of the Gulf Fritillaries enjoying the zinnia.
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going in for surgery on Tuesday October 11th. It's rather major surgery, so I probably won't be posting in my blog for a while. I'm so glad I got to see some of the butterflies hatch before I went in, and my husband promises he will keep an eye on the other chrysalides and release them once they have hatched.
I'll see you on the other side!
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
3 comments:
Hello, pretty collection of photos and videos. Love the variety of butterflies. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!
Ooh, sorry to read you will be undergoing surgery shortly, as you are aware I've had an entire year trying to recover from my broken ankle catastrophe early in February....I wish you a speedy recovery.
Your butterflies are just spectacular, and you were indeed very successful with your little hatchery :)
I believe we have seen more butterflies this year than others, in fact as I speak, the garden is alive with their comings and goings...
Take good care dear friend !
~Jo
We've had a number of perfect fall days recently, haven't we? Such a relief after our long, hot summer, although a little rain would not go amiss just now, especially since we are getting ready to plant a fall veggie garden.
I am full of admiration for your success with the Monarchs. Congratulations!
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