It's a Boy!

When I got home from work this evening, I went to check on my caterpillars, (now all chrysalides) and was thrilled by orange flapping in the corner of the mesh enclosure.

The first Monarch butterfly had hatched and was eager to be released!!

I carefully wrapped my hands around it and carried it outside to the patio, with my husband opening doors along the way.

Once on the patio I opened my hands ago let it go.  The butterfly sat there for a moment, opening its wings slowly to show me that it was a beautiful boy, and then he flew up, up, up and away. Gone without a second glance!

I do wish I had got a photo of him sitting in my hand, but he didn't hang around long enough!

I've got five more chrysalides in the enclosure, so perhaps I'll have better luck getting a photo of one of them in my hand.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Festive Colors in the December Garden and a Sad Butterfly Tale

We've had some strange weather so far this December. It's gone from warm and muggy to cold, wet and windy, but certainly nothing approaching "Christmas-y".  But I do have some festive colors in the garden, courtesy of the holly and the bottlebrush.

Earlier in the year, when the Savannah holly was blooming, it was covered in bees, enjoying the nectar.  Now it's the bottlebrush's turn to be the center of bee attention.  If you click on the photo to see the larger image, there are two bees in this picture.

The Savannah holly is now covered in bright red berries, which I hope the birds enjoy, although I've never really seen them.  The bushes are big enough that I can even snip a few branches and bring them inside to add to my Christmas decorations, something I have always wanted to do.

*****

On another note - I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in autumn that I had been seeing butterflies around and then some caterpillars.  Unfortunately we didn't have much luck with Monarchs this year.  In previous years we had 15 or more chrysalises on the fence, the house eaves and elsewhere, and lots of successful hatching.  

This year, not nearly so many and even sadder, it appears that at least one female who was laying eggs was infected with OA, so her caterpillars either never made it to the chrysalis stage, or the chrysalis never hatched.  

I saw one butterfly at the beginning of November whose wings didn't unfold properly - a symptom of OA infection.  All I could do was pick it up and set it the only remaining zinnia I had in the garden at the time.  It had disappeared completely by the next day.

 
And on December 12th I found this male butterfly with half his wing missing fluttering on the lawn. Luckily I had planted some pansies a couple of weeks ago, or I would have had no flowers at all.  I let him crawl on my hand and set him on the container of pansies and he immediately probed the center of a pansy with his probiscus and starting feeding.

I brought the container on to the covered patio that night as we were expecting heavy rains and a cold front.  He was still alive, but very lethargic the next day because the temperature had dropped, but once I moved the container back into the sun and he warmed up, he started crawling around the pansies feeding again.

Today is December 16th and he is still out there.  I check on him regularly and have had to pick him up off the ground and put him back in the pansy container a couple of times.

Obviously, his days are numbered, and he won't be migrating, but as long as I have pansies, I'll try and make sure he can at least feed.

I've had similar events happen in the past and it always saddens me. I''m not sure what the answer is, but I'll just do what I can.  In fact, I think I'll go check on him now.
 
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Happy Labor Day!

 I hope you have enjoyed your Labor Day weekend.

I'm keeping this post short and sweet today, as I overdid it a bit, moving desks and shelving units around in my office/studio.  I just thought I would share this photo I took of a Gulf Fritillary earlier in the week.

I'll try and get back to my regular blogging schedule next week, and I'll show you how my office/studio turned out :-)



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Butterflies and the Bird Buffet

I've been trying all week to catch a photo of one of the Monarchs that have been floating and flitting around the garden all week. I was finally able to snap a photo when one of them alit on the tropical milkweed in the island bed and was still for a moment.

One appeared to be laying eggs last weekend, but I can't see any eggs and haven't spotted any caterpillars, so my assumption may have been wrong.  I suppose time will tell.

It was marginally cooler today (only 88 degrees), so I put on a headband and went out to pull weeds.  Then, on a trip to the store to pick up bird seed, I was lured into the garden center and came out with a small flat of purple Angelonias, to help offset all the orange I have going on in the back yard.
But after sweating up a storm for half an hour or so, I retreated to the shade of the patio to sip ice tea and read a gardening magazine.  

That's when the show really started.  

First, along came this red-winged blackbird.  This is the first one I have seen this year.  He didn't stick around long, probably because I hadn't put any birdseed along the wall like I usually do.

Then I got quite excited when I saw this guy.  It's a young red-bellied woodpecker, too young to have a red cap on his head like his dad, although one of the photos below you can see it's getting a little rosy.

I had seen him during the week actually being fed by the male that visits our garden.  I watched closely to see if there would be a repeat performance.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, "dad" showed up. 

 Finally, I couldn't believe it when I realized the whole family was there on the wall - mum, dad and youngster!  I was thrilled to be able to capture this photo for the family album.  A first for me :-)

Then I realized I was being a bad hostess and that I really should put some seed out along the wall and fill the feeders.

Once I had done that, the white-winged doves that had been eyeing the scene from the power lines across the road came swooping down.

This mockingbird was quite happy enough to share as well.  He even tried some acrobatics to get to the suet, but the male woodpecker was the most skilled at that, happily hanging almost upside down to get to the suet/peanut mixture.

All in all, a lovely day in the garden.  I wish they could all be like this :-)


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Brand New Monarch

We've had quite a lot of success with our certified Monarch Waystation, but with all the milkweed, caterpillars and chrysalises (chrysalii??) I've never actually seen a Monarch emerge.

Until today, that is.

I noticed yesterday that one of the chrysalises had turned color, so I knew it wasn't going to be long.

I went outside this morning, meaning to get a photo of the almost black chrysalis but when I got out there, I was too late for that particular photo, but right on time for the rest of the show!

I stood a couple of feet away, fascinated, and snapped several photos.

I was a little bit worried because although it was nice and sunny today, it was also quite windy and I thought the butterfly might get blown away before it was ready to fly.

In fact, after being buffeted around for half an hour or so, it did get blown down. I went outside and didn't see it so I assumed it had flown away, but actually my husband noticed it on the ground.  I put my hand down next to it and it crawled on to my fingers!

Thinking that what it needed was nourishment, I walked it over to the Dallas Red Lantana and set it down on the plant. The area had the double advantage of being in the sunshine and also protected from a lot of the wind.

It seemed to sit in one place for quite a while and I worried again that something was wrong, and that perhaps the episode would end the same way it did last Christmas when a Monarch emerged and was unable to fly.

 
But about 30 minutes later I went outside again and as I raised the camera to take another photo, the butterfly fluttered up and away over the wall.  Later still, I spotted a Monarch flying around in the garden looking strong and healthy.  I like to think it was "my" Monarch and that my humble little Monarch Waystation is making a difference.

We've still got three more chrysalises that I know of and I hope all goes smoothly for them too. 


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

A Banner Year

Just a couple of days ago, I blogged that we were still getting Monarch butterflies in the garden, and that we had a lot of caterpillars on the yellow Milkweed in the back garden (but none on the red and yellow variety).

I was worried that they would run out of leaves before they were ready to turn into chrysalises so I was out in the rain, snipping stalks with caterpillars on and relocating them to nearby plants!

Here's the yellow milkweed now:  as you can see, there's not a leaf on it, nor any caterpillars.

 Happily, the ones I relocated to the other milkweed plants are still doing well.

 

 But what  of the rest?

So far, I've counted four chrysalises -- including these two on the underside of the birdbath:

There are also a couple more on the fence:

 
I also saw a caterpillar crawling up the side of one of the planters, so I'm sure there will be a chrysalis there in the morning.

Looking back at my blog throughout the year, it's really been a banner year for Monarchs.  We first had caterpillars in the front garden back in April.

In June, we had so many chrysalises, I lost count of them all! 

At the end of June, we were lucky enough to witness some newly hatched Monarch butterflies.

In July, we had another generation of caterpillars, this time in the back garden.

By August, the second generation had eaten us out of house and home and had turned into chrysalises in some unusual spots and once again we got to witness new butterflies.

And now here we are in October, when I really thought we'd seen the last of them, we get to witness the miracle again. 

Something else I thought we had seen the last of for this year are hummingbirds.    I hadn't filled the feeders in a couple of weeks (but had neglected to take them down and clean them).

Imagine my shock when I saw a female ruby throat attempting to get a drink from one of them the other day!  

Luckily, we still have some blooms on the Rose of Sharon, the Vitex and the Flame Acanthus, so she wasn't going to starve. But I turned the kettle on then and there and made up some fresh nectar and later pulled the feeders down and cleaned them and refilled them.

I was able to get this photo of her.  My apologies for the poor quality but I was losing the light, plus I was taking the photo through a dirty window!

 
It's moments like these that make gardening in the brutal Texas summer a little easier to bear.  This is why I garden and I still find it amazing that in four years we've accomplished so much.

Happy gardening all. 
 

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Monarch - The Next Generation, Part II

After my last depressing post, about the loss of our pine tree, I really didn't feel much like blogging about the garden, but there has been so much activity in the Monarch nursery that is our back yard, I had to share it!

The caterpillars had eaten our impressive stands of milkweed down to bare stalks. It was just as well they turned to chrysalises when they did - they were running out of food!

I did quite a bit of pruning on the milkweed and they're already responding by putting out more leaves. (Even more so than in this photo taken a couple of days ago of a chrysalis with water droplets)

We've had chrysalises in the oddest places -- the leg of a patio chair, along the eave of the house, on the garden fence, even the grill cover (can you see it?)

Today my husband got this wonderful closeup of the chrysalis on the grill cover.  It will be emerging tomorrow, I'm sure.

 

Below is a butterfly recently emerged from its chrysalis on a plant pot.

The three butterflies in the photos below emerged in the same afternoon, while I was at work.  

Luckily my husband is as fascinated by them as I am and snapped these photos for me!

And this isn't the end of them yet.  The chrysalises in the photos above haven't emerged yet, and there are more on the fence yet to emerge.  

 .  
 I even saw another caterpillar munching on milkweed yesterday.  I hope there's enough to sustain it!
 



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

A New Visitor in the Garden

Yesterday, as I was sitting out in the garden having my morning coffee, I noticed a butterfly flitting around in the border at the end of the garden.

Judging by it's general color and size, I assumed it was a Gulf Fritillary, which have been regular visitors in years past.

However, as I got closer, I noticed this one was different.  I couldn't identify it, so after taking some photos and watching for a while, I pulled out my Gardener's Butterfly Book to see if I could find out what it was.

 
 I'm pretty sure it's a Question Mark, polygonia interrogationis. I didn't get a good look at the underside, so I didn't see the silvery white mark on the hind wing that identifies the Question Mark butterfly.  But everything else seemed to match the photos and description in the book.

It seemed a little bit ragged, with some parts of its hind wings missing, but it didn't seem bothered by that.


The Question Mark butterfly is a resident butterfly that overwinters as a butterfly, taking shelter in hollow trees or brush piles. Their host plants are large trees such as hackberry and sugarberry, and weeds such as nettles.

They are often listed as not visiting flowers but as you can see from my photo, that's not strictly true :-)  They nectar on butterfly bush, milkweed and asters. To attract more of them, my book suggests installing a butterfly feeder of overripe fruit.  I thought about that, but decided that would be more likely to attract wasps and ants, so I'll hold off on that for now.  


Perhaps our ripening grapevine will drop some fruit to keep them happy.  We have more than enough to share :-)

 

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

The Magical Month of May

Earlier this week I noticed a mockingbird that seemed to be coming and going a lot. At one point I saw it on the fence with a beak full of nesting materials.  As I sat on the patio, I began to realize that it was probably nesting in the false cypress we have against the fence on the west side of our garden.

 As you can see from the photo, this was where we had put up the nesting shelf for the cardinals.  As of yet, the cardinals have ignored it, but if you look closer, you'll see that Mrs. Mockingbird was kind enough to build her nest right where I can get good photos without having to teeter on top of a step ladder!

When I took a peek this morning, I was thrilled to discover a beautiful speckled blue egg. Hopefully there will be more to follow.

The nest is very sturdily constructed, having been started last year, but never actually used.  I'm so thrilled that someone is nesting in it this year.  With the loss of habitat either side of us, I'm particularly happy to see that we still get birds in our garden and that they choose to nest in the habitat we are building.

I was going back through my iPhoto library because somewhere I have a photo of this particular nest when it was just a few sticks.  I couldn't find it, but I did find some other photos that reminded how magical May can be.

For example -- it was one year ago today that we had some unusual visitors to our garden.  I don't think I showed this video before, but we had a visit from a family of these little guys, drawn to our garden by the soggy ground under our hose reel.

They stayed with us for two days and I was fascinated, but a little relieved when they moved on -- my flowerbeds were starting to show signs of wear!

More magical moments in the garden last May when a Carolina wren nested on our patio.  I just happened to have a day off from work and be sitting on the patio on the day the young ones left the nest.

In last week's post, I celebrated the fact that we were finally hosting some Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed in the front garden.  More recently, I spotted a couple of tiny caterpillars no more than half an inch long on the milkweed in the back garden.

As I was heading out the garden gate to turn on the water so I could refresh the bird bath, I saw something I have never seen before in my life -- a Monarch chrysalis!!

As we head further in to May, I'm looking forward to more magical wonders in the garden.  I'll keep you updated on Mrs. Mockingbird and her family and let you know how things develop.


Happy gardening everyone!

 


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Wordless Wednesday - Clouded Sulphur?

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Winged Wonders

Even though we're still locked in the worst drought ever in Houston history, I thought I'd blog about something more cheerful today.

I had seen a hummingbird in the garden a couple of weeks ago.  Although I thought it a bit early, I decided to go ahead and put my feeders out.  This weekend I have been entertained by at least three hummingbirds zooming around the garden, performing an aerial ballet that wears me out just to watch them.

I've only been able to snap a couple of photos, but I thought I'd share them anyway.

Our pine tree was the perfect place for them to sit and watch guard over the feeders to make sure no other hummingbirds came close.  Several times this weekend, I've glanced out the back door to see this little figure up in the tree.


I can never quite figure out how people get those photos of several hummers at the same feeder. The ones in my garden seem to spend all their time chasing each other away from the feeders, even though there were enough feeders to go round. 

I was pleased to see that in between taking sips from the feeders I had put out, or chasing/being chased away from those feeders, the hummers also seemed to enjoy the blooms on the crepe myrtle tree and the vitex. 


In addition to the hummingbirds, there have been some other winged wonders in the garden this week.


Overall this year, I haven't seen many butterflies, compared to years past, but this weekend saw some activity which I was able to get photos of.

I saw this little skipper on the white Texas Star hibiscus - he was so intent on collecting nectar, he was still there after I had gone indoors, got my camera, put fresh batteries in it and came back outside again.


The "Yellow Gold" lantana in the front garden seem to be favorites of many butterflies, including this Giant Swallowtail...

... and this Gulf Fritillary.

As I look over the monitor of my computer and out the back door, I can just catch a glimpse of my little hummingbird friend, resting in the Crepe Myrtle, next to the feeder.  All is peaceful... for now...



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.