I'm seeing lots and lots of yellow swallowtails. Haven't yet seen a monarch but DH said there was one drying its wings in our back yard the other day.

Tons this year. I'm not sure about all the varieties, but skippers in abundance, swallowtails, monarchs, and several other varieties. I'm not sure if it is because of the hot dry weather, or because I planted lots of parsley or because of the milkweed in the field behind my house. It ahs been really nice though!

Alexa

Yes! I raise them, and this year has been great. Right now I only raise Black Swallowtails and Monarchs, because I have their host plants. I've finally had to stop bringing the eggs in because I'm going to run out of food for them.

After I move I'm going to plant for other species. I saw a huge Eastern swallowtail nectaring in my garden, and just this morning I saw a Red Spotted Purple! Otherwise there have been a ton of Buckeyes and Skippers everywhere.

I don't know one from the other but I saw a gorgeous black one yesterday. I've seen more than usual this year, and more variety. My butterfly bush was covered with them. I've enjoyed the hummingbirds, too. I've had a couple moments when they have hovered in front of my face as if to say "who are you and why are you near my feeder?"

I have yellow and black swallowtails, a monarch every now and then, and this one. We have also seen this

One of my butterfly bushes is covered with butterflies, the other has only a few, overflow I guess. Every day, my granddaughter and I had to go out and look at the butterflies, she loves them. Now that they are back in Texas, I guess I'll have to go out alone - sigh.

I'm hoping, one day, to see a

Mom- those butterflies are unusual and gorgeous! I've never seen/noticed more than a monarch or two in our garden.

Weed- what types of plants bring them to you? We have tons of agapanthus which the hummers just love, but I don't notice any butterflies fluttering about.

Flowers will bring them for nectaring purposes, as will rotting fruit for some species. But they will only lay eggs on the plants that the caterpillars eat.

Black Swallowtails: Parsley, Dill, Fennel, and Rue.
Monarchs: Milkweed.

Some butterflies lay their eggs on certain tree leaves, so those are probably hard to raise unless the leaves are within reach. You can google the species native to your area to see what you can attract. I haven't added many photos lately, here is a link to my butterfly (and one fabulous moth) gallery. I also have a couple videos on Youtube

Tons of Monarchs here this month. August is the time when we see the most. On September 26, we've been invited to watch the release of thousands of various butterflies from a CT greenhouse. I'm looking forward to the show. We'll take pictures & I'll post.

/tricia

Weed, that's so cool and very interesting (and funny). I want to try that some time.

There was a cicada killer inside my car the other day. I'd left the sunroof open. It was at least three inches long. I couldn't convince it that going through the back window was the way out. I took the sun reflector and covered the outside of the rear window. When it no longer looked like the "outside" to him, he took off through an open door. I sure wasn't going to drive anywhere with that honking big bug in my car.

I also raise butterflies. We have had a bumper crop of Gulf Frittarlies this season (Momj47 - your orange one is some type of Frit - maybe Spangled), Monarchs, and Polydamas Swallowtails. I had so many Polys that I transferred about 60 each to two other people's vines and still had some that did not make it to chrysalis stage because they ran out of food. I also had so many EAstern Blacks on my dill that I was buying fresh cut parsley for them at the grocery store. I have raised quite a few Spicebush Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails this season. The one type that is missing is our state butterfly - the Zebra Longwing. We had such a hard winter here in Florida that they think the ZLW didn't migrate up as far as they normally do. They feed on the same Passionvines as the Gulf Frits so its not the lack of food.
The Suphurs are numerous too. Haven't seen as many Skippers as normal and the White Peacocks aren't as numerous here.

Weed is right - its the host plants that the moms lay eggs on that keep them coming back to the yard. When you have the females laying then the males show up too. Without the host plants, they will come nectar then leave cause their mission in life is to lay those eggs!

mboston - I might need to buy parsley at the store - how can you be sure there are no pesticides or bt? Organic can still have bt is my understanding.

Monj47 I agree that your photo is of a Great Spangled Fritillary. I have seen a couple of them this year but not many.

We mostly see Black and Yellow Swallowtails, Mourning Cloaks, Monarchs, Red Admirals, Viceroys and lots of whites and sulphurs which I can't identify.

Last year my lovage plant in my herb bed was chewed down to nothing by six Black Swallowtail caterpillars! I let them eat to their heart's content, they were so much fun to watch! This year the lovage didn't attract a single one.

Linda

I have several butterfly shrubs in my garden and this year there are lots of butterflies and moths. Last year I had for the first time the same bumblebee moths like the ones in momj47's picture. But this year I haven't seen one? I did have a beautiful thriving parsley plant until I found the black swallowtail caterpillar working on it! I left it to enjoy; I can always plant more parsley! Most of the ones in my garden are the black swallowtail and the painted ladies.

I also had lots of honey bees last year but none this year.
Kat

Weed - I buy the curly parsley that Publix has in their area where they keep the fresh herbs, cukes, etc. it is usually wrapped together with either one of those thick rubber bands or ties like you find on bread, except wider. I wash it good with running water and try just ONE caterpillar on it for a day or so to make sure its safe. So far I have been lucky but you do need to switch over the younger ones - they kinda don't want to switch over when they are bigger. I usually put mine in a plastic Starbucks cup with the type of lid that has the tight opening you stick the straw through, not the ones for frappacinos. It keeps it fresh enough for them to eat on it a day or so.

Thanks - I will try it out. It has been killing me not to bring in the new eggs the last couple days!

Thank you for the info, I had no idea that it was such a science!

Weed - I should have made it clear. I put water in the cup and stick the parlsey through the opening in the cup. The cats stay on the parlsey outside the cup. Keeps them from drowing as they eat down the parsley.

I commented to DH Fri eve that we had more butterflys then usual, esp on an Abelia bush that the Bumble bees also love. This bush was severely damaged in our damaging blizzards this year, as it sits at the corner of the garage and it took the brunt of the wind and drifts and got buried under 10 feet of snow. I whacked it a foot above the ground once the snow was gone, and it came back beautifully, and again is a host to moths, bees and butterflys.

momj47 - I enjoyed your pictures & I am going to keep a look out for the Baltimore Checkerspot-thanks for the pics.

weed - I had no idea the "worms that poop alot" that had invaded my Parsley for the last 3 years were desirable Butterflys! I decided not to plant parsley this year because of it :) Live and learn! So if I left the parsley alone, all those caterpillars would have been beautiful Black Swallowtails? I think I moved the parsley away from the other herbs and ignored it. I had hundreds of caterpillars, and zillions of little poopies~LOL. Tell me what to do, and I will "raise" them next year (outside) and watch the adventure with appreciation, now that I know.
It always amazes me what I learn here. Thanks!

I'm going out to get a butterfly identification book. I am now hooked!

magothyrivergirl: Pay a visit to the Butterfly Forum. Read the FAQS, and as many threads as you care to. Lots of information!

ded - LOL, congrats! It's very easy to get hooked. And the first time you get to witness a caterpillar becoming a chrysalis, and a butterfly emerging a couple weeks later...well, you're a goner. It's simply amazing.

The coolest thing, to me, is what actually happens inside the chrysalis. Below is a link worth reading/listening too. HOW the heck is it actually possible?!!

Here is a link that might be useful: WTF!

Monarchs apparently migrate en masse to California and Mexico for the winter. I saw a documentary about it - so cool.

Once, a few years ago, I was at a local park and suddenly was surrounded by thousands of Monarchs! Evidently I was in their migratory path! It was one of the wildest things I've ever experienced.

Momj - such great pics. thanks for sharing!!

So that's where all the butterflies have gone. There have been very few in the Dallas area, but lots of them up at our place in OK. Dallas has a very aggressive spraying program for mosquitoes, which I believe has hurt the butterfly and beneficial insect population. I don't think the heat has helped, either. They like it hot, but not as hot as it's been here. Of course, that doesn't explain why we've had them at our OK place, which has been as hot as Dallas. It's rained a little more there, though.

Weed, you can grow parsley from seed pretty easily. It comes up wild in my yard every Fall. I haven't had to plant parsley in a long time. I just let the plants go to seed. I don't have parsley in the hottest part of the summer, though.

Sally

Sally - thats the problem for us in Florida. The herbs like parsley, dill, fennel, grow great during our fall and spring, even a mild winter but when the heat comes, it suffers and that is of course when the butterflies need it. I keep mine in pots and move it into the shade just to keep it alive. I do have Rue, which is in the citrus family and the Black Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails will lay on it if there is nothing else around. The Blacks ate mine down this year and you need so much for each caterpillar. The later instars are when the cats eat so much. I bought 4 bundles of parlsey for just two cats in one weekend.

I saw a new (to me) buterfly today while I was weeding and cleaning up my garden beds. Looked it up and found it was a Milbert's Tortoise Shell. According to the map in my book they should not be in my area, but there was no mistaking it. It was beautiful!

I've included a link....

Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Milbert's Tortoise Shel lButterfly