Black Swallowtails...they're here!

I've been noticing many more butterflies lately.  I've counted many more black and zebra swallowtails and monarchs this year than in the past few years.  I have a plant called rue growing in my border garden.  I bought it several years ago at the end of the season for very little.  I usually buy things at the end of the year when stores are trying to give away the few haggard plants they have left. 

The rue plant is a very pretty plant.  It grows about three feet tall in Oklahoma and has a pretty lacy light green leaf and a yellow flower in late May.  I will prune it back occasionally so it stays bushy.  I was worried that this years cold would kill it but it came back just like always.  Rue is an insect repellant plant but I didn't know that when I bought it.   The label in the plant said citronella but that happens sometimes in those end of season sales.  You don't always get what you thought.  Sometimes is good, sometimes it's bad.  This time, it was good!

What I have found is that black and zebra swallowtails love to lay their eggs on the plant.  I think the caterpillars eat the rue and make themselves very yucky tasting to birds and other predators.  I was looking last week to see if I had any eggs and saw little caterpillars all over the plants!  I was so happy!  I love helping the butterflies!

I've planted my dill and have transplanted my parsley, other favorites of the swallowtails.  I have finally successfully started milkweed and my mother-in-law sent me more seed to start this week.  I look forward to seeing even more butterflies in my garden in the upcoming years!

Hummingbirds have Hit!

Saw my first hummingbirds today! I was so excited. I put out the feeders on Thursday so it didn't take them long to find the feeders!  I only put out a little food in them because I didn't know how long it would take them to get here. 

I also put out my oriole feeder.  I usually wait too long to get it out.  I look outside and see an oriole trying to eat out of a hummingbird feeder and then I run and get my feeder and by that time, the poor oriole has given up.  Well, this year, I have it ready. I'm hoping that one stops by. 

I love watching little hummingbirds eat all summer but usually by mid-summer, they stop eating at my feeders as much as they did in the spring. By mid-summer, I have flowers blooming all over that they prefer.  I'm sure the nectar tastes better than plain old white sugar!  I would like it too!

I noticed zebra swallowtail, black swallowtail and monarch butterflies this weekend also.  Even though I don't have a lot of blooming flowers right now, I do have a place for them to lay eggs.  I have dill, parsley and some shrub-like thing I bought years ago that the swallowtails like laying eggs on.  I thought it was a citronella plant but it may have been mismarked.  It doesn't look or smell like citronella.  Well the butterflies really like it and it does well in this hot Oklahoma summer so it's staying!


The butterflies like the nectar on the cherry trees and are keeping the tree colorful.  It's fun to see so many colorful butterflies landing on the tree!

I'm so glad spring is here! We've started having salads for dinner and I know it's so much better for the kids than some of the heavy winter meals we eat.  This week, we're having a grilled chicken greek salad, tuesday is crab salad sandwich night with fruit salad, wednesday night is church dinner, thursday night will be  homemade pizza, and friday night will be  tomato soup and quesadillas. The next few weeks will need to be simple meals because I'm helping with state testing.  I will be BUSY!

I'm not a nerd! I'm just unique!

My husband was reading the paper and said, 'it's too bad you're going to be gone next week'.  I, of course, had to ask 'why?' He said, 'because there is a butterfly count and you would probably enjoy that.' 'Yuck', I said, 'why would I want to hang out with a bunch of nerds?' 

At this point, my husband stopped reading, laid down the paper, looked at me like he does when I say something totally weird and said, 'excuse me?' By now, most of you that read this know that I like butterflies.  I enjoy watching them, collecting them and watching them hatch.  Last saturday, I was running around the back yard trying to identify a new butterfly.  I also have a huge gian black swallowtail that I'm so proud of I show everyone who comes over.  So why don't I want to hang out with a bunch of other butterfly lovers?

Well, when I am alone as a butterfly watcher, I am unique.  When I am surrounded by others like me then I just become a nerdy butterfly watcher!  I like being a little unique, a little different maybe even a little nerdy.  But I don't want to hang with a bunch of people just like me! 

I know, I know, most humans seek out people just like them because it makes them feel secure having friends with the same likes and dislikes as them.  I've just never been one of those people.  I enjoy having friends with all sorts of likes and dislikes, not necessarily just like me.  I enjoy meeting people with different talents and hobbies. 

So I won't be going to do the butterfly count.  I'll stay here and be unique on my own little corner of the world! I like being me!

Butterflies!

I've been hatching butterflies! I grow many different kinds of butterfly host plants and food plants so I can I can entice them into my garden. When I find butterfly eggs, I collect a few, hatch them out and feed them until they go into chrysilis. Usually, after about two weeks or so, they hatch and I let them go back into my garden. I sometimes also provide teachers and parents a few so they can enjoy the wonder of a butterfly!

Last fall, we had so many late caterpillars that I began to worry they would freeze. I collected as many as I could and put them into my container. They went into chrysilis but didn't hatch before winter set in. I had always read that some would overwinter and not migrate but I had never had any do it.

A few days ago, I began cleaning off the backporch and found my container. I almost dumped the container but got busy and forgot. In the last six days, I have released eight  black swallowtails into my garden! I am so excited I could just bust! I guess this confirms the fact that I am just a hopeless science nerd but I don't care!