Lots of butterflies

I've never been particularly fond of zinnias, but maybe I just didn't know them very well. The large garden zinnias, planted in the Peter Rabbit Garden by a colleague, are butterfly magnets. The zinnias reseeded happily from last year, and right now it's a wonderful butterfly pitstop.

Maybe because of our drought, nectar sources are literally drying up, so only minimally watered garden flowers are a respite.But the butterflies were abundant - mostly tiger, black, and pipevine swallowtails, with an odd silver-spotted skipper, gulf fritillary, and a single monarch dropping by.

Pipevine swallowtail

A puddling butterfly

A bluish butterfly caught my eye in the main vegetable garden yesterday, near the base of the tomato plant that I had just finished watering. It (s/he) was methodically getting moisture and nutrients from the damp mulch, opening and closing its wings in a typical fashion. I was hopeful it was a pipevine swallowtail (I REALLY need caterpillars on the big pipevine to do some pruning (that is, chomping!), but it turned out to be a pipevine mimic, a red-spotted purple.

Red-spotted purple

Mimicking the distasteful pipevine (because of the aristolochic acids sequestered from its host plant) helps reduce predation, since birds quickly learn to avoid them.

This one spent quite a bit of time 'puddling' before heading off.

Pipevine needs caterpillars

A dark butterfly flying around the pipevine outside my study window caught my attention. Ooh, might it be a pipevine swallowtail?

Our pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla) definitely needs some caterpillars this year.

We didn't have any last year, and it's a strong grower.

Planted specifically as a host plant for pipevine swallowtails, it coexists with Carolina jessamine on this trellis, producing large green heart-shaped leaves and spreading vigorously. Its small greenish purple flowers, shaped like a pipe, appear in mid-spring (late April-early May for us).

The afternoon light was harsh, but I was able to determine that it was a female pipevine swallowtail, depositing eggs on young leaves (which are preferred).

Hooray!