Butterfly of Winter

I saw another Common Buckeye today when not much else of the insect variety was showing itself in the cooler temperatures. Somehow "common" doesn't describe them at all...they are quite regal-looking with their numerous eyes on colorful wings.

The photo here is one from after the first freeze in December as I was not quick enough to capture today's brave soul with the camera. You can click the picture to see it full size.

Junonia coenia is the scientific name for this species which uses several different larval hosts in Florida which in my garden include: fogfruit (Phyla nodiflora); toadflax (Linaria spp.); plantain (Plantago spp.) twinflower (Dyschoriste spp.) and bluehearts (Buchnera americana). Based on this long list (there are other hosts too), the caterpillars aren't particularly fussy.

They are a little on the shy side...darting off if you cast a shadow too closely, but every now and again they will be so enthralled in a flower or hanging out in the gravel driveway that you'll get a good photo. And they sure do help brighten a winter day.

Be sure to visit over at beautifulwildlifegarden.com for great ideas on attracting wildlife to your own garden.

A new venture!

I've been invited by beautifulwildlifegarden.com to be a voice from Florida with a weekly blog post on Fridays on providing for wildlife. I'm an eternal procrastinator as you can see by the lack of recent posts here. Given a deadline I meet the challenge and maybe it will inspire me to keep up a little more often here as well. It is a grand group of bloggers and tweeters who all care about wildlife and I'm honored to be a part. Click on their logo on the left side of my page to go read the fabulous information on gardening for wildlife that has already been posted. I've picked up great tips from these environmentally conscious writers and I'm sure you'll learn a thing or two from every post no matter what area of the country you live.

Lacking common "scents" or how I learned from nature

I was walking around the backyard taking pictures like I do every day. The batteries had just gone dead so I wasn't looking too closely at things because I hate missing a "once in a lifetime" photo. I passed by a small sapling that a bird planted a year or so ago. I always assumed it was some sort of holly since it retained its leaves through winter and there is a dahoon right close by in my neighbors scrub area. I really never gave it much thought until today, when I was surprised to see a large caterpillar resting square in the middle of a leaf. Now, I've learned to identify some caterpillars and this one obviously was in the swallowtail family but I thought...what the heck is it doing on a holly? I ran inside to get the spare set of rechargeables when suddenly........... DUHHHHHHH! A lightbulb went off in my non-working brain. I returned to the tree and immediately snapped off a lower leaf. I was intoxicated by the spicey smell brought forth when I crushed the leaf between my fingers. The tree is a RED BAY! Florida native persea borbonia with it's lovely smell and leathery, glossy leaves. Mind you, the tree is not even my height (about 5 foot) and is one of the "bloom where God planted you" additions to my yard bought on when I I had little luck in buying and planting things around my yard.

Since that time I learned about the Florida Native Plant Society and joined the Pine Lily Chapter (Osceola County). I studied up on ecosystems, "right plant, right place", the importance of choosing native over exotic and about two years ago I started letting various sections of my yard just grow to see what had been chopped prior to my buying the property. Once again I have been rewarded by my new "garden addition" attitude. I also learned today that I should snap a leaf off of the things I'm not sure of the identification and take a whiff.....or maybe I'll just wait to see what creature of nature can clue me in. In this case, I initially thought spicebush butterfly, but a check on the internet clued me in to its relative, the Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes) this guy will grow up to be.