The Beauty of Butterfly Bushes
July 29, 2009
Some sort of swallowtail, perhaps. The Spicebush Swallowtail looks closest.
I'm not sure what this one is....maybe some sort of hairstreak or skipper?
This is a White Cabbage butterfly (I think)---the danged caterpillars eat our kale, broccoli, and radishes,
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They are beautiful, I see less and less butterflies and when I do finally see them I can never take a picture fast enough. Nice capture.
I agree, they are priceless to see. As notsocrafty said in the previous comment, I can never take a picture fast enough to capture the butterflies (though by some miracle I got sort-of one last week....) Do you know of any other plants that attract butterflies (well, maybe not the ones that eat the veg!)
I do love those butterfly bushes...non-natives, but you just can't beat those colors (the flowers and the butterflies both) right outside your door.
I know what you mean about hard to photograph--I missed at least twice as many shots as I got--these were just my favorites (I especially like that orange one at the top---with the purple bush, the colors are just beautiful)
As for plants that butterflies love--I know they like the natives plants more---especially Butterfly Weed and Milkweed (the monarchs especially love the milkweed--caterpillars and butterflies both). Also, any flower with an umbel shape (Dill, Queen Anne's Lace, etc). I've seen lots of butterflies on my parent's Rue plant in their herb garden too--the caterpillars (weird-looking ones) always seemed to love it.
Most importantly, they like areas with wildflowers, and no pesticides--and some moisture (I just love it when they mud puddle--land in a muddy section of the ground and just sort of hang out--moving their wings slowly as they drink). It's pretty cool to see.