Ron's Butterfly Habitat Summary 2000

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This is our third summary and the 7th year for our URBAN butterfly garden.  I have always limited the summary to one page, but the 2000 summary will be considerably longer in order to report new discoveries and new ideas, and to help you, my fellow butterfliers.

I saw my first butterfly at French Creek State Park in March on a very sunny 40-degree day.  " It's all about sunshine!"  I was unable to identify it, but it was either a Comma or Question Mark.   We had a very warm Spring, and for the first time, I saw a few butterflies in my garden before I had any flowers.  A Varigated Fritillary tried to lay eggs on our Passion Flower, and on some wild Violets without success.   A female Spicebush Swallowtail also tried to lay eggs on one of our Spicebush plants without success.   I was very optimistic for the upcoming season, since I was seeing butterflies in May with no nectar available in my small backyard.   There were many butterflies in the wild during Spring, and I looked forward to what I thought was going to be a Summer full of sightings in our backyard garden. 

I planted my zinnias on April 26th and 2 or 3 more times.   In 1999 during a severe drought I had about 300 beautiful zinnias.   Shouldn't this year be easier?   I could not figure out why my little seedlings would germinate and die in one day.  Now what??  I emailed the Sales Manager at Weeks Seed Company and said I wanted a full refund.  He sent me an email back and said that I had cooked my seeds (in April?).  Yes, I had cooked them at least three times.  I ended up with about 150 zinnias.   July came along, and I kept wondering where the butterflies were.  I did see a couple of Pipevine Swallowtails, but where were the common Tiger Swallowtails and the Monarchs? It turned out to be very slow season for butterfly gardeners in our area.  Our 5th annual open house held on Saturday, August 5th, was an exception to the slow season.  The sun was out and the temperature was in the 80's.   Robert Noll from Valley Forge arrived early and called the day when he said it was going to be way beyond my expectations.  We saw 15 species (a new record) which included 2 Cabbages, 3 Red Admirals, 2 Question Marks, 1 Zabulon Skipper, 4 Tiger Swallowtails,  2 Alfalfa ( Orange Sulphur ), 2 American Painted Ladies, 1 Silver Spotted Skipper, 1 Pearly Crescent,  3 Monarchs, 1 Gray  Hairstreak, 1 Eastern Tailed Blue, 1 Painted Lady, 1 Spicebush Swallowtail, and 1 Wild Indigo Duskywing.  Also we saw the Nessus,  and Hummingbird Clearwing Moths.  26 Butterflies Total.  The open house was hosted by myself, and Tom Collins, a Pottstonian, who converted his swimming pool into a beautiful butterfly garden.  Tom brought his net along, and had his photo collection with him.   I also appreciated the help of Robert Noll and Kathy Arnold-Yerger.     110 guests attended the open house.  It was the most enthusiastic group we have ever had.  Our total number of guests over the five years is now 600. 

In the weeks that followed after the open house, butterfly sightings were below average in our garden with Swallowtails having the most noticeable decrease over previous years.  The small butterflies seemed to have a good year.  We added one new sighting to our backyard, the Little Copper.  September was especially slow.  The above average rainfall could have kept sightings down.  Even August was wet.  My theory is that we need about 3 hot dry days to get the butterfly sightings up in our garden.  Verbena Bonariensis, Zinnia, Tithonia, and Field Thistle, were not effective attractors in late August and September.  Too much rain!!   Butterfly bush was the best attractor in 2000.  Fruit eaters were common this year.  We had frequent sightings of the Comma, Question Mark, Red Admiral, and the Mourning Cloak.  Watermelon was our best attractor.   We had caterpillars on our Spicebush, and on our Parsley.  My wife, Carol, captured a 3 inch green caterpillar in October which should hatch into a 6 inch Polyphemus moth next Spring.  The Eastern Black Swallowtail was more common this year.  Hopefully, it is making a comeback. Monarch sightings were down.  We averaged one per day.  I saw two on October 7th with a temperature of 60-degrees.  They seemed trapped in our garden with the cool October days.  I doubt that those two made it to Mexico. 

Our plants were giant sized with 6 foot Tithonia, and one 8 1/2 foot Field Thistle.  A few tips for your garden……….Always water Butterfly Bushes for the first year.  Field Thistles grow best with no competition from any other plant.  Try not to water your Zinnias (unless they droop.)  Cut back your Purple Coneflower to produce a second bloom.   Plant your Tithonia in the hottest soil in your garden.  Verbena Bonariensis always self seeds-just wait for the seeds to germinate (try not to weed till June.)  Always use as little water as possible, especially if your soil does not drain well. 

Our experiment with Butterfly Weed seeds from the wild was successful.  We were not as successful with Swamp Milkweed, but did get 12 plants, which should bloom next year.  What wonderful plants these are!!  Our experiment with Hops continues.  No Comma caterpillars yet!  If you plant a Hops root, plant it flat with the new shoots up.  It is a rhizome!  Why didn't somebody tell me that!! Ha!

On the wild side, it was a good year, with Lepidopterists, Karl Gardner and Ryan Woolwine, seeing as many as 60 species of butterflies in Pennsylvania in 2000.  This year I learned about Boneset, which grows in wet areas.   I added this plant to my backyard garden.   I have a new interest in wetlands, since learning about this plant.  It is my goal to find someone who would like to donate their land to my wife and me for the purpose of building a butterfly preserve.  We would hope the land would contain a wetland.  In return, we promise to maintain the land as open space.   We would offer group tours at this facility to educate people about butterflies and plants, and at the same time promote conservation. 

Experiments in our garden next year include growing Boneset, and continuing our Butterfly and Swamp milkweed projects.  Also we intend to plant zinnia the first week of April.  Do not laugh!  Do not forget the garden has a Southern exposure.

Our site is getting thousands of hits, and we look forward to improving it in 2001.

Please keep feeding the butterflies!  Plant more host plants too!

Next years open house is on Saturday, August 4th from 10am to 7pm.  See you in 2001.

Ron Richael

 

Ron's Butterfly Sightings Summary
2004 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2005 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2006 Butterfly Habitat Summary
2001 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2002 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2003 Butterfly Habitat Summary
1998 Butterfly Habitat Summary   1999 Butterfly Habitat Summary

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