No neat and tidy butterfly gardens!

Are you one of those people who feel that they have to conform to "standard" gardening practices? Do you believe that you should follow the "experts" who dictate which flower colors are "in" or "out" this year? Does a weed in your flower bed send you into cardiac arrest? Well, here's some news....if you want to attract butterflies, you can discard all those notions. Butterflies don't care if your garden is neat and tidy, if your flowers are all the same shade of pink, or if there is a thistle growing among the cosmos. In fact, leaving a few weeds in place may help attract even more species of butterflies. A prickly thistle is not only a fine nectar plant, but a host plant for Painted Ladies. A dandelion provides nectar early in the spring, when you might not have many other plants blooming. Wild violets are not only pretty, but are the host plants for Great Spangled Fritillaries, those large and colorful flutterers that appear in June. Of course, you don't want your carefully tended flower areas to begin looking sad and neglected, but it certainly won't hurt to purposely leave some Queen Anne's Lace for the black swallowtails or clover as another nectar source. A weed is only a plant for which a use has yet to be discovered. If you want more butterflies this year, research information about weeds and wildflowers before assaulting them with hoes, rakes or herbicides.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Butterfly Exhibit

The Smithsonian has opened its new butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. If you are in the Washington D.C. area, it is well worth visiting. You may want to call ahead to reserve your tickets, unless you like standing in line for long periods of time. When it is cold outside, the exhibit provides a refreshing whiff of springtime with temperatures at a constant 80 degrees. Once inside, you will be surrounded by many flying butterflies, most of them tropical. Brightly colored flitting creatures will land on you and nectar from the many flowers provided for them. You will also see a small enclosed cage where various chrysalises are hanging, waiting to emerge as adults. Only 35 people can be admitted at one time, but you are not limited to the time you may spend inside. I could have spent much more time there, but we were on a schedule. The charge is minimal to enter. You may want to check out some of the other exhibits in the Museum, too. Most are fascinating.

Interesting butterfly facts

Butterflies are interesting insects. Here are a dozen facts you may not know about them:
1. Most butterflies live for only 2-3 weeks as adults
2. Monarchs born at the end of summer migrate to Central Mexico for the winter, or to coastal California, if born on the west side of the Rocky Mountains.
3. A butterfly egg is about as big as a period on a printed page.
4. Some butterflies have "eyespots" on their wings, which look like real eyes. These are used to fool their predators. Birds, especially, may think twice about grabbing something that looks like an owl.
5. Sometimes you can see a damp spot or area with salts on a pathway or road with a group of butterflies imbibing the liquid. This is called "puddling" and those butterflies are mostly males, gathering the nutrients from the soil.
6. Wooden butterfly houses used as garden decorations usually attract wasps, rather than butterflies.
7. You can pick up a butterfly by holding it by its "shoulders" if it had shoulders. Hold it close to its body, so the wings aren't damaged. If a few scales rub off, it won't hurt the butterfly.
8. A butterfly can fly with half a wing.
9. Butterflies taste with their feet.
10. The beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly is called a Camberwell Beauty in England.
11. Butterflies will nectar on Gatorade and a sugar water solution.
12. Most butterflies need temperatures of at least 60-65 degrees to fly.

Eastern Black Swallowtails

Eastern Black Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) are one of my favorite butterflies. They are large and shimmering black with beautiful yellow and orange spots on their wings. I think they are interesting in all their lifecycle stages. The female lays single eggs on the upper leaves of the host plants, which can include fennel, dill, parsley, Queen Anne's lace, and members of the carrot family. When the caterpillar is young, it resembles a bird dropping, with a white saddle in the middle. This is for protection against predators. As it grows, it becomes striped with green and black stripes or bands. The caterpillar can travel quite a distance before finding a suitable place to pupate, usually on a stick. It then spins a silken girdle to hold it in place. After about a day or so, the chrysalis turns shades of brown or green. If it is fall, they go into diapause until the weather warms in the spring. In Virginia, the black swallowtails start showing up in April. Many times, I raise the caterpillars in the fall on fennel and keep the chrysalises in the refrigerator during the winter. In April I begin taking them out to emerge. When they are adults, they flitter around flowers and favor daylilies and other garden flowers. They have an extra-long proboscis that allows them to nectar from long-necked flowers. When they are being released at a special occasion, it is an extraordinary sight to see all of these beautiful black creatures emerge from a release container or individually from release envelopes. It is stunning!

Moths or butterflies?

There are several ways to tell the difference between moths and butterflies. These "rules" don't apply to ALL situations, but are just a general guideline. Moths typically fly at night and butterflies during the day. Moths tend to have drab colors, usually shades of brown and gray, but again, there are some vividly-colored moths. Moths make cocoons and butterflies make chrysalises. Moths have feathery antennae while butterflies have "clubs" on the ends of their antennae. Moths usually have thick bodies, while most butterflies' bodies are slim. Moths rest with their wings outstretched and butterflies with their wings closed over their bodies. And, at special events, people release butterflies, not moths! The photo is of a Luna Moth.