Spicing up the Garden

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) on Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Much to my joy I have seen many large black butterflies fluttering around the garden. I assumed they were black swallowtails as their gloriously striped caterpillars have consumed much of my potted parsley. But today I caught an image of a spicebush swallowtail sipping nectar from a hot red cardinal flower by the pond. The subtle difference between the spicebush and the black is easy to discern once the butterflies have come to rest. The tails on the spicebush are spoon-shaped and the upper side wings lack a post median row of yellow spots. The larvae feed on spicebush and sassafras, plenty of which grow on my property. I am also pleased to report that Monarch butterflies have been more numerous this year than in the past few summers.

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Nectaring

There is such activity and “buzziness” in the midday sun. Countless bees are nectaring from the hollow-stemmed Joe Pye weed. Wasps and flower flies are attracted to the nectar of bronze fennel flowers and the swallowtail butterflies have discovered the butterfly weed. On the pale pink blossom of Joe Pye weed there are too many kinds of bee for me to identify. I can differentiate the bumblebees, the honeybees, carpenter bees and metallic green sweat bees, but there are many more visitors of all shapes and sizes. I am a little disturbed not to have seen any monarch butterflies visiting the garden this summer. But the leaves of the common milkweed plant have been nibbled upon. The butterfly weed has only just bloomed and the sight of the spicebush swallowtails and an eastern tiger swallowtail heartens me. The cheerful sound of goldfinches delights me. They sit on the coneflowers and tug at the seed singing all along. I creep to get a good close up photo, but the birds always dash away leaving flower stems bouncing.