Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius)
Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis)
Ocola Skipper (Panoquina ocola)
Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus)
Tomato ‘Celebrity’
It is hot and humid, typical for summer in North Carolina. As we enter July the garden is thirsty. I’m hand watering every other day which has the benefit of keeping close check on the progress of individual plants. Since June 7 daylilies have been flowering. I can’t get enough of this particular one. It seems to have swallowed the morning sun.
Hemerocallis (Daylily)
Hemerocallis (Daylily)
This week brought a first-of-year garden sighting of a butterfly only ever observed here once before, in July 2019. It didn’t stay put very long.
Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia)
Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia)
A Snowberry Clearwing made a brief buzz-by. This butterfly bush was a busy hub today, also hosting a variety of bees, several skippers and a worn swallowtail.
Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis)
Ocola Skipper (Panoquina ocola) and Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Dahlias planted in early April have grown slowly. The first flower of D. ‘Noordwijks Glorie’ opened up this week. It is showy in the garden itself and promises to be valuable in arrangements as well.
Dahlia Decorative ‘Noordwijks Glorie’
Happy Sunday!
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Briefly I glimpsed a Monarch butterfly earlier in the summer, but was unable to get a photograph. Fast forward and today a Monarch was in residence in the garden exploring, flitting between recently opened zinnias and lantana and I snapped several shots before it darted away.
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
I stationed myself close into the lantana where, while waiting for the monarch to reappear, I was lucky to witness this fascinating Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). Thought you might enjoy seeing it in action. I have noticed more than usual of these hummingbird clearwings moths around the garden this year. [2018-07-23 note: Had help correctly identifying this through iNaturalist.org.]
When the monarch returned and began enjoying lantana, the hummingbird moth buzzed by rather aggressively. Collecting itself, the butterfly hopped to another flower and resumed the business at hand.
In the past several years I saw few or no monarchs, but I hope to see lots this year. The flower that attracted this one is Lantana camara (Common lantana).
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
The tree in the background is Juniperus chinensis ‘Blue Point’ (Blue Point Juniper). It is one of five planted about 7 years ago as a screening hedge and is the only one that survived the past winter. The others are completely brown but I’m waiting until fall to have them removed.
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
pbmGarden 