Lately I feel like I’m living on a Lepidoptera landing strip, with butterflies dive-bombing me from all directions as they head in to land on a succulent blossom in my yard. It’s heavenly to watch! Some fly in pairs, others swoop in alone. Clusters of yellow Eastern Tiger swallowtails congregate on a mound of bright purple phlox, casually fluttering over to some nearby rudbeckia flower heads. A female black swallowtail is sipping nectar from the throat of a Casa Blanca lily, while a monarch settles in for a treat on masses of rose colored eupatorium blooms nearby. This is the reward I get for planting dozens of tempting delicacies in my gardens, priceless indeed! [Read more…]
Plight of the Monarch
Not a week has gone by that I haven’t read something about the devastating decline of the monarch butterfly. At their peak in the mid 1990’s, the monarch’s overwintering population covered an estimated 45 acres of forest throughout central Mexico. According to the World Wildlife Fund, this winter’s total shrank to a below 2 acres, setting another record low. Yet the life of our revered monarch has always been shrouded in mystery; despite decades of scientific studies, we still don’t fully understand how it migrates to the same location each year. [Read more…]
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