This Labor Day weekend has been a gardening marathon. Mom G is visiting and helping a frantic gardener (hint: it’s me) tick off many to-do-before-winter tasks. While we were working in the garden, we came across other workers going about their days.
Out on a stand of Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) near the alley, this lady monarch was getting herself something to eat.
And as I was weeding around the plant, I found this little one on the ground. My neighbor had the day before bemoaned battling tomato worms, so I looked up that insect first. Nope, not this one. The closest I could find was a type of moth. If anyone knows, please leave a message in the comments.
Then there was this little one. This is the first time we’ve spotted this butterfly on the Lot. I can’t say enough how much I am enjoying the guide I scored at the gardening conference, Michigan Butterflies & Skippers. I PROMISE I am not being paid to promote this guide. It’s just really, really cool and helpful!
This butterfly is a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui). Adults nectar on “blackberry, buttonbush, catnip, ironweed, knapweed, lupine, Labrador tea, blazing-star, and joe-pye-weed. Like the Question Mark butterfly, I found this one on the Anise Hyssop. But we do have a nice stand of Joe Pye Weed.
Caterpillars for the Painted Lady are found on thistle, burdock, aster, hollyhock, and common mallow. I don’t remember seeing any caterpillars as the guide describes, yellowish green mottled with black and having black spines. Apparently they are found in loose webbing on the host plant.
A winged visitor to the Anise Hyssop ( Agastache foeniculum )today caught my eye. We have had swallowtails and monarchs make appearances in the garden this season. This butterfly really stood out as being different from those. When perched on the plant, it looked like a dead leaf had fallen on the hyssop. Even beyond the coloring of the underside of the wings, the shape of the wings’ edges reminded me of a leaf.
When its wings opened, the pattern consisted of the prettiest burnt orange and black colors. I of course snapped a few photos and consulted the Michigan Butterflies and Skippers guide. This butterfly is a Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis). The darker color on the hindwings is the summer form. Totally didn’t know butterflies have winter and summer forms!
Common but Not a Comma
The guide lists this butterfly as “one of our commonest anglewings” in Michigan. Anglewings? Apparently this is just an English catch all term for butterflies with angulate wing shapes.
Question Marks do belong to the family Nymphalidae, which are commonly called brushfoots. This is a large family tied together by the shared trait of the male having forelegs reduced to “brushlike appendages”.
While trying to identify the butterfly, I was struggling with the difference between a Question Mark and a Comma. The guide stated the Commas are smaller, but unfortunately I was using photographs and not at the plant with the butterfly. What finally helped me make the decision is the small, silver marking on the underside of the wing. I zoomed in here so it can be seen better.
The marking on the underside of the hindwing consists of a curve and a dot. This is the identifying mark of a Question Mark butterfly. If it had been a Comma, the hindwing would have the silver curve but no dot.
The Real Question: Why The Lot?
Since I select plants with pollinators of all sorts in mind, I am of course curious why the Question Mark was visiting. The host plants for caterpillars are “elm, nettle, hackberry and hops”. Also, the guide states adults do not often nectar on flowers but prefer rotted fruit and tree sap instead.
When they do visit flowers, the plants include “aster, common milkweed and bog-rosemary”. However, the hyssop belongs to the mint family. We do have a lot of common milkweed on The Lot this season, but much of it is past bloom time. The asters are getting ready, but will not be blooming until a few weeks from now. Maybe like the Giant Swallowtail last year, this little one was looking to expand its culinary horizons.
Even though it has been horribly hot and humid on the Lot, we have had some overcast days. This allowed me to take pretty okay photos for a Bloom Day post! “What is Bloom Day,” you ask? It’s a day gardeners from around the world post pretty pictures of what is currently blooming in their gardens. Then we all swap links over at May Dreams Gardens. So let’s do this!
The city removed the failing norway maple in the verge, so this spring I created a new bed. During the winter we have a lot of salt thrown up from the road by the snowplows. So this bed is a bit of an experiment as I’m testing salt-tolerant plants. One of these is now blooming, the blanket flower (Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’).
Also up front, the native coneflowers are beginning to open up in the south bed. These blooms attract oodles of pollinators before offering seed to the finches in the autumn. Behind the stand of coneflowers, the little shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla) is producing its cheery, yellow blooms.
I often wonder if gardening is a gateway hobby to entomology because HOW COOL IS THIS LITTLE BEE? It is quite tiny, as the bloom belongs to the tickseed (Coreopsis) in the front bed. Tis the season for tickseed on the Lot as all cultivars are currently in bloom.
I have to admit, I wasn’t much of a daylily fan until I actually had some on the Lot. These lovely blooms, planted in the southeast corner of the house, are from a friend who was losing a battle with lily-loving deer.
On the east side of the house a bed receiving morning sun and a slight blast of sun in the in early afternoon. Then the shadow of our home passes over the plants and gives them a break from the really hot mid to late afternoon sun. The white bloom is from the masterwort (Astrantia). The yellow blooms are the fading lady’s mantle (Alchemilla).
In the back garden, there is a lot in bloom right now. Here’s Fini with a Hosta ‘Mouse Ears’ on the left and a dwarf bellflower (Campanula) on the right.
I’m pretty excited about the white blazing star (Liatris) pictured above. I finally have arranged the planting in the bed correctly so the plant has enough sun to bloom. The purple blooms just now opening are balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus). I also learned balloon flower belong to the larger bellflower family.
Also in the back garden, these little coneflowers (Echinacea purpea ‘Butterfly Kisses’) are blooming. They serve as a part of a ‘living mulch’ to help keep the roots of a clematis cool.
The main sun bed in the backyard garden has a whole lotta stuff happening. Both the yarrows (Achillea millefolium) are finishing their blooming. The butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is in bloom and hoppin’ with pollinators.
This is another plant I’ve had for awhile and it just didn’t receive enough sun to bloom. It’s now tucked behind the yellow yarrow in the main, backyard bed. Love the blood red bloom on the Himalayan cinquefoil (Potentilla atrosanguinea).
If plants were sorted into Hogwarts houses, this pretty purple clematis would be in Hufflepuff. The clematis ‘Rooguchi’ is a rambling clematis that doesn’t suffocate other plants and provides blooms from about May to late autumn on the Lot.
As mentioned earlier, all tickseed is in boom right now. This is a threadleaf variety planted back by the water barrels and receiving a hot blast of afternoon sun.
Hydrangeas are another flower I wasn’t very keen on when first beginning to garden. However, they are beginning to grow on me. This one is a more compact variety, only growing to 4’x4′.
Also blooming are all 3 varieties of bee balm (Mondarda). This one is from the pollinator bed I created last autumn. It is conveniently located on the south side of our 2 veggie beds. In addition to insects, I’m hoping to see a few hummingbirds this season.
These final blooms are opposite the alley bed. They belong to the rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium). The plant belongs to the parsley family and is native to tallgrass prairies of eastern and central North America.
I planted the rattlesnake master with the idea of creating a larger bed catered to ground-nesting bees. The area is at the northwest corner of the Lot by the alley, where not many neighbors walk. It would have the sun it needs and also be more safe for the bees. However, the plant selection is dwindling as the maple on this corner matures and the bed gets more and more afternoon shade. I think we can still #makeithappen, it just won’t be as large as initially imagined.
Slowing Down to Smell the Flowers
Something I am trying to consciously do this year is to slow down during these warmer months. Heat makes me cranky, and then it is not so fun to be in the garden. I’m aiming to spend any time deadheading and weeding in the very early morning and the early evening. Otherwise, I am attempting to sit and be still to enjoy the Lot and all the creatures visiting it. I’m seeing insects I’ve never noticed before. With a cool drink in hand, it’s been pretty fabulous so far.
So that is all for July’s bloom day on the Lot! I’d love to hear what is blooming in your garden.
