Africanaussie

Another type of butterfly has been identified in our garden.  Not surprisingly its host is the passion fruit vine.  We have plenty of food for them - our passionfruit vine climbs high on the plant in the Telstra plot behind us. My hubby sent me the photo and I did a search for black and white butterflies... nothing,..... then I stumbled upon this and definitely it is right - the wing does look like glass, doesn't it? Look at this transparency!  So delicate.  I think I am getting a bit blaze about my hubby's butterflies because I was really taken with the cosmos bud in this photo....  Here is another one showing just how transparent those wings are.  Don't you find it just amazing that something so fine and delicate can flit around the garden and survive.  How awesome is the loving hand that that made this creature. I am so grateful for my flowers, ...

Kiasu' is a Chinese Dialect which means the fear of losing, and ONE , a fellow blogger in Malaysia has tempted me to post yet more butterfly photos.  Andrea  in the Philipines has also joined in.  Gosh I wonder how far this Kiasu will go! I hope everyone is not tired of the butterflies yet.... this is supposed to be a gardening blog, but then again I suppose it is my garden that is attracting them, and my dear hubby that keeps taking gorgeous photos. This is called the Cassia butterfly or lemon migrant. This is the called the Union Jack - I have no idea how that name came about because the last time I saw the Union Jack there was no yellow in it.  still it is a pretty little thing and quite common in our garden. Their larval food is mistletoe according to information online, but they do hang around the passion fruit a lot.  I really like the Common Eggfly butterfly photo here. See the spider and his ...

I just love cosmos, and a couple of years ago I had the pink cosmos.  This year I sowed a packet of orange cosmos and it certainly is a great butterfly attractant.   I like cosmos in the vegetable garden as it grows so high and feathery, and even though it is a huge plant with lots of flowers, it really isn't taking up much space as the vegetables can grow around the base and still get lots of sunlight. You can see my very healthy zucchini in the background here. I love the dangly bits on this Ulysses -  they are the lower part of its wings, which give its species the name swallowtail..  This is another type of butterfly we often see in the garden, called the Common Eggfly.  I have yet to find out where they lay their eggs.  This is a male and they are evidently very territorial and will chase away other males.  They look the same on the underside, but  the female has these same bl...

I have these cosmos that have taken over in the vegetable garden - they are bright and cheery and  oh my! - they attract my favorite butterflies - I missed this display - it happened while I was at work so once again the praise goes to my hubby's photographing efforts. ( I told him he needs his own blog!)  all the talk about how they only like red flowers....  this one seems very happy with orange. Look at the proboscis sucking out the nectar - normally it is rolled up in a tight little coil.  Can you find the cross where this ones legs intersect?  I wonder who sent us this beauty? Look at the torn wing - I think they lead a hard life.  I think blue and orange go so well together. Don't you?  they flit around so fast that you only get a glimpse of that iridescent blue.  - welcome to my garden  you pretty little things.  I wonder if one of these (there were two) is the same one that hatched out of its c...

Yesterday I noticed that the Ulysses chrysalis was turning brown, and I thought either the butterfly was going to emerge or that it had died. It was dark when I got up this morning, grabbed the flashlight and peered into the bush to see ......... the butterfly hanging there alongside the chrysalis!  It was way too dark to take photos and I stayed as long as I could before I had to leave for work.  Gosh I wanted to stay there so badly. My hubby had strict instructions to take lots of photos and this is what he took..... Isn't he a great photographer?   Just look at the detail. The inside of the wings is a brilliant iridescent blue, but as soon as it opened its wings a gust of wind came and it fell to the ground.  Then it took off and flew away - high up into the tree.  I hope it is all right - it needs someplace out of the wind to build up its strength. So my thoughts of you actually getting to see the irides...

Coming to the end of a five day weekend  (yes I do love the fact we get so many holidays in Australia) we had a brunch out in the garden this morning and I realised just how special it is to live here in the tropics. This is my favourite time of the year when the humidity and temperature drop.  We have had a lot of wind and two days ago I mulched up every single leaf and now the back garden is full of fallen leaves again.  There is nothing I would rather be doing though than messing about in the garden.  There are deep depressions in the vegetable garden where I cleared away the sugar cane mulch and planted out my little parsley seedlings.  I suspect that horrible can toads have gone and sat on the seedlings, wiggling their ugly bums into the earth and squashing the seedlings flat.  I am going to have to find a way to get rid of them. the cane toads, not the seedlings! My Ulysses caterpillar curled himself up against the branch and has now...

By now you probably think I am a caterpillar fanatic and I must admit I do seem to be turning into one. About two years ago at the local markets I bought this little straggly tree/bush and the lady said that it would host Ulysses butterflies.  I have moved it around a few times and it is still a very straggly tree/ bush... but....... we were sitting on the swing enjoying a avocado sandwich when I suddenly looked at a spot on the straggly tree/bush.  Wow!  that is exactly what a Ulysses butterfly caterpillar looks like - big smile - I rushed to get the camera.  This one seems to be gathering the leaves together and there is some sort of web on the leaves. Oh now this plant is paying its way!

Over the weekend two more butterflies emerged.  Now hopefully the lime tree can get back to the job of producing limes instead of hosting catterpillar sleepovers.   This was the first to emerge.  There is a lot of black on this one - it is a male.  You can see the empty dry crisp chrysalis.  In the final days it becomes quite black and I realise it is becoming quite thin and the black you see is actually the butterflies wings.  Arent they the most delicate design on these exquisite creatures?  It reminds me of the stippling technique my daughter used to practice in art clases.  Intricate tiny dots.  Then this little lady appeared!  Isnt she pretty?  this is the female - you can see how much white there is on her wings.  They spend quite a few hours hanging onto the branch before they can fly off.  They seem to be quite wet too, and need to dry off in the early morning sunlight - they always emerge j...

Can butterflies see colour?  How on earth did this butterfly know that he would match this bucket so perfectly?  It is full of some compost I dragged out the bottom of my composter - there must be some good stuff in there.....or maybe this was a modelling opportunity he couldnt miss?  I was hoping for some dry weather this weekend, but it looks like more rain is on the way. Never mind, I dont have much time for gardening.  We are hoping to have a family brunch out in the garden on sunday so still holding thumbs for good weather for that. My hubby took the photos while I was at work, so I missed seeing him.  (Hubby is a good photographer isnt he?)  this is aptly named the blue triangle butterfly. I wish you a butterfly filled sunny weekend! 

There was this little yellow butterfly flitting around - too fast to get great photos, but I did like the way it looks next to the purple geisha girls flowers... Not a very inspiring post, but with this constant heat and humidity it is all I can manage for now.....

Not wanting to miss the emergence of the butterfly I brought the last chrysalis into work.  I have noticed a lot more catterpillars at home on my patio lime tree, but no chrysalis as such.   This catterpillar originally made its home on a cut branch of kaffir lime tree which I have in a  vase, so it was easy enough to transport. The last ones that hatched seemed a little smaller than this one and once they had hatched the shell was clear.  I imagine it will start to go clear just before the butterfly emerges.  There is distict green colouring on the sides: The other side is similar The underside looks hard and brown - it is hard to imagine a delicate butterfly will emerge from this. I called it bring your baby to work day as I really seem to be babying this one, and so anxious to see the butterfly emerge.

I came home today - was only away for a couple of hours - to find that the chrysalis was empty.  Isn't that little thread it is hanging on amazing? My neighbour also found an empty chrysalis and saw a black butterfly flying nearby.  You can clearly see the slit where it emerged.... they are both clear, so think the change from hard and brown to clear must be very sudden   . I have one remaining chrysalis and am not going to let it out of my sight. 

The tea tree is in bloom and just buzzing with all sorts of insects and butterflies. I got a little closer,  and noticed that they have a bit of blue on their wings even the underside of their wings is pretty. The butterflies seemed unaware of me, but there were a few waspy things that buzzed me and made me a bit nervous.  Maybe they were just telling me I was getting a bit too close. These are the only butterflies I caught on film, but the whole garden was abuzz with butterflies.  I guess I need to make more time to just sit quietly with camera in hand observing them.   Stop and watch the butterflies.... I looked this butterfly up and it seems they are called the Varied Eggfly and they mostly seem to be males.  the female has a little orange lower down on the wing. http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Varied-Eggfly/Hypolimnas/bolina.html I think I have seen the female before and thought it was a different species.  My ...

It seems as though red and yellow were the color theme of the day today.  I have some volunteer daisy bushes and moved them out to the swimming pool area alongside the cordelines - think they will look good.  there -  red and yellow. I was going to take a photo, but there was quite a lot of wind and they looked really sad out there, so I am not at all sure they will survive.  The weeping tea tea tree is in bloom and there are so many little insects buzzing around.  Some bigger insects too that buzz me anytime I forget and get too close!  I noticed a butterfly and ran to get my camera - what colour was it - red an yellow of course!  These are called union jack butterflies and are one of our more common butterflies. The vegetable garden got a good weeding, and the paths are now clean, I think I must really get some mulch soon.  In November the council has a weekend where taxpayers can get free mulch - cam I wait for then?  The price is right...