A tiger in the salvia
A butterfly as big as my hand fluttered along the streetside border, which is ablaze with the hot-pink flowers of autumn sage (Salvia greggii).
The yellow-and-black stripes are the distinctive markings of the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly.
Beating her wings nearly constantly as she fed, she flapped from flower to flower, drinking her fill.
Had the argiope spider still been lurking nearby in her web, I would have worried for this beautiful butterfly. But the argiope disappeared a week or two ago, leaving behind two egg sacs.
I watched the tiger swallowtail while she fluttered from blossom to blossom. Would I have been able to enjoy this beautiful sight if my yard consisted of a lawn with a few evergreen shrubs? No way.
I noticed that she was more attracted to the Salvia greggii than this mass of lantana and Salvia leucantha just a few steps (or flaps) away. I hope to see other butterflies filling up at this feeding station soon. Hummingbirds will fuel up for southbound migrations here too.
And here. Salvia guaranitica is a favorite of the hummers.
Are you seeing butterflies and hummingbirds in your garden right now? If so, which plants do they love best?
All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
We have lots of hummingbirds, but not many butterflies here. Occasionally I see a swallowtail (once a year at most), but they are always very flighty. You captured some beautiful photos.
I haven’t seen a lot of butterflies either, Alison, although I’m on the lookout now. The mistflower and lantana are blooming, and that always draws them in. Plus the migrating monarchs should be passing through soon. —Pam
Beautiful pictures, Pam! Your skill in capturing the butterflies is much better than mine. In my garden, the biggest butterfly magnet has been the red-orange flowers of the succulent Senecio fulgens. We have both resident and migratory hummingbirds. Right now, I see the resident hummers at the Cuphea ignea daily and, more occasionally, around the new Anigozanthos and the Salvia. In season, they also like the flowers of the Agapanthus, Arbutus, and Albizia.
How interesting that a flowering senecio is a butterfly magnet! I never would have expected that. —Pam
Great Tiger capture!
Butterflies are more sparse right now than a couple weeks ago. I looked back at last year’s blog and expect new broods to hatch about mid-October. They wax and wane and I forget from year to year, wondering where they went. Lantana renewed itself when cooler weather arrived — everything works together in nature.
I hear more hummingbirds that I see among Duranta and Tithonia.
I love to hear the zipzip and chirping of hummingbirds. Hope your butterflies hatch soon. —Pam
Our sunbirds also enjoy your autumn sage.
Sunbirds are so gorgeous! I saw some on flowering aloes in Tanzania. —Pam
We are down to one hummer now. Most have departed. The black and blue salvia is the favorite now.
Yes, it’s a favorite here as well, Lisa. —Pam
Lantana without any question. The same colors as yours. The golden one more so than the one with red. Giant swallowtail, western tiger swallowtail, gulf fritillary, painted lady, fiery skipper, a monarch occasionally. Salvias just beginning to bloom, Salvia rutilans, the red pineapple sage, will attract hummingbirds, Anna’s and Allen’s. Also Tecoma capensis (common name Cape honeysuckle). Lots of butterflies and hummingbirds this year.
Wonderful, Jane. Enjoy the show! —Pam
A beautiful group of flowers…I find my butterflies love the asters, monarda and phlox here.
Here too, Donna. The asters will be blooming soon, and that’ll really bring ’em in. —Pam
I just spotted another large swallowtail, a King (Papilio thoas) hovering about our lantana and the citrus trees both. I’m hopeful it is an ovipositing female, I’d love to have more of these large and striking visitors here year round.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m noting a lot of skipper butterflies working the verbena. They are so small – a lot less striking than the swallowtails – but I appreciate their regular appearances!
Do you grow white mistflower, Deb? The skippers really love it. It blooms around Halloween, one of the last flowering shows in my garden. —Pam
Actually I don’t have any white mistflower, but now I’m thinking I might have just the spot for one (or two!). Fabulous suggestion – thanks very much!
Gorgeous photos Pam. Yes, they are beautiful butterflies with their buttery yellow wings.
Thanks, Jackie. —Pam
What a beauty. The weather and colors are certainly bringing out the birds and butterflies.
It’s that time of year. Makes me wonder where the butterflies have been all summer. Or maybe it was just that I was inside and missed them. —Pam
Lovely butterfly and plants. I have noticed more here than ever. I do grow a lot of the salvias, some lantanas and zinnias that they flock to. But I think it is the wildflowers that bring them closer. I had a lot of wildflowers volunteer in my yard this year. I must admit to encouraging them by shaking plants I had pulled from our arroyo around the garden. The butterfly looks like the giant Two tailed swallowtails that flutter in our yard.
I bet native wildflowers really do attract them, Joyce. Enjoy your visitors! —Pam
I see few hummingbirds in our new garden, in spite of a lot of flowers they like. Some butterflies, but mostly bees, wasps and flies. The number of species of these is bewildering. They are all over the kidney wood and the salvias, including ‘Henry Duelberg’, cocinnea and greggii. They also love the native Dicliptera bracheata.
How I miss kidneywood in bloom — such a delightful fragrance. I had one in my old garden and miss it. —Pam
I love it too. I’ve got three of them!
Great photos! I love salvias. I didn’t realize they were quite so appealing to butterflies.
Salvia greggii definitely is, Commonweeder. It would be an annual in your area, but it’s beautiful and its leaves smell minty when you brush past them. —Pam
Of my plants their two favorites seems to be Mexican Firebush (Hamelia patens) and Cherokee Bean aka red Coral Bean – (Erythrina herbacea). I had not seen the Cherokee Bean offered before this year when I found it at Rainbow Gardens nursery then later saw it for sale at Lowes as well.
I know you specialize in drought tolerant plants but if you have a place that you don’t mind watering a couple times a week you could try Purple Hyacinth Bean -(Lablab purpureus) – it is a study in purple, the stems, flowers, veins in the leaves and bean pods are all purple. It is an annual vine but once you get one you can collect seeds and have them every year. What I do is put a tomatoe cage over one and in no time you can’t see that tomatoe cage. It will not die if it is not watered but will stay stunted. I have volunteers come up here and there and if it is an area where It does not get any water it is less than a foot. If nothing to climb is given it will trail along the ground looking for the first available plant to climb so some people would not like that – I just snip off the runner if I see it attaching to a plant.
I also have Crossvine (Bignoniaceae capreolata) the Tangerine Beauty variety, which is not supposed to be as invasive. I have seen web sites suggest you have to keep the soil moist for crossvine but that has not been my experience. I watered it well the first summer but after that once or twice a week – maybe once a week if the Death Star is in full force in August with back to back days in the 100’s. Crossvine needs something to climb on so I wrapped left over poly deer fencing around a 2500 gallon rain water tank and it has covered it within a couple of years.
Butterflies love the Brazilian Sky flower -(Duranta stenostachya). I believe you mentioned you were thinking about that but did not want to provide the water. I have mine on the south west side of the house otherwise known as the killing zone since plants have to tolerate the heat from the sun and radiated heat bouncing off the stucco walls as well but the hotter it gets the more blooms you see. Everything in that ‘hot zone’ get watered once or twice a week during the peak hot period of the summer.
A wild morning glory (which volunteered at my place) Ipomoea cordatotriloba is loved by both the hummers and butterflies but you have to work at controlling the vine otherwise it will completely cover a bush so many people consider it invasive but its small purple flowers are very pretty.
Crossvine is one of my favorites too, and very tough. I’m glad to keep hearing so many people say that duranta is more drought-tolerant than I’d thought. I have tried hyacinth bean vine, which is so pretty, but I had the expected result: stunted plants. Thanks for your comment, James. —Pam
Yes to see a good show out of the Hyacinth bean you have to provide plenty of water – in south Texas anyway. The blooms are flat but both hummers and butterflies visit. What other people say is horribly invasive barely survives the summer at my house unless it is in an area that gets supplemental water. The fire bush is definitely a hummer favorite.