Butterfly
Butterflies, Caterpillars, and Moonflower Seeds
The gardens are alive with butterflies, bees, birds, and caterpillars. Yellow and white skippers are abundant, and swallowtails, monarchs, painted ladies, and fritillaries are frequent visitors as well. The front courtyard, which is visible from most rooms in the house, provides a picture window view to all of the activity.
The Desert Checkered Skipper pictured below was attracted to the mealy sage in the beds on the west side of the house. I love the dark teal color of his body.
Desert Checkered Skipper
This Pipevine Swallowtail seemed to prefer the French Brocade marigolds. It was difficult to get a really good picture of him in the late afternoon light, but his iridescent dorsal side showed up pretty nicely.
Pipevine Swallowtail on Marigold
Pipevine Swallowtail on Marigold
There were several black swallowtail caterpillars munching on my dill plants.
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar Feeding on Dill
The moonflowers have succumbed to the light freezes that we have experienced over the past couple of weeks, but the seed pods have set and some are dry and ready for seed collection. The first seed pod pictured below is not ready for harvest yet. The second one is dry and ready for collection.
Moonflower Seed Pod Not Ready for Harvest Yet
Moonflower Seed Pod Ready for Collection
The drought continues here. We have only had 14″ of rain this year which has made it a real challenge to establish new plants. Without the drip irrigation system we would have lost many plants. We have a chance of rain next week, and I am hoping we get at least an inch so our oak trees don’t go into a major stress mode and lose all their leaves prematurely.
Peace.
Carol
Tags: desert checkered skipper, moonflower, moonflower seed, moonflower seed pod, pipevine swallowtail butterfly, swallowtail caterpillar Discussion
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Beautiful photos! The Pipevine Swallowtail looks gorgeous on those marigolds. Do you think they purposely choose the colours that set off their own the best?
Namaste Sunita, I hope all is well in Mumbai. The Pipevine Swallowtail does look handsome on the marigolds doesn’t he? They do seem to favor gold and yellow shades of flowers to feed on, both of which contrast nicely with their coloring.
Carol
Good Day,
I have Moon Flower seeds that I received for my Vietnam Veteran friend (Kenneth Deck) in Bellflower, CA. I have been holding onto them for over 10 years.
Over the years I have watered the seeds to keep them moist.
This year I actually left the container open and traveled with the seeds in my pack.
To my surprise this morning I opened up the container and noticed that the seeds sprouted!
Would anyone happen to have a recommendation on how to plant the seeds?
All the best,
Lorene Kay
L.OKay99911@gmail.com
Seattle, WA
I have planted this year the moonflower seeds, I did not know it was like a little shop of horses, it started off fine then keep going I have had to intertwine the vines, and now it has over taken the one side of my home. Please tell people to only plant one seed and not two, that is what I did. I wish I could shear the photos with you. I quiet amazing.
How do you store the seeds?
I store them in a plastic bag in a cool, dry place.
I came across this page while looking for decent pictures of moonflowers and when to harvest seeds. Great pix of the pods. How much time between the first picture of fat pod and 2nd picture of dried one? I guess I should pull them before a frost if need be. It is my all time favorite flower. I think, in past, I’ve harvested the pods too early(can’t wait to see what’s in there:), so after seeing your pictures, will wait patiently for them to dry on the vine. Does anyone know of the conditions/setting, etc. they need to grow outdoors in WA—I would presume early summer. Here in TN, mine are very particular about their setting–they like early and late afternoon sun, with shade in hottest part of day.
Julia, the pictures of the seed pods were taken at the same time. Some of the pods on the vine were more mature than the others. They need to be dry like the second pic in order to be viable. If they are not mature and dry before the plant freezes they will never reach maturity.
Moonflowers should do fine after the last freeze in WA, and last all summer as long as they get enough water to stay moist. I agree that they like mid day shade in the south. They don’t like direct sun when it is over 95 degrees.