Butterfly and Hummingbird plants

[SpookyShoe]

Shrimp plants are supposed to be a magnet for hummingbirds and butterflies. I myself have never seen a hummingbird on one of my shrimp plants, LOL. However, they are blooming in the backyard now so I cut some blooms for a small bouquet.

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[MissS]

Your shrimp plant is lovely. A very pretty color.

The hummingbirds in my yard do not use my yellow shrimp plant or an orange one but they flock to an orange one that actually is colored like a shrimp. Of course it is the ugliest shrimp plant of them all. Lol

[Growing Coastal]

That's a lovely shrimp. We don't see them here all that often.

[SpookyShoe]

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Today was a beautiful day, mild and sunny, so I went to my favorite nursery to see what kind of things they had. I saw this Monarch on some pansies. I have never seen a butterfly on pansies before.

I picked up five bluebonnet plants, five delphinium plants, and two French lavender plants. The bluebonnets and delphinium will bloom in early Spring.

[PlainJane]

Ditto, never have seen a butterfly on a pansy. Just bees. Now that I think of it, that’s odd.
Nice haul from the nursery, and love the shrimp plant flowers!

- Joyce

[SpookyShoe]

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[Growing Coastal]

I bought 2 of that salvia last year and they are calmly waiting for Spring in the carport. Still have leaves. One is a double of a pink and purple that I can't decide whether to cut apart or not. They are so close and so tight, I think not. Will do cuttings of the purple if I want a separate one. This salvia, whose name I don't remember now, has a different kind of odour to its leaves I found pleasant enough.

[SpookyShoe]

The above salvia does not like my late summer heat. It wilts and it doesn't bloom as profusely as it does when the weather is cooler. It should do very well for you and your climate.

[MissS]

No Skyscraper salvia do not like the heat or intense sun. They do well for me up here in the north but if you grow them in the south I would give them morning sun with afternoon shade. I grew all three of the new Skyscraper series last year, purple, pink and orange. I thought that the orange showed up best but the purple was my favorite. Wendy's Wish was still favored by the birds more frequently than any of the Skyscraper's.

[SpookyShoe]

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The milkweed is starting to leaf out again, but there's not very much new growth yet.

[PlainJane]

I better get my host plants squared away soon. All I have available is fennel right now.

[MissS]

It's a good thing for that little plant that the caterpillar is about done feeding and ready to pupate or it would be out of leaves soon. I bet the plant will have a big sigh of relief as soon as it is gone.

[SpookyShoe]

I can move him to another area that has milkweed with some new growth. I've had to do this before. I just cut off the leaf that they're on and transfer them.

Update: Here he is this morning. I'm going to have to transfer him.

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Update #2: This should last him a while.

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[Growing Coastal]

Awww, Good for you! AND him.

[MissS]

Good on you. You got your good deed for the day in!

[imp]

Would that little caterpillar eaten himself out of house and home?!! Good thing you shifted it to a new "apartment"!!

[SpookyShoe]

Feeding on the pentas and laying eggs on the milkweed. The white dot on the milkweed leaf is an egg.

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[EdieJ]

Last summer, I saw this gorgeous black swallowtail fluttering around my parsley plants (grown in a big pot.) By the time I realized why she was there, she had pretty well covered the plants in eggs. I decided that it is easier to buy parsley than butterflies so I kept the parsley plants watered and watched out for anything that looked like a predator. About 3 days after the caterpillars hatched there was not a leaf to be seen, and the caterpillars moved on. But at least they got a good start on life - and with patience, my parsley plants re-leafed. Win-win!

[SpookyShoe]

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[SpookyShoe]

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Bought 3 pots of Midnight Candle salvia and 2 pots of lavender dwarf hummingbird mint. They are going in a 20 gallon grow bag. ( First I need to clean the leaves off the top of the soil).