It was unseasonably warm for most of our visit which was nice; a good winter for butterflies so far. I love these Zebra longwings. They seem to travel in small groups. I never saw fewer than three at a time. They seemed to particularly like the Jamaican Porterweed. I was hesitant to plant this as it is sometimes aggressive. It's stayed to one plant for the past two+ years. I suspect it would be more trouble if the garden were irrigated. Anyway these guys were all over it. They flew right past the butterfly weed and various southwestern salvias to get to it. A little research revealed the curious fact that this species is one of a very few butterflies that is able to "eat" pollen. They apparently secrete some fluid that dissolves the grains. Huh!
The garden itself was in quite good shape. Most years the dry season plus a frost or two, leave it a mess. This year there had been only one frost and rain has come in dribs and drabs so things were pretty presentable. We have one camellia, 'Pink Chablis' and it had one flower, its last of the season, on it the day we arrived. Oddly, that has happened twice before in previous winters. The first time I took it as a happy coincidence. Now I'm not sure it isn't an affirmation; the garden welcoming the gardener back. The gardener was happy to be back!
1 comment:
haha must be a great experience..
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