Long-tailed Skippers appeared this week

I don't know where they come from, whether they just hatched from cocoons or whether they've been living somewhere else.  They show up every year about this time. They like this dwarf firebush, also porteranthus. They seem to prefer full sun.
 

We have one plant of this non-native, dwarf firebush that we grow at a distance from our native Hamelia patens. I love the native; its presence guarantees an abundance of zebra longwings, my favorite butterfly. other butterflies and hummingbirds also frequent it. I worry about cross-pollination diluting the genetic purity of the native species. Wow, I sound like a Nazi! The problem is that our native species has coevolved with our native insects, including butterflies, over time. They work together. I haven't done scientific studies, hey I'm a gardener, but it seems apparent to me that the native pollinators greatly prefer the native species to the non-native. I've seen hybrids both in my garden, which I remove, and in nurseries. Indeed, some native plant nurseries sell the non-natives. Furthermore, they all, including the hybrids, produce red fruit. Birds eat them and distribute seeds. One of the red flags for an invasive plant.

I greatly fear the ship has sailed on this one. Still, it seems wrong for me to grow this plant. It's hard to rip it out when it does attract bees and butterflies.

'Tropical Weather for Tropical Plants

 It's been a hot summer in Central Florida (like everywhere else) and we've had plenty of rain. Yesterday, we got two inches of this in about 20 minutes. Driving west, we hit the rain about three miles east on our way home. By the time we got home, coaxed the dogs out of the car and into the house, and got dried off enough to check the total, we were already a smidge over two inches. Damn! No wonder Karen had to carry the  dogs the 20' from the driveway into the house. There haven't been a lot of rains over two inches but it's rained at least 4 days out of 7 for the last two months. 

We grow a lot of plants on ~quarter acre: Florida natives, scrub natives, southwestern plants, xerics from around the world (we have 7 month without any significant rain), and in spite of those parenthetical dry months, we grow lots of jungle tropicals because we both love them. Bananas, heliconias, gingers, random epiphytes, and a gaggle of one-offs. They love this weather, that is, steamy with regular rain. 

This Blue Java banana is ecstatic. The clump is 5 years old and we haven't had this wet a summer since it was planted