Slim pickings!

In view of the recent cold snap that swept over the Bayou, I never expected to see butterflies!  The pathetic looking zinnias still drew a few moths and butterflies out of their hiding places.  The critters were not moving to swiftly early in the morning but by midday they were all flitting about like it was midsummer.  This made me start to ponder just what they would eat if those zinnias had been pulled from the ground like I started to do last week.  Would the butterflies and the last few hummingbirds go elsewhere or would they merely go hungry?  I know that, as a rule, you are supposed to pull down the hummingbird feeders once it starts getting cold so the birds will continue their migration to warmer parts but it never occurred to me that a few diehard or stubborn critters might need a bit of fueling before continuing that trek.  It would sure be hard to make a long flight on an empty stomach!

This afternoon, I noticed a few butterflies but no hummers.  Perhaps they have scooted themselves south of here.  Do all butterflies migrate like the monarchs?  Or do the ones like these Long-tailed Skippers stay and brave the cold?  I never thought much about these questions until today.  I had moved the Pineapple Sage indoors but was having second thoughts now.  Maybe I should move it outdoors again just so the Skippers will have a better selection of diners!

Doing a bit of research on the Skippers made all the difference in the world.  They do not migrate from the Bayou!  Some will come spend the winter here but the ones that live here just merely stay put! The butterfly does not do well where there is prolonged cold but here on the Bayou, we rarely have hard freezes.  Even during the coldest days, the sunshine brings enough warmth to pull it above that frost mark.  The Skipper will hide under mulch until the sun warms it enough to move.  Then it is out and about hunting anything to fuel its body.

 These butterflies are often overlooked.  They pale in comparison to the almost gaudy Swallowtails and Monarchs.  Still, they are quite beautiful if one takes the time to really look closely at them.  They have a prominent bluish-green color at the base of the wings and on their back.  The tiny butterfly brought a huge smile to my face on this cold day.  I do think I should find some winter-flowering plants just for the Skippers!

A Heap of Trouble!

A Morning Glory vine decided to come up in the compost heap and cover the entire fence that surrounds it.  This was ok by me as I thought it would beautify an otherwise unsightly part of the yard.  Compost heaps are never the most attractive feature of any yard but serve an important purpose.  Lots of things can be recycled into nice fertile soil to be used in the gardens.  I eagerly awaited the blooming of the vine.  Would it be the pale lavender ones that grew near the marsh edge or the dark blue ones in the Rose Garden.  Perhaps even one of the white ones that grow wild near the grapefruit tree had a seed sprout in the compost pile!  It could happen to be any of these as birds and animals carry the seeds about the place.

Today, I noticed a number of the Long-tailed Skippers flitting about the pile but could not see any flowers from the kitchen window.  What was up with that?  I grabbed the camera and headed out the back door!  Butterflies should not be where there are no flowers!    By the time I reached the heap, I had counted at least six of the Skippers!  When I was just a few feet from the compost pile, I saw that the vine actually had numerous blooms!  These blooms were just tiny!  They were not like the huge flowers of the cultivated vines that I planted..these were difficult to see!  Teeny-tiny purple blooms dotted the vine.  On those teeny-tiny flowers, the Skippers were feeding!  The butterflies dwarfed the flowers!  But what was this?  The leaves of the vine were covered with orange and yellow bumps!  I touched the back of one leaf and found that the "yellow" easily came off on my fingers.  Oh, no....Rust!

Plant Rust is a disease that gets on many plants especially during the rainy season. This is a fungi that infects the leaves of the plant.  Moisture causes it to spread until it covers the leaves. We have had some rather rainy days lately and I suppose that was enough to infect the entire plant.  There is not much that can be done for a plant that has been covered with the fungus other than ripping it out and burning it.  This will keep the spores from being blown around and infecting another plant.  So...tomorrow, the Morning Glory that resides in the compost heap will be eliminated!

Little Skipper!

Ahhhh...The rains continue!  Dark clouds covered us the entire day making it a wonderfully inspiring day!  By that I mean..I was inclined to sort through a mounds of stuff!  Although it is one of the hardest things in the world for a crafter to do, I parted with a number of potential craft items today...arrgh!  Any crafter will tell you that you just do not throw things in the garbage!  Most any item can become some marvelous recycled creation if you are given the inspiration, the ingenuity and the time to make it so.  But I tossed..it was like ripping off my right arm..but I tossed.  Believe it or not...I feel freer!  Now my craft room (aka sewing room) is at least in some semblance of order!  I can find things!  Wow...I never thought that would happen!  With all this rain though, I did become a tad stir-crazy and have to slip outside if even for a moment.  Once Ms. Ez and I meandered around a bit, we both felt a tad better.  The cool rain felt good as did the stretching of our legs!  She even got in a few romps after a couple of adventurous squirrels that were in search of supper.  While she was on one such chase, I deadheaded a few of the zinnias before deciding that soggy, mushy, slimy flowers were not exactly fun to touch.

While in the zinnia patch, I spied a lone butterfly trying to catch a nip before the raindrops made it impossible to fly.  The high winds caused the poor little thing to nearly be blown from the flower head but it kept trying.  I wish I could have caught a clear photograph of the upper side of the insect.  With the wings open flat, the body was the most beautiful blue but the underside was dark. This brave little butterfly is none other than a Long-tailed Skipper!  As butterflies go, it is rather smallish but what it lacks in size it makes up for with spunk!  I did not see one other butterfly out and about in this inclement weather!  Most others sought some sort of shelter from the winds and rains but Skipper braced himself against the odds and got supper!

The Long-tailed Skipper butterfly, as pretty as it may be, can be quite a pest or at least the caterpillar can be!  The Skipper female will lay her eggs on any legume plant that is handy.  The caterpillars will hatch and munch away on the leaves of these plants.  Consequently, if there is a handy-dandy bean or pea garden around near, those leaves will become meals for the little critters.  I know that the Crowder peas that are left in the garden have now been adorned with the tiny yellowish white eggs.  Soon..if not already..those pea plants will be riddled by the army of little caterpillars!  Their fat little bodies will then be encased in a leaf to prepare for transformation into adult Long-tailed Skippers!  It will be "Goodbye, pea plants...Hello, pretty little Skippers!"   Oh well, sometimes a sacrifice must be made in the name of beauty!   The little Skipper sitting on a zinnia really was a thing of beauty!