Sunday, October 17, 2010

Queen Butterfly


        We had a new garden visitor stop by, a Queen Butterfly.    It's a lovely small butterfly, one that is suppose to be attracted to milkweed.   We have a lot of milkweed in the yard, but so far we have only attacked Hawk-wasps, a harmless but creepy looking insect.
         The plant that appears to be the attraction is a new one that Kent bought at the Desert Botanical Garden's fall sale on Friday.   Ageratum corymbosum caught his eye when he saw there were four butterflies on it at the plant sale.   He had never heard of Ageraum corymbosum before, but he bought it.  It's a member of the asteraceae family, and also appropriately known as Butterfly Mist.  http://www.anniesannuals.com/plt_lst/lists/general/lst.gen.asp?prodid=1579


Here it is in its temporary home and before being planted in a larger pot.  We would plant it in the yard, but it looks like the rabbits might like it as much as the butterflies. 

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     The Queen butterfly is lovely.   Danaus gilippus for those who like to be precise.  I like Queen better.  For more details on this species, check out http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1893