For the first time this year, I saw an Eastern Black Swallowtail and she was laying eggs on the Fennel.  We never cook with Fennel, we just let it grow however it wants in our garden.  The result is that we have 2 huge stalks (is that the correct word?) of Fennel, which I guess if you are an Eastern Black Swallowtail, looks like a perfect place to lay a few hundred eggs.

First Eastern Black Swallowtail Of 2012 Laying Eggs

We saw a Monarch (it never did land on our Milkweed), Gulf Fritillary, and a Giant Swallowtail.  I also noticed that one of Monarch eggs had hatched, and another should hatch by tomorrow.

That’s what we “saw”, but we also managed to get some pictures of something we have never seen before, at least not in our backyard.

However, before all that, let me share a picture of something we have seen many times, but it’s always nice when it happens.

Giant Swallowtail Laying Eggs On Moro Orange Tree

The above picture is a Giant Swallowtail laying eggs on a Moro Orange Tree, also knows as a Blood Orange Tree.  She was also laying eggs on our Republic of Texas Orange Tree and Ruby Red Grapefruit Tree.

The part I’ve never seen before is a Giant Swallowtail “Puddling.”  Puddling is where Butterflies sip moisture and minerals from mud or sandy soils. What was interesting is that the Giant Swallowtail was “Puddling” in my backyard.  I did spread some topsoil earlier in the year, so I suppose there were salts and minerals in the topsoil.

Giant Swallowtail Puddling

Giant Swallowtail Puddling Closeup

There are a total of 5 videos, each one is less than 2 minutes long.  Watching these should give you a decent idea of how to start (or continue) a successful Butterfly Garden.

In this first video, I talk about how to buy Milkweed, what prices you should expect to pay (at least in Houston), how to tell if you have healthy Milkweed, and how to plant your Milkweed plants.

In this second video clip, I talk about the importance of having Nectar plants for your Butterfly Garden.  I also show a brief clip of my Butterfly Enclosures.

By the way, some good nectar plants I recommend are Penta, Salvia, Purple Coneflower, Lantana, Butterfly Bush, and the Cigar Bush.

In this third video clip, I talk about some other Host Plants for your Butterfly Garden including, Pipevine, Fennel, and Citrus Trees.

In the fourth video clip, I talk about some additional Host Plants for Butterflies including Spicebush and Passion Vine,  as well as what kinds of Butterflies you can expect to attract with the different Host Plants.

In this fifth and final video clip I talk about some additional Butterfly Gardening tools such as portable Butterfly Enclosures and long tweezers.

If you have any questions about these videos, where to buy plants or the additional Butterfly Gardening tools, just send me an email or leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy and it makes sense!

Here’s the tally

• 56 Improved Meyers Lemon (down from over 300 last year)
• 2 Republic of Texas Oranges
• 2 Ruby Red Grapefruit

I think the numbers are down in the Improved Meyers Lemon because of the extreme drought we had this year.  Even though the numbers are significantly down, the sizes of the Lemons are much larger.  Probably twice as big as they were last year.

Oh, that little Apple by the Ruby Red Grapefruit is a “Two-In-One” Apple tree.  We only picked 2 of those and they tasted terrible.

Improved Meyers Lemon Crop 09

Ruby Red Grapefruit Crop 09

Republic Of Texas Orange Crop 09

This is a Giant Swallowtail Chrysalis that we found on our Ruby Red Grapefruit tree.

Recently we noticed that we had 2 caterpillars on our Ruby Red Grapefruit tree.  Rather than bring them inside (since I have 100% failure with that) we covered the tree with a protective cover.  So today we go out to check and see how the Caterpillars are doing, and one of them was absolutely huge!

Now on to the pictures.  The first one is the Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar next to Leecy’s finger.  You’d never guess that bird poop looking thing would turn into such a beautiful Butterfly.

This next shot is what the Caterpillar will do when it feels threatened.  It pops up those big horn looking things and emits a spray (Leecy describes it as a bad fruit smell).