Very nice pictures. Your butterfly is an Eastern Black Swallowtail and I think your moth is a Sphinx.

Judy

Great photos, Karalynn! Yes, that is an eastern black swallowtail butterfly, and a male to be exact. The female has less yellow and is larger.

Both of your moths are sphinx moths (aka hummingbird moths, and hawk moths). The second one is a tersa sphinx.

Love that gulf frit on the zinnias! Thanks for sharing!

Marcia

Thanks for the IDs. I love the spinx moths! Whenever I find them on my porch it's really easy to get them to crawl onto my hand so that I can move them outside. I found the pink-spotted hawkmoth on the porch yesterday afternoon and even it was very docile and let me handle it.

I have so many gulf frits in my garden this year! Those and sulfers.

Thanks for starting the new post, Karalynn! I had no idea what a cotton flower looks like, so now I know! Lots of great moth/butterfly pics. I miss profusion zinnias this year.

Here is one of my shady corners:

Anna

Here is a link that might be useful: here are pictures of the day, week #2

Anna,

I always expect to see Frodo and the elves in your garden. :o)

Kara,

Nice closeups!

From last weekend's trip to Bok Tower Gardens:

Kate

I like the pattern on this little guy.

Just one more, then I'll quit:

I've got a few hummingbird related photos to post.

First, I found out how the anole was getting to my feeder. Here, he prepares to jump to the feeder.

A new plant in the hummingbird community that's being considered one of the best hummingbird flowers, Cuphea schumanii.

The plant has been deemed too leggy to be considered for commercial use in landscapes. But, if hummingbirds use it, there will be a number of us who will find a place for it. It grows to 6 feet tall. This one is only a foot tall.

One of my shrimp plants.

My heliconia. Heliconias are only pollinated by hummingbirds.

Anna, I love your shade garden, it looks so lush! What is the taller plant that's growing behind the large mound of begonia?

Kate, that picture from the Bok Tower gardens is wild looking.

Rowdy, I love your picture of the anole lizard getting ready to jump to the feeder. Here's one of my own.

Rowdy: Yours is one of the most beautiful shrimp plants I've seen - makes me consider them much more favorably. It's so full and healthy looking. The ones in my neighborhood are scrawny and leggy. Apparently with the right care they can be lush and beautiful.

Also, thanks for the tip on the size of the schumanii. I'm hoping to add it to my garden solely because of its attraction to hummers. I wouldn't have planned for a 6 footer otherwise. - June

Great pictures, EVERYBODY!! Kate, especially beautiful photography from Bok Towers. I agree with all the compliments, totally.

Here's my contribution. Not much going on in my yard, but I was at Kanapaha Gardens in Gainesville Friday, and in spite of the heat, it was very beautiful, as always. When I found this guy under a palmetto frond that was overhanging the sidewalk, I was thrilled! I haven't seen one in this yard, EVER. The Cuban treefrogs keep me busy with my eradication program, but no green treefrogs have been able to establish themselves here yet, apparently.

I sure enjoyed seeing this one!

Marcia

Wow Rowdy - that shrimp plant is incredible! What's the secret?? Mine looks so pitiful.

Solstice98 - that Bok water plant is scary!!

Great pics everyone!

fighting8r,

Regarding the shrimp plant, normally I would say neglect but I have to admit that after no rain in over two weeks, I finally hit it a little with the hose the past two evenings. Typically, during the winter it thrives and blooms with no help from me. It could be that it's planted where a tree was removed and the stump was ground up. There's a lot of organic material in the soil from the stump.

Steve

Beautiful plants and critters everyone! It was hard to find something in my garden that isn't gasping from the heat and lack of moisture. This is from my mostly shade side.

Lipstick vine with Copperleaf and Justicia 'orange flame'

Ginny

Kate, your photography is exquisite. Thanks for sharing some of Bok. I've never been there, but have always wanted to go. If you have any more, please show us more.

Melissa, lol, if there were any hobbits or elves out there, I would be putting them to work!

Rowdy, thanks for the followup on the anole's antics. He is very crafty to have found that food source. That little fella must have a real sweet tooth. By the way, I also have to admit I've never seen such a magnificent shrimp plant. Puts mine to shame. I should try another spot. I didn't know hummers were the only pollinators for heliconias. Learn something new here every day.

Marcia, lol, that little green treefrog looks like he's hanging on for life! Need to get to Kanapaha too.

Anna

Great pictures.
Anna,I love that picture of the shady area.Such a diversity of plants.
{{gwi:955312}}
I won this rose for giving a correct answer on a radio,
gardening program. Guess the name of the rose.
Felix

Karalynn, sorry I forgot to answer you. That plant is a foliage anthurium. I have forgotten the species name. I will get a picture from the front one of these days.

Here is one of my butterfly areas. You can see how tall the milkweed in the back has gotten. It is perfect, too. Meaning there have been no monarch cats since spring (sigh). The wasp population here has kept them gone, and the milkweed has unfortunately been pristine. Lots of little creatures still use it, though. And rowdy, when my hummers were here, I could have sworn they visited the milkweed a few times Is that possible?

Anna

I went to research the source of my comment regarding the heliconia as being pollenated only by hummingbirds and I can't find it. The best that I can find are references to MOST of them being pollenated by hummingbirds. I found reference to a few varieties found in the south Pacific where there are no hummingbirds. So, I guess that I have to take back that comment.

There are cases where some heliconia appear to have evolved along with specific species of hummingbirds where the flower opening fits the bill of that particular hummingbird so closely that it is the only one that can get into the nectar. Thus, they are the solely pollenated by that species of hummingbird. Where that species survives, so does the heliconia. Where those hummingbirds failed to survive, the heliconia failed also.

So, even though there are some species of heliconias that apparently can be pollinated by other means, there are some that need their hummingbirds.

Steve

Anna: In your 10/12 picture, what is the variegated green/white leaved plant in the lower left?

I enjoy looking at pictures of your garden. You combine plants beautifully. - June

Ginny, I love that combination. Very pretty. That acalypha looks great there. Is that lipstick vine in a basket, or is it in the ground?

Rowdy, I just didn't know that hummingbirds pollinated any heliconias. Thanks for the info.

June, that variegated plant is calathea majestica. It is barely hardy here in my yard. Comes back every year, but takes a long time to look good. I don't think it would do 9a except in a container. Don't think I can really recommend this plant except maybe for 10b'ers. Thanks for the compliment. Sometimes things blend well, sometimes they don't. It's all trial and error for me, but I am learning!

Here is my acalypha hispida. Got hit hard last winter and has had a hard time getting to the point to look nice. I'm hoping this winter will be milder.

Anna

Anna, that last plant is gorgeous! I had to look it up to see if I could grow it at my house and am sad to see that I can't. I have the dwarf chenille that does wonderfully but it looks like I'm just too far north for the larger variety. I love all of the pictures of your garden that you've posted, your garden looks so lush and inviting.

Marcia, that is a fantastic frog picture! I love how well defined it's stripe is.

Kate, I love that closeup of the caladium leaf!

My brother in law, who is a Camelia grower and judge asked me to photograph this flower. He made the cross, but because of health problems he had to give up his nursery, so it will go unnamed. It must be over 5" across.

john

Emmy Grey??

John, FANTASTIC camellia!!! Wow, what a bloom!

Anna, every picture of your garden is inspirational.

Ginnibee, love your shady garden. Beautiful!

Steve, always interesting learning more hummingbird info. Cool!

Thanks for sharing, everyone. I love seeing what's going on in your garden and around the state, etc.

Marcia

John,most beautiful Camellia!

Marcia,since you are the only one playing,I'll give you
the answer to the name of the rose.
No,is Knockout! :-)
Felix

Anna, for me, that acalyphia hispida is the most cold sensitive plant in my garden, I think. Just barely a cold breeze and it goes down, but always comes back from the roots. I didn't get a frost this year, but still it went down.

Great photo's everyone. :o)

That crossed my mind, too, Felix, but somehow it didn't look just like KnockOut. But it sure is pretty!!

I had a new rose for you, but after I dug it up, it croaked! Sorry!!!

Marcia