Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012 ~ Whites and Sulphurs

The Cabbage White Pieris rapae, Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme and Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice, are all inhabitants of Flower Hill Farm and are featured in this installment of Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012. 

Cabbage Whites 2012 and 2009

The Cabbage Whites I have photographed are males. A female has two black dots on each wing.

The originally Eurasian and abundant Cabbage White is hardly loved by most farmers and gardeners. I admit to having my own bias against the ghostly Cabbage White due to the larva and my sharing a love of the Brassica family, though I do not ever tolerate or support those that use poisons to control any insects that might damage our food supplies. 

The green caterpillars also eat peppergrass Lepidium virginicum and other mustards, so it is a good idea to plant more mustard greens that one would wish to eat. I do not really mind sharing my veggies with most wildlife and so far the whites are not too much of a problem here. Rabbits, however, make growing my own food so very heartbreaking and difficult. 

Cabbage Whites and Orange Sulphur 2012

Whites and Sulphurs are members of the same family but have their own subfamily each according to their name. The only Whites I have sighted here are the Cabbage Whites . . . it may be that the non native has caused a decline in the native species. The insane practices of corporate farms and others who manage land with toxic pesticides is most likely a larger factor in all endangered butterfly species. 

These butterflies are in flight from spring through fall . . .  having three broods that seem to overlap one another. The Sulphurs are more numerous and confusing to identify as certain later broods seem to look identical. I have included photos from previous years in the collage below. 

Orange and Clouded Sulphurs  2012 and earlier

Orange and Clouded Sulphurs fly about low to the ground in meadows, pastures and fields choosing legumes such as clovers, vetches and alfalfa leaves to fasten a single egg to. I have noted that they choose lupines too. In Massachusetts the Whites and Sulphurs overwinter as fourth instars or chrysalises.

I still have the Fritillary, Skipper and Monarch butterflies of 2012 to share. By next week the gardens should be wide awake with many more returning birds and butterflies awaking with it. It is exciting to imagine all of these beauties and more flitting about the fields and gardens soon. Happy butterflying!


A new installment of my  'A Bestiary' is up over at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens.

Spring Wildflowers and Other Wild Wings Scattered About

The gardens, fields and forest floors are dotted with fresh spring wildflowers. 

A delicate dancing red Trillium magically lifts itself up into the light. 

An early to emerge Orange sulphur Colias eurytheme, flying about looking for vetch no doubt. I am excited to see that the chrysalis survived our winter and hungry birds. April is suppose to bring showers but this year there have been few and I guess that is good for butterflies. I have never seen so many flying wildflowers this early before. The warm spring has encouraged emergence and I hope the dipping below freezing temperatures will not harm the wild winged creatures. 

 Black Swallowtails are awake very early too. I eyed this female depositing an egg and found it right in the path. I was surprised to see that the egg was attached to a piece of Bishop's weed. An invasive, pernicious plant of the carrot family . . .  and this may be a way to rid my gardens of at least some, but it is hopeless to ever be free it. I will be raising the caterpillar in a safer place indoors and will gladly harvest Bishop's weed for it to eat. I will place some Queen Anne's Lace near it too just in case. Dandelions are popping up in the grassy paths and fields. An important nectar source for the butterflies and the greens are great to eat . . . richer in iron than spinach. I do not understand why so many hate them. 

It is always a joy to see the clustered cheery faces of our native 'Quaker Ladies' or Bluets Houstonia caerulea, carpeting the fields. 

Even the Cabbage White Pieris rapae, is lively a bit earlier than usual. I hope she does not discover my tiny brassica seedlings sprouting in the veggie garden. Sweet violets are offering refreshing nectar.

Even more tiny blooms can be found lower to the ground. I am forgetting what these are. Any ideas?

I have been eyeing this Yellow-rumped Warbler  Dendroica coronata, for a couple of weeks now. 

Native Shadblow Serviceberry Amelanchier canadensis, blooms in the south field. 

Oh, I can never look upon these seemingly harmless fronds in the same way again. These could be Ostrich fern fiddleheads but it is too soon for me to determine. They are growing in a wet area in the north field. I have never harvested my own fiddleheads but did buy some recently at our co-op and prepared them for a lovely outdoor luncheon. Well, BEWARE  (see link just above in this paragraph - I wish I had) . . . you must boil these for at least ten minutes and then sauté them. I did not know or remember this and paid a huge price for my ignorance. Luckily my dear friend J. did not taste any tainted coils. 

Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis, blooms came and went very quickly with the heat, but their butterfly like leaves (in this image anyway) are equally stunning. 

 Virginia bluebells Mertensia virginica, are ringing in the north field. 

Violets Viola, are creating lovely carpets along the fields and garden floors. 

A first sighting ever for me here at Flower Hill Farm  . . . a Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla.

There are millions of blueberry blooms promising a bounty of berries for humans, birds and other beasts.

Red Elderberry Sambucus racemosa blooms outside the little studio terrace. A favorite berry for many birds. 

This wildflower post for Gail  begins and ends with Trilliums. This grandiflorium lives happily beneath an apple tree. 

It is an overwhelming time of year in every way. So much to do and see . . . ever changing. 

Exhilarating, inspiring and exhausting. 

Those of us who can engage in it and enjoy are so blessed. 

Flower Hill Farm BUTTERFLIES OF 2011 ~ Sulphurs and Whites

Orange Sulphur on Aster

We now enter the family Pieridae, of fluttering Whites and Sulphurs, found in the gardens and fields here at Flower Hill Farm over the last few years. 

Orange sulphur Colias eurytheme and Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice, can be confusing to identify, but not to the female Orange sulphur butterflies, who are attracted to the ultraviolet in the male Orange sulphur upper wings. 

I enjoy these bright buttery and paler butterflies mostly in mid to late summer and fall, though their flight may begin as early as May. 

The Orange sulphur and Clouded Sulphur female butterflies will lay a single, yellow-white morphing into deep red, egg on numerous legumes but prefer alfalfa, vetches, and white clovers. It seems the Orange sulphur caterpillars enjoy dining mostly in the dark. One would have to enter the meadows towards evening . . .  to see the caterpillars wearing green and white-striped pjs munching their leafy legume supper. 

Both Orange and Clouded Sulphurs overwinter in their chrysalis forms.

Orange or Clouded on Vetch

Clouded Sulphur on Aster

Clouded Sulphurs flutter though these images of the south field . . . full of New England Asters.

There is always a great chase scene in every good story.

The Cabbage White Pieris rapae, and I share a common delight. We both love Brassicas. Planting peppergrass and mustards may encourage the female to fasten her yellow-green eggs on a more diverse group of delicious plants, so there will be enough to go around. 

Unfortunately the green and yellow-striped caterpillar is blamed . . .  and I guess rightfully so . . . for much agricultural damage. Poisons have not worked but only brought more angst to the human community. 

Cabbage Whites overwinter in their chrysalis stage. 

Introduced to Canada from Eurasia in the eighteen hundreds it may also have caused the decline of other native Whites. 

Spring is still harnessed and held back by winters frosty grip out in our New England gardens and landscapes, but the Smith College Bulb show is on, giving all a whiff and whirl of what is soon to be set free. These photographs from last March are as close as I have been able to get this year . . . so far. 

Bluebirds are giving a 'wing up' to our new birdhouses!! 

Snow is melting and next week will be in the high 50's and even 60's! 

Snowdrops are still perky after the heavy carpet of snow . . .  I thought surely had crushed them. 

Ah, to be so supple!
I have seen a few dead honeybees caught out in the cold after the warmer days last week. The Monarch Butterflies are leaving Mexico!

I am late for my flight to Sweden and Katarina's charming world. I am happy to share my garden jewels today!

From the fragile wings to beasts . . . you can see my latest piece on the Eastern Coyote from my Bestiary over at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. But beware . . . it is a chilling tale.

Glimmering Light A Play Upon A Painterly Autumn Landscape

Dreamy soft oil pastel tones awaken touched by Gamblin's Quinacridone Violet with White streaks of new daylight. A Black Cherry along the forest edge casts a contrasting Indian Yellow golden glow.

Cadmium Orange Deep Maple leaves compliment Mount Tom wearing hazy smokey strokes of Manganese Blue Hue. Blankets of downy clouds scumble over the pigments deepening and softening the tints. A mark of Alizarin Crimson completes the focus of three surrounded by countless steady evergreen and blazing deciduous trees.

 Viewing from a second floor window around ten o'clock, as a bird might fly down towards the ocean of a mixed palette of greens, oranges and yellows flowing along the base of the Mount Holyoke Range. I would paint the old bending Apple trunks with a Dioxazine Purple and the chairs a Sap Green.

Turning our heads further right the landscape takes in Mount Tom and more of the terraced gardens. The worn mountains seem to be flowing off the edge of the canvas.

Continuing the exercise . . .  now to the left . . . still from above, we find drama in a beloved serpentine Black Cherry ablaze in Cadmium Yellow Deep standing in discourse with a stately Oak content for now with its Cobalt Green.  Below a wide palette knife stroke of Cadmium Red Light Sumac trails along the earth. The hills of Carey,Walnut and High Ridge run off towards the north sporting a fiery fleece. 

The mid morning sun peeks out from behind mats of cotton clouds . . .  adding bright Titanium White to the autumnal landscape painting . . .  leaves joyously glimmer bathed in refreshing light. 

A beloved serpentine Black Cherry reaches high up to the sky like a great statue or stallion in the north field. We see his lively mane in the three photos directly above . . . a majestic creature from any viewpoint in the gardens or house. Rich deep dark Violet strokes paint this sinuous trunk.

An Apple gateway opening into the blueberry field going down and wildly mad in reds. Tiny dabs mirrored in the foreground of Weeping Cherry. Some Titanium-Zinc White will be added to the Violet and Portland Grey Deep trunk nearest us. I find these heavy marks a great contrast to the soft Cad. Reds and Oranges.

I love a cloudy day full of play . . . the ball of sun is tossed about . . . throwing light around like in a Jackson Pollock painting. 

Blueberries decide to change into Cadmium Reds with earthy Burnt Sienna tones to make their mark for fall. Rapid strokes of chalky White frame this prized bush. 

A now vacant house awaits returning Tree Swallows. The Impressionist landscape in the background was filled with the magical flight and song of their iridescent Indigo Blue. The south field is more alive with their fanciful soaring and flights. 

Below the birdhouse carpets of Cobalt Violet wild Asters cover the field and attract other colorful whimsical creatures. 

This little male Orange Sulphur is perhaps enjoying his last supper before becoming a green chrysalis with dots of yellow and black. The grassy green caterpillar . . .  with pink and white stripes. . .  survived the rabbit chomps on white clover or vetch and hopefully the overwintering chrysalis will escape the wild turkeys, robins and bluebirds. I love how the photo mirrors all the colors in my first dawn photo. I do not believe I would try to paint this image, for the photograph is painterly enough. Next time we will step more into the gardens and see what its palette has to show.