The Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a common butterfly in North Texas, and is the most frequently spotted in our Gregg’s Mist flower patch.
In looking up the information on the Queen butterfly for this post, I found references for telling apart the males and females of the species. The males have dark patches on the hind wings, which are scent producing patches. So in my picture, it is a male Queen butterfly because the patches are evident.
Once again the Japanese honeysuckle has exploded. The metal arbor that holds it is completely engulfed and the scent can bowl you over on a warm morning.
I do plan (again) to harvest the vines in the fall, but now I have a secret weapon: a stem stripper. This small metal tool is marketed for stripping thorns from rose stems, but works awesome on removing leaves from honeysuckle as well. It makes prepping the vines much faster.
I did take stereoscopic images and put them together. There is depth, but it lacks diversity. It is a great huge mound of honeysuckle, after all.
I have one happy cactus in my terrarium blooming away, one that wanted to bloom and I either missed it or it changed its mind, a few that are holding steady, one that slowly died, and one that bit the dust within days of replanting. I put up an artificial light that runs 9 hours a day (my choices are 3, 9, or 12), and water sparingly once a week. Here is the original post.
When my jewel orchid failed to thrive in my mossarium, I transferred it to an old fancy Ball jar filled with moss in a south west facing window covered in a translucent frost window covering. It was happy there, so happy that it started on a new leaf.
There are two problems with the canning jar container: one, I can only see the jewel orchid when I open the jar; two, if the orchid gets happy enough to bloom there is no room for the flower spike. So I purchased a tall clear acrylic vase, transferred the orchid and his moss to a different canning jar, and used the vase as a lid.
I can now see the orchid, and if it sends out a flower spike, it has somewhere to go. He remains happy in his new home, as his leaf opened fully with no curling or discoloration.
I have used little peat pellets this year to start my basil and pepper seeds. Maybe they will actually make it outside this year.
I’m very thankful for farmers, since I can only occasionally grow basil and peppers, and bomb out on everything else.
Critters and Craft 