Re(4): monarch butterflies (fwd)

undone@sirius.com writes:
>Dear Barry GARCIA,
>
>Sorry for the confusion!  My husband Barry DEUTSCH has seen Anise
>Swallowtails taking nectar from potted Lobelias at his office!

Oh ok. I see. I'm used to being the only Barry mentioned here on the list
:).
>
>
>Why not a willow corridor in a residential neighborhood?  It would make a
>wonderful buffer zone between yards.  There was a "tithing to nature"
>program in Austria when I last visited, whereby each property owner set
>aside ten % of his land for habitat.  Do you think your neighbours might
>consider it?

Well problem is, the area of town in which I live is not Willow habitat.
Also a lot of home owners would be worried about willow roote getting into
pipes. I actually live in a coast live oak woodland habitat, so if I did
plant native trees (trust me, there is not enough room in my yard for a Q.
Agrifolia), i'd plant Q. Agrifolia. I could however, plant coffee berry
since it does grow in the oak woodland habitat, and as others have pointed
out is the food for the larvae. Also, i don't think I could get any of my
neighbors to agree to something like that, as i'm never around enough to
try to organize things like that (school and all). Anyway, I did buy some
Ceanothus griseuses today, and if the blue flowers attract like you say
they do, i should see more butterflies.
>
>
>Tiger Swallowtails are equilaterally triangular in shape.  They fly
>generally higher, in a more gliding fashion, than the usually darting
>(especially if male) Anise Swallowtail.  Tigers are soft butter yellow,
>vertically and thinly striped with black that does not so arrest the eye
>as
>does the black leading edge of the strikingly two-toned Anise Swallowtail.
>If you take time to become familiar with the differences in appearance and
>manner of movement, there's no need to catch them.

Hmm, well I do remember the butterflies I saw up on the peak being a soft
butter yellow. Other than that, all I remember is the distinctive tails,
and black markings. However, I wouldn't mind the anise swallow tail. It's
a lot better than the rather over-common cabbage white. 
I do see monarchs from time to time, but since I dont have any Milk weeds
they don't come here too often. Which is the reason I bought seeds for
Asclepias tuberosa, and A. curassavica (i think the flowers of A.
curassavica are some of the most brilliant i've seen in a while). I didn't
buy seed for the native species of milk weed because I can find it fairly
easy (and it's not too attractive to me either, sorry).



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