Category Archives: dainty sulphur

New pathways

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I’m really excited about the two pathways that are going through the butterfly garden.

The brick pathway is through the first portion of the garden, which is complete. My daughter painted them years ago, but the paint has since come off, or fading a ton. I may have to scrub them clean, so she can create new designs on them again.

The stone pathway I began today to go through the second portion of the garden.

This pathway, although is very time consuming, I’m loving how it is turning out. My husband brought bricks home years ago and I never knew quite what to do with them. I started getting rid of them, a little every week, until an idea sprung.

I am now using a sledge hammer and breaking them to create another artsy pathway. It’s a huge jigsaw puzzle putting all the broken pieces together.

The best part of today, of course was watching the variety of butterflies that visited the garden while I was out there. We had monarchs, gulf fritillaries, orange barred sulphurs, great southern whites, dainty sulphurs, Cassius blue, polydamas swallowtail and one I got extremely excited about, the giant swallowtail. I sure have created an oasis!

This video shows a polydamas swallowtail, orange barred sulphur and gulf fritillary.

Dainty everywhere

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The dainty sulphur, the smallest yellow butterfly, were in abundance this morning, sipping from weeds in the yard. These littles, wingspan 2.2 to 3.0 centimeters, fly very fast and are hard to capture with their wings open.

The females have more orange and extensive black on their upper hindwing, while the males are bright yellow with black markings.

The host plant for these littles are of the Spanish needle, a herb of the aster family. The caterpillars are exposed, but are difficult to find due to the size. They would definitely be fun to find as they are green with a purple stripe.

Littles

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The dainty sulphur, the smallest yellow butterfly, is frequenting the yard once again, as the grass is growing due to all the recent rain.

I have read that the males are brighter yellow with black markings, while the female appears to be more orange with extensive black on the upper hindwing. The wingspan is tiny, 2.2 to 3.0 centimeters.

This butterfly is always seen flying low to the ground, pretty erratic, as it lands on various blades of grass, and flowers. So far it has been incredibly hard to photograph with the wings open.

The host plant, however is Spanish needle, which is a herb in the aster family. The caterpillars are hard to find, due to its size being incredibly small and the color.