A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade – Spring

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Mary Anne Borge

Spring Azure nectaring on Virginia Sweetspire

Our townhouse has a southern exposure, with deciduous trees and the garden on the south, east and west sides, and a common wall with another home to the north. From November through early April, with the leaves off the trees we get a lot of sun, helping to keep the house warm and the heating bills low. As the leaves unfold, the house and garden is well shaded, minimizing the need for air conditioning. “Passive solar”, courtesy of nature, free for the taking. We love the trees.

In nature, different species need to spend parts of their lives at different levels of the forest, some at or below ground level, some just above it, some a few feet higher in shrubs, and others in the trees, even all the way to the tree canopy. So the strategy for our garden is to have a broad diversity of plants mimicking a small slice of deciduous woodland, with a mix of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants including perennials, ferns and sedges.

Having a good mix like this accommodates a wide variety of interesting residents, including butterflies, birds, bees, moths, spiders, wasps, flower flies, ants, tree crickets, katydids, and others I’m still trying to identify. A good mix of critters means that they’ll all help keep each other in balance, with no one species dominating, and no need for chemical intervention.

Bad-wing Moth with white form of Common Blue Violet

During the winter months we enjoy the silhouettes of the trees, shrubs and spent perennials, and the birds that visit them. In March the transition to spring begins, with buds swelling and leaves beginning to emerge from the soil. By April the first flowers appear, at multiple layers in the garden.

Before the trees unfold their leaves, among the first blossoms to appear are those of Red Maple, Northern Spicebush, and Golden Ragwort. Although Mourning Cloaks generally prefer sap, I have actually seen them nectaring on Red Maple flowers. Spring Azures are pretty eclectic in their beverage tastes, even sipping from the starburst yellow flowers of Spicebush.

Heartleaf Foamflower, Green and Gold, Creeping Phlox and Canadian Wildginger quickly join the mix, while Virginia Creeper leaves begin to unfurl, adding to the ground cover.

Spring Garden – Foamflower, Golden Ragwort, Virginia Creeper, Christmas Fern

As the days warm in April, violets begin to bloom. We have three well-established species: a white form of Common Blue Violet, the purple Schrank Alpine Violet, and Striped Cream Violet. They are spreading with the aid of ants, who eat the tasty elaiosome attached to violet seeds and then discard the seeds, effectively planting them. Last year a friend gave us a species with interesting lobed leaves, Early Blue Violet. All are available for fritillaries to lay their eggs nearby in late summer so their caterpillars, after spending the winter in leaf litter, can feed on them as both begin to grow in spring.

By late April or early May, Golden Zizia, Spotted Geranium, and Greek Valerian are all in bloom. Black Swallowtails may use Golden Zizia as caterpillar food plants, although they are also very willing to use the parsley and dill we grow in pots on the kitchen patio.

Spring Azure nectaring on Spotted (or Wild)Geranium

May brings blossoms at all levels of our woodland garden. Tuliptrees flower as high as their canopy, attracting bees with their copious nectar. Flowering Dogwood’s white bracts and Blackhaw Viburnum’s large round clusters of tiny white flowers light up the understory.

Flowering Dogwood

The shrub layer is graced with Gray Dogwood, Mountain Laurel, and Virginia Sweetspire. Many Azure butterflies favor dogwood and viburnum flower buds as caterpillar food sources, and will lay their eggs there. Ants protect Azure caterpillars from predators in exchange for the sweet honeydew they excrete.

Silver-spotted Skipper nectaring on Mountain Laurel

Leaves of White Baneberry (a.k.a. Doll’s Eyes) and Common Ladyfern, Marginal Woodfern, Christmas and Northern Maidenhair Ferns are now available for perching or basking platforms. The male Zabulon Skipper pictured here is working to attract a mate.

Zabulon Skipper posing for a prospective mate

While I watched him, when another butterfly flew by, regardless of species – Red Admirals, anglewings or swallowtails – he chased them away. With mission accomplished, he returned to a horizontal perching platform provided by White Baneberry leaves or the tips of a Christmas Fern frond, both along the edge of the moss path that curves through the garden. They offer the perfect elevation and exposure for the skipper to show himself off to prospective mates.

The secret is to choose plants that are naturally adapted to a woodland environment. They’ll be happy with the soil, moisture, and available light with minimal intervention from you, and no chemical fertilizers. Most of these perennials bloom for about 6-8 weeks, although Green and Gold may bloom throughout the summer if you deadhead. The shrubs usually flower for 2-3 weeks. After a warm winter, blooming may begin weeks earlier than usual. This past January I saw Golden Alexander in bud – a little scary!

So there is plenty of interest in the garden in spring. But what will bloom in the shade of summer and fall? And what butterflies will visit? Stay tuned!

See below for a list of scientific names for the plants featured in this post:

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea)
Heartleaf Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Creeping Phlox (Phlox stolonifera)
Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum)
Canadian Wildginger, Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)
Schrank Alpine Violet, Labrador Violet, American Dog Violet (Viola labradorica)
Striped Cream Violet (Viola striata)
Early Blue Violet (Viola palmata)
Golden Zizia (Zizia aurea)
Spotted Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Greek Valerian (Polemonium reptans)
Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium)
Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
White Baneberry, Doll’s Eyes (Actaea pachypoda)
Common Ladyfern (Athyrium filix-femina)
Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
Marginal Woodfern (Dryopteris marginalis)
Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)

Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part series. To see part 1, click here: A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade. For Part 3, click here: Embracing the Shade: Summer and Fall

This article was also published in the Spring 2013 issue of Butterfly Gardener, a publication of the North American Butterfly Association.

Spring Comes to the Sourlands

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Mary Anne Borge

Insects and reptiles are waking up, birds are gathering nesting materials, and early wildflowers are covering the forest floor. Spring has finally arrived!

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Several friends mentioned seeing a dark butterfly with yellow or cream borders, wondering what it was. These early flying beauties are Mourning Cloaks.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

Antifreeze-like chemicals called glycerols in their blood enable Mourning Cloaks to survive the winter as adults, using loose bark, other crevices in trees, or a pile of branches to shelter from the elements. They are able to raise their body temperatures by shivering, enabling them to generate enough warmth to fly in cool temperatures. They often drink sap, but will also nectar at flowers. I have seen them feeding on Red Maple flowers (Acer rubrum). On a walk on one of our favorite trails in the Sourlands the other day, we saw two spiraling skyward together.

With the exception of a few summer-like days, the temperatures have been warm enough for flowers to emerge and bloom, but cool enough to preserve the blossoms for many days. Early spring wildflowers flowers are gracing the trails and hillsides. These delicate but tenacious plants manage to push their way through their winter blanket of fallen leaves, like this Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica).

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) carpeted the woodland floor over the past week or two.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Wild Leek (Allium trioccum), also called Ramps, are gathering energy from the sun, preparing to produce their flowers many weeks from now.

Wild Leek (Allium trioccum)

Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)

Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)

and Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)

Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)

are beginning to bloom.

This lovely Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) exuberantly flung out its leaves, welcoming the sun’s energy while beckoning potential pollinators with its brightly colored flowers.

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

In order to protect their pollen from the elements, Trout Lily flowers face downward until they are pollinated, then they rise upright. To leverage its chances of reproductive success, another strategy Trout Lily employs is to open half of its anthers one day, offering the rest the next. In the photo below, you can see three of the flower’s six anthers splitting open to release their pollen.

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), orange anthers opening to reveal pollen

A Mining Bee, probably Andrena erythronii, is the pollinator visiting the Trout Lily below.

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) with Mining Bee, probably Andrena erythronii

The female members of this bee species collect pollen and nectar to feed their larvae, storing this food on the hairs (called scopae) on her upper rear legs until she can return with this bounty to provision her brood cells. Andrena erythronii specializes on Trout Lilies, but it is able to use the pollen and nectar of other plants to feed its young if Trout Lilies are unavailable.

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) with Mining Bee, probably Andrena erythronii, gathering pollen

Other critters are emerging from their winter slumbers. As I walked, I saw Garter Snakes basking in the sun. This one stood its ground as I carefully moved around it.

Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Wood Ducks hid in the shadows of a pond’s edge.

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

A special treat for me was seeing Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana) growing from rock crevices and through leaf litter, in colors ranging from deep violet to pure white.

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana)

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana) showing last year’s leaves

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana) with fresh leaves

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana) with mottled leaves

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica Americana; synonym Anemone americana)

Resources

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy. Butterflies of the East Coast. 2005.

Eaton, Eric R.; Kauffman, Ken. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. 2007.

Gracie, Carol. Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast. 2012.

Mader, Eric; Shepherd, Matthew; Vaughan, Mace; Black, Scott Hoffman; LeBuhn, Gretchen. Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies. 2011.

Insect Visitors of Illinois Wildflowers

A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Mary Anne Borge

Winter doesn’t want to quit!

Feeling like spring will never arrive? Let’s fantasize a little. Let’s think about gardens in bloom. And butterflies. We’ll soon be seeing them. Really!

When you think about a butterfly garden, shade may not be the first attribute that comes to mind. But really, maybe it should be. Or at least it should be one of the first.

Ok, maybe not shade for shade’s sake, but for the food plants that cast it.

When you think about it, many butterflies rely on woody species – trees or shrubs – as food plants for their caterpillars. For example, of the six species of swallowtail butterflies that are possible where I live in New Jersey, four require trees or shrubs as food plants, and one uses a shade tolerant vine. Most of the hairstreaks, many of the azure and brushfoot species, and the Hackberry and Tawny Emperor all require trees or shrubs as their caterpillar food plants.

Hackberry Emperor

Other butterflies have evolved to use shade tolerant herbaceous species like violets, Black Cohosh, and Golden Alexanders as food plants. So a shade garden can be a really valuable asset to the butterflies in the neighborhood.

Violets

My husband and I chose our house because we like the natural woods that surround us on two sides, preserved 24 years ago by the developer. Even though we live in a townhouse community at the edge of a small town, the woods give us the illusion of living in the country. We love the trees for their own beauty as it evolves through the seasons. And we love the birds they bring to feast on the fruits and insect protein that are abundant here.

Tufted Titmouse in Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)

Carolina Wren

Somewhat to our surprise, we found we also had butterflies. As we learned more about them, we realized we had some very desirable territory for butterflies, and other critters, too. Finally, I understood when I saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flitting high up in the White Ash or Tuliptrees, that it was a female laying her eggs on their leaves.

Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) blossom

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

The Mourning Cloak may have been drawn here because of the elm trees in the woods behind the house.

Mourning Cloak nectaring at Red Maple (Acer rubrum) blossoms

Why were Spicebush Swallowtails visiting our woodland garden? It’s the food plants, silly; their namesake Spicebush is present here, and so are Sassafras trees, which they are also willing to use.

Spicebush Swallowtail with Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia)

The birds and butterflies have a somewhat mutually beneficial relationship. It’s true that the birds may be interested in eating the butterflies sometime during their lives, but on the plus side, birds keep insect predators of butterflies in check. As a bonus, birds also provide dietary supplements for butterflies that are inclined to dine on mineral sources. The Silver-spotted Skipper pictured here is sipping the nutritious offerings conveniently left by one of the local birds in the form of its droppings.

Silver-spotted Skipper getting minerals from bird droppings

After stoking up, this little butterfly was off, maybe in search of an appropriate place to lay her eggs, like a near-by Black Locust tree.

Red Maple, White Ash, Sassafras, Flowering Dogwood, Blackhaw Viburnum, and a Crab Apple all grow in the common area along side our house. As the trees grew over the years, they shaded out the lawn surrounding them.

Before the shade garden

Moss developed where grass once grew. Chickadees plucked the moss until their beaks were full, gathering the soft lush material to line their nests. This was great!

Chickadee in Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)

So we decided to embrace the shade. It was futile trying to maintain a lawn that disappeared by July every year. We got permission from our homeowners’ association to plant a shade garden under the trees and in place of the lawn that once grew next to them. This was a win for our association, since money would no longer have to be spent fruitlessly reseeding, fertilizing and mowing the lawn, or more accurately, the mud.

Now we have a constantly changing display of blossoms, ferns, sedges, foliage, and fruits. We took advantage of the moss, encouraging it to cover a winding path through the garden. There is always something blooming from about mid-April to the end of November; sometimes longer if the Witch-hazel is especially happy. After that, the fruits offer visual appeal for us, and food for our local residents. The birds love the new habitat, and we have more butterflies than ever, enjoying nectar and other food sources, and looking for a place to start the next generation.

Our wildlife-friendly shade garden

I have my desk facing a second floor window so I can be easily distracted by birds, or watch a female Spicebush Swallowtail pause on a Sassafras leaf to lay an egg, then float down to lay another on the Spicebush that entices her below.

In future episodes, I’ll tell you more about the plants here and the critters we see enjoying them.

Note: This is part one of a 3 part series. For part 2, click here, A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade – Spring. For part 3, click here, Embracing the Shade: Summer and Fall

This article was adapted from one that was published in the Winter 2012 issue of Butterfly Gardener, a publication of the North American Butterfly Association.

A Promethea Moth and the Awe-inspiring Power of Nature

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Mary Anne Borge

A few days ago, the Nature Conservancy sent an email asking,

”Have you had a chance meeting with an animal much bigger than you on the hiking trail, or been witness to the awe-inspiring power of nature?”

If I think about it, I have been lucky enough to witness the awe-inspiring power of nature many times, in so many ways. But when I read this question, the encounter that came to mind first was with an animal much smaller than I am. It was a Promethea Moth (Callosamia promethea), one of the beautiful large silk moths.

The story starts in the fall a few years ago when I was looking for Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly chrysalises. Spicebush Swallowtails survive the cold winters in northern climates in the pupa stage, in a chrysalis. I’ve often seen this beautiful butterfly as an adult,

Spicebush Swallowtail nectoring on Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

and as a caterpillar,

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpiller

but I had never found a chrysalis.

Spicebush Swallowtails have evolved to depend on members of the laurel family as caterpillar food (host) plants. Where I live, this means Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) are the plants on which Spicebush Swallowtails rely for their species’ survival. So I went to a place that I know has a lot of Spicebush and Sassafras, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, to search for chrysalises. While I was unsuccessful in my hunt for a butterfly chrysalis, I did find this curious construction, which turned out to be a Promethea Moth cocoon.

Promethea Moth (Callosamia promethea) Cocoon

Promethea Moth caterpillars have the ability to spin an amazingly strong silk that they use to reinforce the attachment of a leaf stem to its branch and surround themselves with a protective silken cocoon, using the leaf as the outer covering. The result is a perfectly disguised shelter that looks like a dead leaf hanging from a branch. Here they stay all winter long, emerging in late May, unless they become a meal for a clever bird that isn’t fooled by the cocoon’s subterfuge.

I kept an eye on the cocoon throughout the winter and early spring, checking on it whenever I visited the preserve. I am a naturalist there, and often lead tour groups. I was leading a 2 p.m. walk one day in the third week of May, telling the group about Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies, Promethea Moths, the cocoon we were about to see, and the fact that the moth would be emerging soon. When we reached the Spicebush, a gorgeous adult Promethea Moth was clinging to the cocoon.

Newly Emerged Promethea Moth

While it posed waiting for its wings to harden, the members of my tour group were able to take photos. Eventually, we tore ourselves away and went on with the walk. We were surrounded by beautiful spring blossoms, but the Promethea Moth remained the highlight for us all.

When the walk ended, I left my group at the visitors center, went to my car to get my camera, and returned to the moth. Still there! I was able to take a few photos, then witnessed the moth move its wings, flutter them, release its grip on the cocoon and take off into the air above to seek a mate.

Prometha Moth, ready for take-off!

What a ‘one with the universe day’ kind of day!

Signs of Spring: Hazelnuts in Bloom

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Mary Anne Borge

Beaked Hazelnut Flowers

Need some reassurance that spring is on the way? Well, there may already be some shrubs blooming near you. Look for the flowers of my favorite harbinger of spring, American Hazelnut (Corylus americana), or its close relative, Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta). Hazelnuts can be found in rich woodlands, wood edges, thickets and along roadsides. They’re blooming down the road from me now.

American Hazelnut

With separate male and female flowers on the same plant, both species of hazelnut enlist the assistance of the wind in their pollination efforts. The flowers bloom before the leaves emerge, increasing the odds that the wind will successfully transport the pollen grains from the male flowers to a compatible female flower, since there are no leaf surfaces to impede the pollination effort.

Cream colored catkins containing the male flowers are visible from fall through winter, hanging stiffly from the hazelnut branches. As the winter winds down, the catkins grow longer and looser, their color evolving to include a hint of yellow. At maturity, thousands of tiny grains of pollen are released from the cluster of male flowers encompassed by the catkins, traveling on the wind in search of a female flower as a mate, preferably on a nearby compatible hazelnut. Pollination with a separate plant expands the gene pool, and increases the likelihood of successful offspring.

American Hazelnut Flowers

The female flowers are wonderfully gaudy in a subtle, inconspicuous way. Usually found at the tips of branches, the buds appear to be small and reddish brown during the winter. In bloom, the female flower parts resemble tiny, bright magenta sunbursts. There are several female flowers inside a single bud, with only their stigmas emerging to catch the wind blown pollen. Check the hazelnuts branches to see these petite, spidery female delights when the catkins containing the male flowers elongate and move freely in the wind.

American Hazelnut Female Flower

If the flowers are successfully pollinated, nuts are produced, ripening by late summer. While the shrubs are fruiting these two species of Hazelnut are easily distinguished. The flowers of the two species are very similar, but the nuts have very distinctive coverings. American Hazelnuts have a leafy sheath with a ruffled edge.

American Hazelnut

Beaked Hazelnut’s coverings are long, tubular and beak-like, giving this species its name.

Beaked Hazelnut

The nuts, also called filberts, are edible, although these North American species have generally not been grown as a commercial crop. A European species with larger nuts is grown commercially. Scientists from the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium, whose members are Rutgers University, Oregon State University, Arbor Day Foundation and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, are working to develop hybrid hazelnuts as a sustainable crop that can be grown in much of the United States and Southern Canada, to produce food, feed or bio-energy.

Humans are not the only consumers of hazelnuts. Squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and fox are among the other mammals who eat these tasty treats. Birds with beaks strong enough to open the shells for a meal include woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Wild Turkey and grouse.

During their growing season, hazelnuts may provide food for many beneficial insects, including the caterpillars of some of the most beautiful giant silkworm moths such as the Cecropia and Polyphemus Moths.

Polyphemus Moths Mating

Beaked Hazelnut may also be used as food by Early Hairstreak butterfly caterpillars. According to Douglas Tallamy in Bringing Nature Home, over 130 species of butterflies and moths may use the hazelnuts as caterpillar food plants. Birds rely on these insects and others as an important source of protein, especially during the critical period when they are feeding their young families.

The fall color of the leaves may vary from yellow to deep reds. At Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, near New Hope, Pennsylvania, you can see the two species of hazelnut growing next to each other. At that location, the leaves of American Hazelnut turn luscious shades of red, peach and orange.

American Hazelnut in Fall

Beaked Hazelnut’s leaves at the same spot are bright yellow. Makes me wonder about the difference in their chemical make-up.

Beaked Hazelnut in Fall

These multi-stemmed shrubs grow to a maximum height of about eight to ten feet, and can expand to a ten foot width. They make good candidates for a hedge row, either alone or with a mix of other shrubs. American Hazelnut can tolerate shade to sunny conditions, and moist, well-drained to dry soils. Beaked Hazelnut prefers a bit more sun.

American Hazelnut is native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States (except Florida), and to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba provinces in Canada. Beaked Hazelnut’s native range includes the Canadian provinces from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to British Columbia, and much of the northern tier of the United States, southward in the east to Alabama and Georgia, and in the west to California.

See if you can find a hazelnut growing near you. When spring arrives, think about planting this versatile shrub to attract birds, butterflies, moths and other wildlife to your yard. It will also provide welcome assurance that spring is just about here.

Resources

Bringing Nature Home, 2007, Tallamy, Douglas W.

Butterflies and Moths of North America

USDA Plants Database

Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium

Hazelnut Research and Breeding at Rutgers University

The Natural Web

Exploring Nature's Connections

Author Archives: Mary Anne Borge

A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade – Spring

Spring Comes to the Sourlands

A Butterfly Garden that Embraces the Shade

A Promethea Moth and the Awe-inspiring Power of Nature

Signs of Spring: Hazelnuts in Bloom

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