Click the links for images and life cycle information
January and February: Mourning Cloak
The Mourning Cloak overwinters as and adult and will emerge on warm winter days to feed on tree sap and carion. It's large size and black and yellow coloration are a welcome sight in the winter garden. We applied "mung" to the oak tree trunk as a potential food source for the adult Mourning Cloak.
The Spring Azure is the dash of blue seen in our early spring garden. The larvae feed on flower bud and are attended by ants! Adults seek nectar on the early blossoms of spring flowering trees and shrubs.
Our gardeners planted Wooly Dutchman's Pipe, Aristolochia tomentosa, to the garden this month. The Aristolochia species is the sole food source for Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars. The Pipevine plant when ingested by the caterpillar is distasteful to birds and protects the caterpillar from predation. The snake-like appearance of the caterpillar wards off predators as well.
Designated as the State Butterfly of Georgia, its yellow wings with black tiger stripes makes this large butterfly easily identifiable. As a means of protection, the female also exhibits a dark form without yellow on the wings. The black coloration mimics the Pipevine Swallowtail which birds avoid.
In honor of our "Butterflies and Friends" program see that Ladybugs, like butterflies, undergo complete metamorphosis: egg, larvae, pupae, adult. All stages of this life cycle are visible in our garden.