Weeds and wildflowers, and other visitors
Aug. 28th, 2004 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rscOur front yard in Gloucester, as those who have visited us know, is really more meadow than lawn, as we mow it infrequently and allow (and in some cases even encourage) some wild plants to flourish there. One which has been spreading in recent years is something that I was eventually able to identify as brown knapweed, and I've been feeling lately that we're perhaps allowing it to spread a little too much, although it does have attractive purple flowers. But earlier this week I discovered that
... it can attract visitors:
Tiger swallowtails are not uncommon around here, but I'm used to seeing them in late June and early July, when they seem to be attracted by our abundant day lilies. But here was this one, apparently intent on sucking every last drop of nectar from the knapweed.
I saw it again the next day -- or perhaps that was a different individual; I'm pretty sure I saw more than one, because the first one I saw (when I didn't have the camera) had a short or missing tail on its right wing, whereas this one seems to be similarly damaged (if it is damage) on the left wing. Anyway, the later one ignored the knapweed, visiting the orange cosmos (where I was unable to get a shot of it) and the "purple dahlia" zinnias:
where I was eventually able to get a shot of its underside:
None of this is particularly exotic, but it reminds me of why I like living in the country.
... it can attract visitors:
Tiger swallowtails are not uncommon around here, but I'm used to seeing them in late June and early July, when they seem to be attracted by our abundant day lilies. But here was this one, apparently intent on sucking every last drop of nectar from the knapweed.
I saw it again the next day -- or perhaps that was a different individual; I'm pretty sure I saw more than one, because the first one I saw (when I didn't have the camera) had a short or missing tail on its right wing, whereas this one seems to be similarly damaged (if it is damage) on the left wing. Anyway, the later one ignored the knapweed, visiting the orange cosmos (where I was unable to get a shot of it) and the "purple dahlia" zinnias:
where I was eventually able to get a shot of its underside:
None of this is particularly exotic, but it reminds me of why I like living in the country.
