Spicebush Swallowtail on Eastern Purple Coneflower
This breathtaking sight was a recent morning surprise for me as once again the wonderful Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) brought in a special friend in the form of a Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) butterfly. It can be somewhat difficult to identify the Spicebush Swallowtail as the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) looks very similar. To me, in terms of general and unscientific impressions, the Spicebush Swallowtail is a duller black, flies a little stronger, and seems a little larger with broad wings. One scientific way to tell the species apart if you have a view...
Read MoreSpicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
I took these Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) photos last Friday evening after the opening of Stratford Point’s new water garden while the butterfly was being battered by gusty winds off the water. It was appropriately trying to feed in the garden itself but the seabreeze pushed it around to the other side of the building and some of the other gardens a little more out of the wind. Catching a drink while you’re being tossed about by those big sails is not easy, and it ended up fluttering to keep itself steady in the wind at times. The species is a daily sighting now among...
Read MoreEastern Purple Coneflower
This Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) makes for a spectacular “ornamental” type of plant for boxes and plots! I put ornamental in quotation marks because it is far more than a decorative object or flashy looking flower. It is a native perennial that is very popular among our pollinators, and adding them to your garden – wherever it may be – will not only give it a lovely look but also a feeding frenzy of insects. On the day I took this photo I saw Black Swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails, Orange and Clouded Sulphurs, Cabbage Whites, a Viceroy, and...
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