Late Butterflies

[Nature's Babe]

Had a beautiful red admiral in the garden today, bright and sunny here.

[Monika]

Yes, Nature's Baby, we were visited by two or three small tortoiseshell, one red admiral and one peacock yesterday, all feeding on verbena bonariensis, perennial wallflowers, rudbeckia and sedum. it's lovely when we get an "Indian summer" like this - autumn is my favourite time of the year.

[glallotments]

We had red admiral, tortoiseshell and comma last week. It was busy photographing them when I should have been doing other things.

Photos are on my blog here http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/first-admiral.html

[Nature's Babe]

its raining again today here, certainly not an indian summer in these parts, but still lovely when they do appear on the few sunny days.Great photos gallotments

[vegpatchmum]

We've had a Red Admiral on our lounge window this morning (gets the sun in the morning). It was trapped in a web thread but has managed to free itself and flown away. The kids were thrilled to see it and even more thrilled when it freed itself

VPM
x

[Nature's Babe]

Someone said no wasps, plenty here coming into the greenhouse for the grapes and three huge ones indoors !

[PLUMPUDDING]

Still a few butterflies around today - including cabbage whites.

We've had lots of late wasps, even eating the apples as they ripen, so I've bought and set up some more wasp traps. There are some very good ones on Amazon which are only £2.99 each and if you get more than 1 you still pay the same postage, so worth stocking up. I've been juicing a few windfalls and using that in them as bait. They love it and I haven't noticed any bees going in as I think it is a bit too acidic for their liking. The traps I've bought are orange plastic and look like an old fashioned bee hive. Tested them with two other designs and these are easily the best.

[Nature's Babe]

Thank you for that tip plum pudding !

[Monika]

Why are you getting rid of wasps, PP and NB, particularly now when they will be dying off very shortly in any case? And in summer they will eat your cabbage white caterpillars.

[Ricard with an H]

I know this is a kitchen-garden forum, i'm also aware some of you are interested and concerned about the flying-wildlife so my question is why isn't there more talk and interest in creating wildflower areas.

My wildflower areas have taken ten years to establish, some of my areas are alive with types of bee and wasp during summer. So-much-so that one of my regular visitors always heads straight for a particular patch just to sit and listen.

He has often said he can hear a big thank-you coming from all the busy flying insects.

Ten years ago the seed alone costs us close to £300, some areas failed miserably though I managed to collect seed from some perennials and caught-up, others are very difficult to propagate. Difficult even when you have seed.

I gave up on the natural scattering method as wasteful, half that seed was lost though alongside I had created seed beds which worked a lot better.

One wonderful plant is called, 'ladies-bedstraw'. What a fantastic smell and the insects all fight to get at it. I must get some seed.

Other than for the same reason we feed birds i'm not entirely sure of the benefits of my wildflower planting to my new vegetable gardening, the one problem plant I haven't managed to establish is corn marigold. It grows wild in the set-aside and I occasionally get plants from collected seed though more fail than survive. One self-seeder established itself happily in a clay pot alongside a small rosemary plant.

That should give me a clue for next year.

[Primrose]

No butterflies here but I've spotted a few late bumble bees about recently and wonder if it's the poor summer's low nectar levels which has forced them out to forage so late in the year although we do sometimes have a late show of other bees descend on the ivy flowers which are often quite late to blossom.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi Monika,

I've hung the traps up in the apple trees because the wasps were actually eating them as they ripened, I've also hung some among my outdoor grapes as they finished the lot off last year. Probably a waste of time this year as I doubt the grapes will ripen before the frosts. I think the wasps will have died off by now, but the late bit of sunshine a couple of weeks ago encouraged quite a few more wasps.

During the summer I also hang a trap in the nearest tree to the bee hive so the wasps don't try to invade the hive.

Other than that the wasps are welcome to gather as many grubs as they like from everything else.

[glallotments]

I know this is a kitchen-garden forum, i'm also aware some of you are interested and concerned about the flying-wildlife so my question is why isn't there more talk and interest in creating wildflower areas.

We leave grass under some of our fruit trees on the plot and wildflowers have established themselves in those areas but really we haven't space in the garden and a wild flower area on the plots would be seen as not cultivating and lead to reprimands.

As a compromise I grow a bed of annuals each year (call it a cut flower area) which provide lots of pollen for butterflies and bees. I have also planted buddleias at the end of long vegetable beds (a bit like in France where they have rose bushes at the end of a row of vines). As well as servicing the insects the bushes provide a bit of shelter - our site is open and very windy at times. Insects also love the herbs and fruit blossom. There tends to be some fruit blossom for a large part of the year starting off with the pears/ gooseberries. blackberries etc right up to blackberries. All are very busy with buzzings and flutterings.

[Ricard with an H]

Even though i'm on the slope of a valley i'm also exposed so it's wet-and-windy with very little shelter. I have the sea around me on three sides and could do with growing some shelter though not much survives around here other than blackthorn and gorse.

I did think about laurel wind-break hedging but the only advisor I had was in the business of selling planting, also, laurel seems a bit suburban for an area like this.

I tried to grow escalonia, it grows but tends to go leggy and it looses it's leaves here. Escalonia was recommended to me specifically but i'm not keen even though the bees love the flowers.

Gorse flowers very late to very early, even before spring has officially arrived and some has already started to flower now. We have lot's of gorse but you have to keep cutting it back or it goes like escalonia. All dead in the middle.

All my wildflower has to grow in amongst invasive grasses, the grasses help to keep the wind from desiccating everything. The dreaded creaping buttercup is rampant here, it looks fantastic in flower in the paddock and banks but it's a full time job keeping it under control in my raised beds. A tiny plant the size of my hand can have a root almost a foot long.

[Geoff]

I've no experience of it but isn't Sea Buckthorn often recommended for your situation?