
Butterflies are self-propelled flowers!
23 Tuesday Sep 2014
23 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted Colours, Flowers, gardening tips, Gardens, Growing, Honey Bee, insects, Perennials, South African Endemic
inTags
Bee, Black Eyed Susan, butterfly, environment, Flowers, garden, honeybee, plants, South African endemic plant
Thunbergia alata or “Black Eyed Susan” is a happy fast growing and long flowering vine. It is a favourite here in South Africa, as it is not fussy about the soil and needs only moderate water. It is mostly evergreen and covers ugly places fast.
Ecology
Black-eyed susan is probably pollinated by bees. An insect visiting the flower will touch the stigma first, with its back, and then the anthers, getting a load of pollen that is then carried to another stigma. The flowers reflect ultra violet light in a pattern that is visible to insects but not to humans. This helps insects find the centre of the flower. Seeds are perhaps ejected mechanically when the fruit splits open. A butterfly, Junonia ovithya, or the eyed pansy, and moths also visit these plants to lay eggs, for the larvae eat the leaves. Hence this creeper, being attractive to insects, helps bring birds into a garden. Birds also often nest in the thickly tangled stems.
03 Monday Mar 2014
Posted ecology, Garden Creatures, gardening tips
inTags
butterfly, caterpillar, clivia, crinum, environment, green tip, home grown, jeremy taylor, nature, netting, organic, Pest control
Do you have a problem with caterpillars on your Crinum and Clivias?
This innovative method was sent to me via Jeremy Taylor from Sydney.
Simply drape netting over your plants, this stops the butterfly from laying her eggs on your plants.
Photo credits Jeremy Taylor
26 Sunday Jan 2014
Posted Art Gift, Garden Creatures, Organic, Photography, Quotes
in02 Wednesday Oct 2013
Tags
art gift, butterfly, deviantart, Flowers, Helichrysum, nature, Photo, photography, plants, pollinators, Red Admiral, The Lost gardens of Heligan
This Red Admiral was found at the Lost Gardens of Heligan sipping from the Everlastings.
Posted by Brigid Jackson | Filed under Art Gift, Colours, Flowers, Garden Creatures, Gardens, Photography
02 Monday Sep 2013
Posted Aromatherapy, Flowers, gardening tips, Perennials, South African Endemic
inTags
Afrikaans, Agathosma, Aromatherapy, Bee, Buchu, butterfly, Cape May, Cape Town, coastal winds, coleonema, Essential oil, floral arrangements, Flowers, garden, Insect repellent, nature, odour, plants, South African endemic plant, white flowers
The Cape May, (Klipboegoe – Afrikaans), or Confetti Bush (Coleonema Album) is one of my all time favourite plants in the Spring. It has dainty white flowers which smells of a mixture of Honey and Buchu. It is wonderful in floral arrangements.
It is an easy grower and withstands dry conditions and harsh coastal winds. The flowers are carried in such profusion that the bush is a cloud of white when in flower and attracts bees and butterflies. It flowers from May to November.
The aromatic leaves containing essential oils are used by fishermen to remove the odour of red-bait (aas) from their hands, hence the common name.
Campers rub the leaves on their bedding to keep ants and mosquitoes away. The leaves are used in potpourri and act as an insect repellent.
04 Tuesday Jun 2013
Posted Art Gift, Garden Creatures, Organic, Photography, Quotes
inTags
art gifts, butterfly, caterpillar, deviantart, garden creature, metamorphosis, nature, organic, photography, quote, richard bach
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the Master calls a Butterfly
Richard Bach
29 Wednesday May 2013
Tags
butterfly, Citrus swallowtail butterfly, deviantart, environment, garden, love, nature, photography, quotes, saint augustine, swallowtail butterfly
Posted by Brigid Jackson | Filed under ecology, Garden Creatures, Photography, Quotes
18 Monday Mar 2013
Posted Birds, ecology, Garden Creatures, Health, Honey Bee
in14 Thursday Mar 2013
Posted ecology, Garden Creatures, gardening tips
inTags
butterfly, caterpillar, clivia, crinum, environment, green tip, home grown, jeremy taylor, nature, netting, organic, Pest control
Do you have a problem with caterpillars on your Crinum and Clivias?
This innovative method was sent to me via Jeremy Taylor from Sydney.
Simply drape netting over your plants, this stops the butterfly from laying her eggs on your plants.
Photo credits Jeremy Taylor
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