End of October Garden #GardenCuizine

End of October - Fall Harvest

How can it be Halloween and the end of October already? I'm sad to see the garden season wrapping up. As always, the many varieties of coleus didn't disappoint and will continue growing in one of our raised beds and in pots all around until a killing frost. The striking plants are blooming tiny, blue blossoms, which are beautiful! I started a few flats of cuttings to grow for next year. Coleus is easy to root from cuttings.

We didn't get many dahlias this year, but then, we didn't plant many. I miss my cousin Bob who passed away years ago now. Bob was my go-to source for dahlia tubers. It hasn't been the same without him.

As always, we harvested lots of heirloom tomatoes and peppers. The jalapenos keep on coming! I plan to snip a few bunches of Rosemary to take in before a freeze.

We had a surprise Fall Monarch sighting on October 25th, just in time for Loretta's birthday!! I couldn't believe it. I've been obsessed with Monarch's this year. Did you know that Fall monarch's migrate to Mexico? I find that fascinating and look forward to trying to photograph and witness a roost of them next Monarch migration 2022 at Cape May Point.

Our South Jersey garden has some strange things growing too, such as Passion fruits. For years I tried to get Passion vines growing to no avail. Now, it is growing all over, like a pesky weed. The fruits are extremely seedy. We don't use them in the kitchen.

What is still growing in your garden?

You can view more of my photos (and Harry's too) on Fine Art America.

Best for a Happy & Healthy Halloween!

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved

Birds and Butterflies at Cape May Point #monarchbutterfly

Monarch or Viceroy?

As you know from my previous post, Fall Monarch butterfly migration is now underway. We predict that our newborn NJ Monarch is on the way to Cape May! We followed her lead to Cape May Point yesterday for a day trip, hoping to see lots of Monarchs. Cape May Point also happens to be one of the most popular sites for bird watching in North America. Since it is a major migratory route, we met birders from all over, including Ohio and Lancaster.

The Cape May State Park hiking trails were scenic, easy to walk; the day was picture perfect too. Yellow goldenrod was blooming throughout. Unfortunately, we didn't see very many Monarch butterflies. We did see Viceroy butterflies, which look very similar to Monarchs.

Viceroy butterflies have the exact same color as a Monarch: orange, black and white. To tell them apart, note the horizontal line on the bottom wings of the Viceroy (see above photo). Monarchs do not have that (see below photo). Another difference is that Viceroys are smaller in size. Viceroys also don't migrate.

At the end of the day, we stopped by a residential property in a final effort to see a few Monarchs. We got the tip from a birder on one of the trails. The location was a residential home with a lovely front yard corner garden that featured colorful zinnias, cosmos and tall, orange Tithonia (Mexican sunflowers). 

Others gathered around too, all of us with our cameras shooting butterflies as if we've never seen a Monarch before! So fun though. Butterflies were all over. We heard that there were even more sightings in the morning.

And, special thanks to the good Samaritan videographer who gave us a ride to our car after we got lost coming off the trail. 

At the end of the trail we reached the dunes along the Delaware Bay and passed a beautiful pond with ducks, cranes and swans. Then we found ourselves at Cape May Point Lighthouse! The parking lots there were not the small parking lot off Seagrove Ave that our GPS took us to when we first arrived.

Happy Monarch Watching!

Related Links

Monarch or Viceroy?

Photos and blog post Copyright(C) Wind. All rights reserved.

Monarch Migration underway! Today in our NJ garden a Monarch was born! #WindPhotography

Monarch Migration Underway

Today, September 23rd in our New Jersey Fall garden, a beautiful Monarch butterfly was born! All a monarch needs is Milkweed for mama Monarch to lay her eggs on and for caterpillars to munch on before their magical metamorphosis. It can be a small area in your front or back yard that you do not mow. Native plants like Common Milkweed can be encouraged to grow there and viola, you will soon be supporting habitat for Monarch's!

I noticed a sea-foam-green, opaque, chrysalis in our Milkweed meadow on September 11th and was watching it and photographing it daily, while counting down until the big day. According to Journey North, the chrysalis stage takes 8-15 days; this miracle arrived just as expected.

Last night I noticed that the chrysalis was starting to turn blackish at the bottom. The chrysalis eventually turns transparent and the butterfly's vibrant wing colors of orange and black can be seen. When this happens you know that the butterfly will emerge soon. 

Sure enough, the monarch butterfly ripped through the clear, thimble-sized chrysalis this morning! What wasn't expected was for it to arrive on my birthday! Yahoo!! What a great gift! It all happened before 9 am. I was glad that the timing worked out to be hours before the rain storm.

According to Journey North, most Monarch's are born in the spring and summer and live for only 2 to 6 weeks. This late summer/fall Monarch butterfly lives longer and it will migrate all the way from our front yard milkweed meadow in New Jersey and fly 2,000 miles to overwinter in Mexico.

Monarch's born in the Fall are the special generation that migrate to Mexico. See the links below to see my photos on Fine Art America and to learn more about this popular endangered butterfly.

Happy Fall!

Related Links 

Sightings Flowing In

Monarch Lifecycle

Link to my photo of Monarch Chrysalis

Link to Monarch Water Bottle photo

Blog post and photos Copyright(C) Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in our South Jersey garden: beautiful blooms, Milkweed, Monarchs, Figs and ants! #GardenCuizine

Today in Our NJ Garden - zone 7a (was 6b)

September 5, 2021

Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. "End of Summer" seemed like the perfect title to my above photograph taken today in our front garden of Black-eyed Susan's with Sweet Autumn Clematis. 

The highlight of my day today was to see both a Monarch caterpillar AND a Monarch butterfly!! The monarch caterpillar was resting on Common Milkweed in Harry's Milkweed Meadow and the Monarch butterfly was visiting a small patch of native hardy Ageratum. Of course, both got reported on Journey North's website as fall Monarch migration is officially underway! 

I snapped a few photos of the Monarch caterpillar and butterfly with my cell phone and when I went back with my good camera to get better pictures later in the day, they were gone.

Today, our veggie garden is bursting with blooming garlic chives, zinnias and cannas. We also have dahlias (not blooming yet), chia and peppers and heirloom tomatoes that will keep producing here and there until the first killing frost.

This is our best year ever for figs! Figs have to be picked as soon as they ripen. Both trees are producing figs. Today I picked two huge figs from our littlest fig tree (variety unknown). One fig had to be sacrificed to the ants; they beat us to it.

One quick note about when to pick figs. I had this question, "Will figs continue to ripen once picked?" I read that figs do not ripen after they are picked. However, we just discovered that they do continue to ripen. Our Chicago figs continue to ripen and get sweeter after they are picked. Now, we just need to improve our timing of picking figs before the ants march in.

Happy Labor Day!

Related Links

Journey North - report your Monarch Sightings!

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@journeynorthorg Annual Monarch Migration #NJ @PinesAlliance @cumberlandctynj

New Jersey Monarch Migration

Monarch butterflies in New Jersey are headed south as their annual fall migration continues. Yesterday, along the bay shore, we saw lots of Monarch's feasting on the native yellow goldenrod plants located in the front of East Point Lighthouse along the dunes. 

East Point Lighthouse is located on the Delaware Bay at the mouth of the Maurice River in Cumberland County. The area is along the edge of the federally designated Pinelands National Reserve.

The lighthouse overlooks the Delaware Bay and is the second oldest lighthouse in NJ. It was fully restored in 2017 after a fire in 1971. I was surprised how many people were touring and visiting at the time of our visit. 

We kept our masks on and decided not to go inside the lighthouse until after the pandemic. It was open though for those who wanted to see the gift shop and the view. Instead, we took a walk to the waterfront.

And, yes, I reported our Monarch sightings on Journey North (see link below)! I had hoped to see more Monarchs at our home in Mt. Laurel, but even with all our milkweed plants, this year we have hardly seen any compared to last year.

We also saw a beautiful Common Buckeye butterfly mingling in with all the Monarch activity!

Related Links

Fine Art America prints and greeting card of Common Buckeye photo by Diana Wind

Visit NJ East Point Lighthouse

Monarch Migration 

Journey North Report Your Monarch Sightings!

Photographs Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Monarch Butterfly sighting in Mt. Laurel NJ in our backyard on Mexican Sunflowers!

photo by Diana Wind

Fall Monarch Butterfly 

Sighting 

in Mt. Laurel, NJ

Another adult Monarch Butterfly was seen on our Mexican Sunflowers this afternoon. I reported the sighting on JourneyNorth's statistics data collection. Report your sightings; citizen scientists make an important contribution to the understanding of monarchs and their incredible life cycle and migration.

We also refilled our hummingbird feeders today with fresh nectar. I wasn't sure if any hummingbirds were still around,,, they are! We had a female visiting at the red cannas that border our veggie garden just after refilling the feeders. So glad that I did.

Happy Gardening and Hummingbird and Monarch watching!
Grow a patch of Milkweed and Monarch butterflies will come.

Related Links
Amazing Year for Eastern Monarch Population

Blog post and photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

More Monarch Butterflies emerged in our NJ garden! #monarchmigration #gardenchat

photo by Harry Wind - edited by Diana Wind

Dorian was born! 

Dorian's chrysalis bobbed back and forth beneath a protective milkweed leaf as winds from Hurricane Dorian passed us along the Jersey coast after battering the Bahamas. As days passed by and the winds passed, Mother nature's course continued. The leaf started curling and browning. It probably wasn't the best idea to form a chrysalis under a milkweed leaf.  Amazingly, no other caterpillars ate that leaf and this story has a happy ending.

Dorian was born! As the sun warmed the morning air, this beautiful Monarch butterfly crawled out of the chrysalis. Nearby, another beauty did too. Yes, two more adult Monarchs to join the 2019 Monarch migration.

Harry noticed that they literally hung out around their chrysalis' mid-morning for a few hours while their wings dried. Learning about the amazing life cycle of Monarch butterflies has been the highlight of our summer. Dorian took 15 days to eclose (emerge). All I can say is, plant Milkweed and they will come. 

Happy Monarch Watching!
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@monarchwatch @SaveOurMonarchs @journeynorthorg Our milkweed meadow monarch watch update #monarchbutterfly

Our Milkweed Meadow

Monarch Report

My last post talked about the many monarch caterpillars we have this summer thanks to allowing milkweed to grow in our front yard. In the USA, monarch butterfly populations have been declining rapidly due to habitat loss of mainly milkweed. Monarch butterflies need milkweed to survive. We grow it just for the monarchs.

We love milkweed's pleasant fragrance; it's a native plant. And, you do not need a green thumb to grow it. Any homeowner can grow it. Ours grows in a small area that we don't mow or water - basically, a mini (pocket) meadow.

This morning I went out to look for a monarch caterpillar that I noticed Sept. 2nd, hanging under a milkweed leaf in the classic "J" shape - shown in the top photo. And, sure enough, the caterpillar must have shed it's skin soon after I saw it and produced an outer green protective, thimble-sized, pupa (chrysalis) in perfect form. 

Wow! Super exciting to see; and, beautiful too. I never realized chrysalis have a sparkly gold band at the top. I also discovered another chrysalis hanging from a branch in a nearby shrub. 

When metamorphosis is complete, a spectacular monarch butterfly will emerge and join the others in a captivating fall migration. These special, fourth generation, monarch butterflies live the longest. This generation of south-bound butterflies travel over 2,000 miles to their over-wintering destination high up in the mountains of Central Mexico. And, when winter is over, they turn around and fly back to the USA - absolutely an amazing journey.

Updates: 9/15/19- The good news is the chrysalis under the milkweed leaf is still hanging. The bad news is that the leaf is shriveling up and dying now and won't last much longer. ...Come on butterfly... come on!! I just saw a monarch butterfly, but it wasn't this one. I have been watching 2 other chrysalis too; 3 in all. The one in the sun on a shrub branch has beads of sweat on it and you can see the darker butterfly wings inside! 

9/16/19- Guess What? Harry said the chrysalis on the shrub was dark in color this morning. By the time I got home from work, later in the day, the monarch was gone! The other 2, including the chrysalis on the dying milkweed leaf, have turned darker in color and look ready now too. My bet is sometime in the morning. I also saw another caterpillar! The Monarch life cycle is fascinating.

Related Links
Journey South
Monarch Butterflies Migrate 3,000 miles  
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@monarchwatch Success! Monarch caterpillars all over our milkweed meadow. Yay! #savethemonarchs

Grow a Milkweed Meadow 
for Monarch Success!

Our pocket meadow is proving to be a huge success! Harry's Meadow covers a small piece of our front lawn that we decided not to mow. With a little encouragement and select weeding, common milkweed is flourishing. Milkweed leaves are where monarch butterflies lay their eggs. When monarch caterpillars emerge, they are at the table of their only food source - milkweed. 

A few weeks ago we enjoyed watching and photographing monarch butterflies. We have had a banner year for butterflies - more than ever! Some of the attraction may be that our yard now has many plants that are good nectar sources, including: Milkweed, Joe Pye weed, Echinacea, Liatris and Mexican Sunflowers. 

A few weeks ago, monarch butterflies mated and laid their eggs. Now, we are seeing lots of monarch caterpillars (larvae stage) on the milkweed plants eating the leaves. 

These feeding monarch caterpillars take 10-14 days to molt (5-stages) and grow before leaving the caterpillar larva stage. 

After the larva stage comes the pupa stage, when their chrysalis hangs camouflaged somewhere. It takes another 10-14 days to develop into beautiful monarch butterflies. These late summer monarchs are the 4th generation that join the monarch migration to over-winter in Central Mexico!

Our meadow didn't start out as all milkweed. The area has been invaded by Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), an undesirable, invasive weed. We continue to pull it out to make room for milkweed to spread.  

Along with monarch caterpillars we also have lots of orange milkweed bugs. We decided to leave the bugs alone and let them do their thing. They seem to be coexisting on the milkweed plants along with the feasting caterpillars. Yesterday, I stopped counting at 11 caterpillars and one monarch butterfly!

I have been looking around the meadow for where the caterpillars may go to form their monarch chrysalis for metamorphosis. I noticed a caterpillar hanging straight down from a dying Queen Anne's lace plant. Could this be the chrysalis spot for that caterpillar?

In searching for more information I came across the links below that I found helpful. And, I joined and reported our sightings on Journey North.

Happy Gardening and Monarch Watching!

Related Links
Monarch Life Cycle
Monarch Biology
Advocate to your elected officials

update 9/2/19: the hanging caterpillar from the Queen Anne's lace plant was dead. Not sure what killed it. The good news is that today I did spot a live monarch caterpillar going into the pupa stage underneath a milkweed leaf.

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.Top photo of monarch caterpillar on leaf edge was also posted on Journey North who was given permission for use.

Echineacea blooms attract butterflies! #naturephotography

 

To attract birds and butterflies we added six more pink native Echinacea to our front yard garden. The bunnies trimmed a few for us; but, left us a few with buds. One just started blooming! We've been enjoying the butterflies that Echinacea attracts.

Shown above was a female Monarch visitor yesterday. This morning we spotted an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on that particular bloom. Before the season is over we will surely see bright yellow goldfinches too; they also love Echineacea pupurea coneflowers.

Happy Gardening!

Related Links
How to identify a Monarch butterfly

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.