Thursday, May 6, 2010

Here goes nothin'

I have had a dickens of a time getting captions lined up with photos in this post and am throwing in the trowel, er, towel.  Further down in the body of this post was a photo of a Question Mark butterfly which would NOT stay with the caption.  Now it has disappeared and I don't know why.  I apologize but life goes on.  Forgive me and I promise to do better.  Next time.  (maybe...)  As a reminder: click directly on any photo to get a larger version with better detail....


Rush hour here at Gardenista....
I have mentioned here enough times by now how I stink at identifying butterflies and other critters in the garden.  However I am driven to keep trying.
Dun Skipper

Whenever I see a butterfly that I know I have successfully identified in the past and just can not for the life of me recall the name of, I feel frustrated beyond measure.

Cloudless Sulphur

It is, I suppose, the insect corollary to the dull rage I experience when I see a plant I know but can't remember the name.


American Lady

Even if the plant is thriving, it feels to me a garden failure when I can't wander about carelessly tossing off the common and botanical names of everything in sight.


As an example, for some reason, for years I had the hardest time remembering "verbena".  I recognized it as "that damned plant I can never remember the name of".  Go figure.  I've got it firmly in my head now, except for when I don't.....


Onward.



Tawny Emperor

Like others I have noted a wealth of red admirals in my gardens this year.
Red Admirals
Most of them seem to be congregating first around the fallen loquats around one side of the house, but they all eventually find their way over to the flowers.

Today I went out a bit earlier than usual and found a few other locals hovering.



Common Checkered Skipper


I'd hate to get anybody confused...that is MY special territory, OK?

I need to be the best at SOMEthing.  So if you see anything misidentified, please correct it in the comments and I'll owe you one.  If I remember......
Inch wormy thing

8 comments:

  1. For the life of me, when I use the wrap around text mode that you've used on this post, I can NEVER get things lined up. You would think they make it easier. I just gave up and use the single column. Your butterfly pictures are gorgeous! I’m forever going blank on names too; I have to write it all down.-- Randy

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  2. Thank you Randy! I was definitely snarling towards the end of trying to put this together - I appreciate the friendly support.

    I keep thinking every time I buy a batch of plants that I will write the names down and thereby have a reference when a name escapes me but I typically get started digging and my good intentions go by the wayside. Maybe next time!

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  3. Beautiful photos, Deb! I can never remember the names of ANY of the butterflies, so I think you ROCK.

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  4. Iris you sweet talker! Even though I've carefully looked these typical visitors to my garden beds up for identification, I can promise you a day will come when I'll look at another one of them and not be able to remember precisely which one is called what.

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  5. Can I show off?
    I remembered ..now what was it again...Mexican Orange Blossom is the common name... oh dear....this is terrible...I knew it a minute ago....I'm not kidding you...I'll have to look it up.

    I like all the butterflies. So early. Looks like high summer all of a sudden. We have rain, and storms and freezing temperatures.

    It starts with an L....honestly, I'm not making this up. I knew it when I started writing this......
    Choisia ternata.
    Told you it started with an -L-.

    Anyways, I need a replacement adjective in my post. My husband said I couldn't use shitless. And nothing else seems to fit: "It scares them ......." You seem to have reams of semi-acceptable words at your disposal. Come to my aid please.

    Pictures and captions: have you tried switching on 'floating' or 'none' in the placement radio buttons?
    This probably makes as much sense as the rest of this comment.

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  6. Oh Jo... : )

    I totally feel you on the "starts with an L" bit. Happens to me ALL the time. Makes me furious with my brain for cutting out when I need it as opposed to whirling away madly at night when I really ought to be asleep. Oh well.

    Our weather is very summerish all of a sudden. The butterflies do seem more plentiful this year however. Which I like VERY much.

    I gently disagree with your Hub - there are few terms that will substitute adequately but hmmm - here goes: "Scares them senseless" is the most acceptable I can come up with. Then there is Scares them silly - or Hey! How about "Scares the crap out of them!" (you said you get to use that one).

    Blogger doesn't have Floating or None that I've noticed. I need to check in to this more thoroughly - they've changed the settings and in one sense made it all easier and in another made it harder to do captions. I might be missing something though - it has happened before.

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  7. Beautiful pictures! And thanks for making us all feel better. Makes me crazy when I can't remember a plant or butterfly name. Or my address. But you're doing pretty good on butterfly IDs, that is for sure! As for the verbena, what the heck, the names come to us in the night.

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  8. I tell every one it's Ol Timers syndrome. Or maybe the mini strokes are adding up. I hate it when some one asks and it just won't come to me. Later, when they have gone, there it is, comes right to me. Ugh!

    Are you coming to the blogger get together at Robin's this Saturday? I would love to meet you , if I haven't already and forgot about it.

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Rollingwood, Central Texas
Family historian by default. Oldest surviving matriarch on my branch of the Family Tree. Story teller, photo taker, gardener, cook, blabbermouth.