Butterfly Garden

     Over the years we have added various plants to the landscape of our yard. Some of my favorite ones have been the flowering plants that encourage butterflies and hummingbirds to visit. Not only do they add color and fragrance to our garden but they provide nectar for our beautiful flying guests as well. It seems that our lilies, butterfly bush, and cone flowers are the plants that seem to have attracted the most visitors.

     This summer, our flowers have brought an abundance of Tiger Yellow Swallowtail butterflies, and often there would be as many as four or five on the butterfly bush at once. They are identified by their black stripes. However, the females have a characteristic blue band on the bottom of their wings.
    

Tiger Yellow Swallowtail

    

Snowberry Clearwing Sphingidae

     For the first time this year, we have noticed a new guest enjoying the sweet food of our plants. The body of this insect resembles a bumble bee but the pattern of it's movements and the speed at which it flutters it's wings resembles a hummingbird. It turns out that this creature is actually a moth which belongs to the Sphingidae family.

Giant Swallowtail

     This butterfly looks like it is a combination of a yellow and black swallowtail since the top of it's wings are black and the bottom is yellow. It is the largest butterfly in the United States and Canada.