Finally...

[Anne Kilmer]

Mark Walker wrote:
> 
> It's a bit hard to believe that a 90 degree Farenheit day with 80% humidity
> would be classified as a nice day, but the way things have been going up
> here in northern New England, it is well received.
> 
> Yesterday was so unusually nice, that I had to take the day off.
> 
> To my great pleasure, the butterflies abound.
> Mark Walker.
> Enjoying the heat in Vermont.

but no monarchs? 
I appreciate the common name along with the scientific one ... I'm too 
lazy to learn them for the rest of the world, but I know what a 
checkerspot looks like, more or less. A nice balance between kindness 
and scientific rigor here. 
We have had several days of heavy rain in my bit of Florida, thank you 
very much; please, if you're praying for rain, aim it at Texas, or the 
Florida panhandle. And lay off Tampa; they didn't need it and got eight 
inches in one day; they were afloat. We've got too many amateurs messing 
with the weather, if you ask me. ;)
My garden list for the last week: Cassius blues (Leptotes cassius), 
giant swallowtails egg-laying, ruddy daggerwings (Marpesia petreus) 
nectaring on honeydew from lacebugs on the avocado tree (I think); zebra 
longwings and gulf fritillaries hanging around the jatropha flowers 
impatiently. Everything in the garden suddenly grew about two feet last 
week, and Rousseau would have been overwhelmed by the lush exuberance of 
my back yard. A couple of sulphurs passing through and egg-laying on 
cassia. Cloudless, I think. 
Some skippers. 
	With all the fresh new growth, I expect to see a lot more action 
in a few weeks. We'll repopulate the burned areas in Florida with plenty 
of butterflies (and moths); they should arrive about the time that the 
plants there begin to grow. 
	Although the bugs will handle the repopulation of this area on 
their own, I think the gardeners in burned areas might need a little 
help. I'm stirring around with Master Gardeners, hoping to get schools, 
garden clubs etc. starting plants. My secret agenda is to get the fossil 
dunes replanted with pawpaw, coontie etc., scrub oak and dune rosemary, 
and the rest of the plants that belong there, and coax back our 
endangered bugs and birds. With their organic overburden burned away, 
it's the perfect opportunity. 
		After Hurricane Andrew, the Miami area was replanted 
with fast-growing trash trees. I'd like to do better, this time. 
Anne Kilmer
South Florida