Cottage Gardening with Native Plants

I was asked to write a guest post on BeautifulWildlifeGardening.com.

Check out my guest post on how this popular gardening style can be used to support our local ecosystems.

Migrating Monarch at Cape May point State Park

On my weekend trip to Cape May, I went not just to observe the migrating hawks, but also the migrating Monarch butterflies. Monarch are the only butterflies known to migrate like birds, by traveling two-ways, back and forth between winter and summer homes.

Other butterflies overwinter as larva, pupae (in a chrysalis) or even as adults like the Mourning Cloak butterfly. The Monarch migrate because they can't survive the cold in any form.

The wind was very strong last Saturday. And there were not as many grounded butterflies as I have seen in the past.

Monarch on Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens)

I mostly see them back behind the dunes where there is shelter from the winds blowing off the Atlantic Ocean a several hundred feet away.

The migrating Monarch can be found on the native Seaside Goldenrod plants sipping the last of the nectar.  Cape May Point State Park has a butterfly garden right outside the classroom building. The last few Zinnas and New England Aster serve as last stop buffets.

Monarch on Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens)

The Monarchs here in the Eastern part of North America migrate to their winter home in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico. The butterflies are found in the oyamel forests in the Mexican states of Mexico and Michoacan. The Monarch live there from October to late March. Then they make their journey northward back to our area.

The Monarch that we see leaving our area are not the same exact butterflies that return in the spring. Several generations of new butterflies have been born in the Mexican mountains and it is the great-great-great grand children that we see in the spring.

Monarch Butterfly Fall Migration Patterns. Base map source: USGS National Atlas. http://www.fs.fed.us/monarchbutterfly/

 The Monarchs fly along several different flyways in North America and converge and blend into one flyway in Central Texas. They travel during the day and roost at night. The monarchs often roost in conifer trees. I saw them roosting in cedar trees at Cape May.

dunes at Cape May Point State Park

This area behind the dunes is full of migrating Monarch. The butterflies gather on the Seaside Goldenrod and the cedars (conifers) growing along the trail. Monarch often choose pine, fir or cedar trees for roosting. They roost in conifers in their Mexican home.


A good way to help out the migrating butterflies, is to plant nectar-rich fall blooming plants.

Some late summer/fall-blooming nectar plants for butterflies include:
Goldenrods (their are hundreds of native species)
New England Asters (and other Aster species)
Sedums particularly Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
Milkweeds species (for nectar and as larval host plants)

More information http://www.fs.fed.us/monarchbutterfly/migration/index.shtml

Hawk Migration at Cape May Point State Park

Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)

Saturday, My mother and I went down to Cape May Point State Park to watch the myriad of hawks that pass by this part of the pennisula.

Cape May Point State Park is at the very tip of New Jersery. It is the last land stop before the birds either fly across the Atlantic Ocean or the Delaware Bay.

It is a natural funnel. Many species of birds fly overhead or land in Cape May County. Birds are studied here all year around but the fall migration is a spectacular time. Over 300 birds species have been spotted in Cape May.

We arrived late, a little after 10 am. The directions I used were confusing. We arrived as the regular Saturday morning, hawk banding demonstration was going on. I got some really good photos of the hawks.

Sharp-shinned or Cooper's ?

After the demo we went to the Raptor ID Workshop given by the Cape May Bird Observatory and learned even more.

Hawk Watching Platform 

Finally, we made it to the hawk watching platform. It was full of birding enthusiasts. There are always spotters who call out the birds flying toward us. This was very helpful. Sometimes I think the "spotters" have the most extraordinary vision to see the birds so far off in the distance. One day I would like to be good enough that I can be a spotter and call out the birds. 

After watching the hawks for awhile we walked along the beach and behind the dunes.

behind the dunes

migrating Monarch (Danus plexippus) on Seaside Goldenrod

The dunes is where the migrating Monarch butterflies tend to rest. The strong winds had caused them to stop and rest on the few remaining plants with nectar.

The beach had few people on it. The sand was clean and smooth. A few shorebirds walked along the surf.

gull at Cape May Point

It was a good day.

Raptor species spotted: Osprey, Northern Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Butterflies: Monarchs, Common Buckeyes, and numerous tiny dark butterflies too small to see clearly.

In bloom: Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) and New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae)

I bought this book at the Park shop and can't wait to dig into it. The Suttons have included a wealth of information about Cape May. It is a thick book, 568 pages, and each one full of information.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Purple Coneflower - Attracting Butterflies

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail went to on a feeding frenzy. I would have thought that this dried and spent flower head would have had nothing left except seeds. But this butterfly obviously found something to flip over. 

Yet, another reason to leave spent flower heads standing.  They attract both birds and butterflies. Those spent blossoms can provide nectar and seeds for birds.

A Friendly Skipper

European Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) Courtesy of genry_sharp on Flickr

Two mornings ago, I was in my garden watering my potted plants when a lovely orangey-brown European Skipper landed on my chest. It's head was pointed right at me and I could tell it was studying me. 

It was friendly encounter and I felt warmth and affection for this little brother or sister. 


The Skipper stayed on my chest watching me for several minutes. It's proboscis didn't probe for nectar. Nor did it's feet shift to taste the chemical composition of my tank top, as if the butterfly wanted to lay eggs. It sat, rested and then flew off. 

I don't have a photograph of the Skipper as I didn't dare move or reach for a camera. The Skipper probably would have left immediately. It would have made a great photo with a butterfly staring at me from seven inches away. 

Attracting Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Joe-Pye Weed

Eastern Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium dubium) is an Eastern Swallowtail magnet. You can count on it attracting these big yellow butterflies here on the East Coast

No matter where I come across Joe-Pye Weed blooming, I have seen these big yellow butterflies on top of the doomed flower clusters, sipping nectar.

I bought this plant at the Bowman's Hill Native Plant sale two years ago and it attracted Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies from the first time it bloomed.

A garden of good nectar sources and host plants in the local area, should provide good habitat for Eastern Swallowtails.

The host plants for Eastern Tiger Swallowtails include Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Wild Cherries (Prunus species), Ash (Fraxinus) and Sweet Bay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) trees.

A host plant is what a butterfly caterpillar eats. Butterfly caterpillar (and other native insect larvae) are only able to eat certain plants.  They are like people. We can eat some plants but others will make us sick and die.

Butterfly caterpillars eat native plants almost exclusively. So, all the non-native plants we are planting in parks and gardens, aren't helping the native insects. We are basically cutting out their food supply.

A good book to read about the link between nature insects and native plants is Bring Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy.

Funky Nature Photos from Donna

Baptistia australis is in bloom again

Bee sipping nectar in Baptisia australis, originally uploaded by donnallong.

Baptista australis (False Indigo) is in bloom again. And I am grabbing the horns of a dilemma. Each year this plant plagues me with thoughts of doubt. Shall I cut it down after it blooms? Maybe I better press a stalk with blooms to remember it by?

It is one of those plants that you planted but are sometimes sorry you did. The blue-violet of the blooms are a delicious color. I always wish that there was a food that color so I could eat it. Not including candy. Shouldn’t Earthlings have a luscious delicious purple fruit to eat. Not the purple of grapes, but purple this color.

I start to cut it down but then I say to myself, “ But, it is the host to so many butterfly larva. Okay, most of those butterflies I rarely see around here, but you never know.”

For the curious Baptista australis is the host plant to the following butterfly larva.
• Orange Sulphur (lives in Philadelphia)
• Clouded Sulphur
• Frosted Elfin
• Eastern Tailed-Blue  (lives in Philadelphia)
• Hoary Edge
• Wild Indigo Duskywing

The female butterfly of each species, lands on the leaf of a plant, tastes it with her feet, and if tastes right (with the correct chemical makeup) then she lays her eggs. If it tastes wrong she moves on. The chemical makeup means the caterpillars will be able to digest it. This is why it is important to plant native species, caterpillars can only eat certain native plants. And non-native plants won’t do. The correct plant is called a butterfly host plant.


The problem with Baptistia australis, is the habit of the plant. It needs to be surrounded by open space not forced to stand at attention in a hoop, by a fence, which is where I have it. Otherwise it flops over and completely dwarfs the highbush blueberry shrubs. And we can’t have that.

Each year around March I begin to worry I cut it down last spring and can’t remember that I did. I wait with anticipation for the first green stalks to poke out of the ground. Finally, they poke up and ease my mind. I think I just have to grow up and live with it.

Baptisia australis

Thank you, Baptista australis for being so beautiful. Thank you for feeding bees and butterflies. Wado.