"Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?"
~Betsy Cañas Garmon

All is quiet here in the Container Butterfly Garden. Most butterfly action is muted, save for a couple of stubborn Monarch butterflies that refuse to migrate towards the coast. That can be solved rather easily, but what that is, I'll share in the next post.

Ahhhhhh... coffee and a winter garden: two lovers entwined in an inextricable dance of warmth, cold, sight, sound, taste, aroma, and scent. As the quote above begs the question, does a good morning need anything else on these cold, late season early mornings? Me thinks not!

The Cassia bicapsularis, commonly known as Winter Cassia or Christmas Senna, planted to attract and support the various sulfur butterfly species that visit the Container Butterfly Garden, has been going bonkers in growth and blooms. Quite stunning really. I love this plant, as its requirements are few. It gives a lot more than what it receives: kind of like a faithful dog.

I did have to butcher it a bit in September, as it was growing like crazy pushing up against the house and a bedroom window, shooting out longer branches to accommodate the forthcoming rain of beautiful yellow blooms. When butchering... errr... I mean shaping it, I noticed dozens of sulfur chrysalides hanging amongst its branches. I was very careful to not accidentally dump any in the green waste bin.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that virtually every chrysalid turned brown, not the bright green or tannish color healthy pupae of this family sport. Peering even closer, there appeared a small, round hole on one side of every chrysalid that signaled the once-present attack of some sort of predator fly or wasp. They inject an egg into the host caterpillar, where it hatches and grows along with its host. After the cat forms a chrysalis, the fly or wasp larvae eat the developing butterfly inside, eventually killing it. Upon pupating, an adult fly or wasp emerges, boring a hole in the side of the now dead chrysalis, ready to do its own thing.

-Andrew Kliss

Cassia bicapsularis, Winter Cassia

As a gardener for the City of Laguna Beach, I planted several C. bicapsularis in one of the parks I took care of, plus another cassia species, Cassia leptophylla. What a sublime pleasure it was to see Cloudless Sulfurs flitting about the C. bicapsularis. The C. leptophylla didn't get many visitors, but they were so young and somewhat anemic. As they mature, the leptophyllas should begin to attract sulfurs too.

-Google

Cassia leptohylla, Gold Medallion Tree

Both cassia species are topnotch candidates for attracting various sulfur butterfly species. The city of San Diego has lined many of its streets with C. leptophylla, and planted C. leptophylla and C. bicapsularis within its parks. It would be nice to see other municipalities follow suit, he said, as he cleared his throat rather conspicuously. Oh, yes; and on that note:

Bringing Monarch Conservation to Parks Nationwide is an article regarding an initiative to set up parks throughout the nation to help out pollinators such as butterflies. Below is a snippet of that article: 

"Public parks are ideal locations for creation of monarch habitats.  In most cities and suburban communities, park agencies are often the largest owner of public lands, and most of these lands are permanently protected for conservation.  NRPA brings the ability to coordinate the establishment of a network of interconnected parks and other public lands as high quality habitats that are dedicated to monarch and other pollinators.  In addition to habitat restoration, parks provide great opportunities for public education and support for citizen science as well as professional research."

C. biscapsularis is somewhat common in the SoCal nursery trade, C. leptophylla, not so much. If interested in either of these and they aren't readily available at your favorite garden center, most likely, they will be able to order them for you.

 

There are a number of cassia species available at nurseries, coming in the shape of medium-sized shrubs to trees. All are easily identifiable as members of the cassia, or senna family. Some are extremely drought tolerant, whereas others like their water. Shrub species can take lots of pruning and abuse. One must be careful to not clip or prune C. bicapsularis too late in the season, or else you'll be sacrificing the beautiful winter blooms it's known for.

One species of cassia I know of that is considered a noxious weed in SoCal, and therefor shouldn't be planted unless one is willing to take the extra precautionary time to deadhead spent blooms before they set seed, is Cassia didymobotria, commonly known here as Popcorn Senna (cassia and senna are interchangeable names). It's especially important for those living next to or near greenbelt and open areas to not plant C. didymobotria.

-Google

Cassia didymobotria, Popcorn Senna

For more info on cassias, sulfurs, and parasitic insects, please refer to the Labels and Categories list to the right of this post.

"Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time."-Deborah Chaskin

Just a short little update with what's been going on around here. The mild Santa Ana conditions we've been experiencing following that wonderful bit of rain we received recently has brought back some old friends to the container garden. Several Monarchs are cruising about looking tattered and worn, but not worn out. As for Monarch caterpillars, there haven't been any spotted for two weeks now.

Several Cloudless Sulphurs have been visiting the cassia also. That's about all I've seen recently butterfly-wise.

 

Google

Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae

Google

Winter Cassia or Christmas Senna, Cassia bicapsularis

Oh, yes; a Painted Lady butterfly has also made an appearance, happily feeding on the remaining milkweed flowers!

Google

Painted Lady Butterfly, Vanessa cardui

"I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free."

-Charles Dickens

Blog readers Margot and Marion, both of Laguna Beach, California, have been keeping me abreast of their Monarch butterfly experiences in their own gardens:

Margot: "Well, it's official--the Davis house has Monarch butterflies. They--yes, more than one it seems--are on the patio from early morning until sunset, generally one but I have now seen two fluttering (flirting?) together. And just now our gardener Vivienne brought two more "real" milkweeds--one more for the patio and one for the front, plus another purple plant she says they love to eat. I have to be honest and say their fluttering disconcerts and distracts me a bit when I'm on the patio, but on the other hand, it's the first time I've had an intense interest in anything going on in the nature around our house for a long time. So that's a gift."

Marion now has two new milkweed plants and is anticipating the return of Monarch butterflies and caterpillars. Her original plant was reduced to stems after the caterpillars ravaged the leaves. No worries mate: they'll releaf! I also want to thank Marion once again for purchasing and contributing two milkweed plants for the defunct butterfly garden up at Alta Laguna Park.

Reports from other sources say that there are a few Monarch butterflies flitting about the park, especially in between the tennis courts. Marion also reports that Anthony, the new Parks Gardener for Alta is taking an interest in the butterfly garden and will devoting some time to working on it. Thank you Anthony!



Here's a nice little article on a Northwest Florida's garden club creating a butterfly garden on neglected museum property:

We Make a Garden



The Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Mid July is when we start to see more and more Cloudless Sulphur butterflies in the So Cal region.

More of a subtropical or tropical species, it doesn't present itself in greater numbers at this latitude until the weather sufficiently heats up for it to move up from warmer climes. The host plant for this butterfly and several other species of sulphurs are those belonging to the cassia, or senna family. If not planted locally, one won't see many - if any at all - sulphur butterflies except maybe a few passing through looking for host plants.

Cassia and senna are synonymous when referring this group: both are taxonomic references that taxonomists (I believe) like to bandy about in order to justify their grants and livelihoods. Don't get me wrong; their role is vital in creating cosmos out of chaos, but the seemingly constant changing of genus species in the taxonomic world does smack of job security to me at times.

I've seen "sulphur" also spelled "sulfur" bandied about. I tend to bounce between the two. If I'm feeling rather Continental, I use sulphur; if I'm feeling a bit randy, sulfur is used.

Google

 Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae

A medium sized butterfly, it is striking to behold! When at rest or feeding on flowers, the wings are normally folded above its abdomen, but in flight, the beauty of a Cloudless Sulphur's sulfur yellow wings are a delight to behold. If any of you have seen the mineral sulfur in its elemental state and have had the opportunity to study one of these creatures up close, one would have to concur that the colors are remarkable.

They are fairly easy to approach when visiting a cassia plant if one takes their time to advance slowly. In flight, sulphers are fast and flighty, zigzagging through the air in a seemingly excited state. For those visiting Alta Laguna Park, I planted two Cassia species. The one located at the entrance to the tennis courts is a stellar attractor of sulfurs during the summer. Hopefully, it's still there and thriving!

UPDATE: received a timely email from Marion stating that it's still there.

The caterpillars are of interest, as they are dimorphic in coloration. Cassia flowers are generally yellow, the leaves being green. Those caterpillars feeding on leaves are green. Caterpillars feeding on flowers are yellow. This allows them a greater chance of survival against predation.

Google

 Green phase

Google

 Yellow phase

The chrysalides, or chrysalises, are variable in color too, ranging from a straw brown through a reddish brown, to green.

Google

Cloudless Sulphur chrysalis. This one is exceptionally colored.

From my observations, Cloudless Sulpher cats tend to pupate on their host plant. I've never found a chrysalis anywhere else but on a cassia. However, other butterfly species will move off their host plant, even if hosting on trees.

The cassia family is represented by individuals  from midsized shrubs to full grown trees. For shrubs, Cassia bicapsularis is very popular in the nursery trade here in So Cal. This is the one that was planted at the Alta tennis courts entrance.

Cassia leptophylla is a beautiful tree that provides nice shade and beautiful flowers in the summer. As Parks Gardener, I planted two C. leptophylla; one by the park entrance and one close to the butterfly garden. They were too small before retiring to notice any benefit to sulfurs, but by now they should also be attracting them.

For those of you who are familiar with the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach, California, their grounds feature several C. leptophylla, both inside and outside the grounds. During July and August, one can sit under the shade of them at the food court left of when you enter the grounds. Usually, there are at least several Cloudless Sulphurs flitting about the tree canopies. Some years when these butterflies are plentiful, one may see dozens in the cassia trees as people eat at the tables located below them.

C. leptophylla is increasingly becoming more of a street tree. The city of San Diego has planted quite a few on their streets and in their parks.

Cassias are relatively pest free and easy to grow. Be careful not to plant the species Cassia alata in Southern California, as it is considered an invasive species here. C. bicapsularis and C. leptophylla are not classified as invasive species in So Cal.