Dahlias and Butterflies

The gardens are looking great at the moment ready for the Heroic Garden tours this weekend.
The first view for our visitors will be the stand of sunflowers.  Sarah who has raised these flowers from seed and carefully timed it so they would flower this weekend has given our gardens a wonderful visual gift.

Here stands Ernest.  Ernest has been named by Sarah.  He stands at the front of the row taller and straighter than anyone else and held off opening his bloom until this week so that he will be at his most beautiful for the weekend.

The Compositae family of flowers have flowers within flowers. The petals encase another
lots of tiny flowers inside the bloom.

While the sunflowers will be the immediate eye catcher, visitors will soon notice other members of the compositae family of plants, the Dahlia and Zinnia in the plots of gardeners.

The NZ Dahlia society was set up in 1938 showing that people have been mad keen on Dahlias for a long time.  But I think these often blousey blooms until recently were thought of as old fashioned and didn't fit in with the Sissinghurst subtle colouring that gardeners were wanting.  Now I see them everywhere.  Perhaps New Zealand gardeners now enjoy that touch of Mexican colour.  Our plot gardeners certainly do as I found many gorgeous colours on show.

This dahlia is particularly striking with its chocolate foliage and siren red flower.
(the red is difficult to capture on my camera)

The Dahlias growing at our gardens seem to be more gelato colours while the Zinnias are pure candy.

Jane and Nigel's Zinnia patch are eye catching

Zinnias are in the same tribe as the sunflower and you can see similarities in the foliage and flower form - but in a much smaller and delicate way.  Zinnias like the Dahlias originate from Mexico.

What I best love about Zinnias is the circle of perfect blooms inside
the contrasting outside petals.

We have had an unusual visitor to our gardens.

Photo: Janet Wade

I met Janet Wade camera in hand one day at the gardens moving quickly around the gardens.  I thought she was taking photos of plants but was instead was chasing a butterfly.  A less keen eye would have thought it was a Monarch and not taken particular notice but she thought it was a Lesser Wanderer Danaus petilia.

Photo: Janet Wade

Trevor referred the images to a Landcare Research lepidopterist, and for him this is the first New Zealand record of the lesser wanderer for this summer season. This species is found only in some years in New Zealand in the months January to April. Sometimes it breeds in New Zealand, but has never been found able to overwinter. 

Photo: Janet Wade

According to Trevor the specimen appears to be a female, in good condition. This specimen would have come from northern Australia (Queensland), as shown by the ground colour of the wings -- specimens from the Pacific (Fiji) are browner on both upper and lower surfaces according to the latest taxonomic revision of the species. It is too early in the season for this specimen to have bred here. 

Photo of Caterpillar of Lesser Wanderer from http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_nymphs/LesserWanderer.htm

The caterpillars are on swan plant and are somewhat similar to monarchs, with the most obvious difference being that they have three sets of "tentacles" on their backs whereas as monarchs have two.

I too was noticing butterfly activity in our garden but not of the heart warming kind.  There were white cabbage butterflies fluttering everywhere. While they might look pretty I know the havoc they will be creating soon.  I tried to take a photo but they weren't stay put.  Another week later they have started to settle on plants.  I notice they like my calendulas.

We shall have perhaps hundreds of visitors over the weekend to enjoy not only the blooms but the productive vegetable gardens. 

The blooms are the first things to attract the eye of visitors and butterflies.  Perhaps one of our visitors may be lucky enough to see the Lesser Wanderer - they certainly will see cabbage whites.